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Effective evaluation is always directly tied to program outcomes.
Decision-makers, funders, program staff, and the community as a
whole are interested in results; they want to see documentation
of positive changes. So, for example, if the needs assessment reveals
that young children lack access to ongoing oral health services,
stakeholders want to know whether the program developed to address
this problem has resulted in a significant increase in the number
of young children with access to such services.
Or, in a program designed to provide dental sealants to third
graders without access to ongoing oral health care, stakeholders
want to
know whether the program resulted in a reduced incidence of tooth
decay among this population. A sample evaluation design outline
is presented in the following table.
Example
Evaluation Design for Intervention:
School-Based Dental Sealant Program for Third Grade Students |
Overall Desired Result: 20%
decrease in students with tooth decay enrolled in fourth
grade by
2008.
Intervention: Establish school-based dental
sealant program for 2006–07 for third grade students without access
to ongoing oral health care. |
Intervention Activities |
Performance Measures |
Desired Outcome |
Outcome Indicators |
School approves program
School provides space for program
School
facilitates access to children
Parents of eligible children
return consent forms
Volunteers are identified and trained |
School signs memorandum of understanding with
community oral health program for services
School provides
space for dental sealant program
Schools assists with
recruitment of children
65% of parents of eligible children
return consent forms
15
volunteers are identified and trained to implement program |
50% of eligible third grade students have dental sealants
placed |
20% decrease in students with tooth decay enrolled in fourth
grade in 2008 |
Intervention activities and progress toward achievement
of outcomes should be evaluated using outcome indicators. Data
to measure performance
and outcomes need to be identified. It is important to develop
performance measures and outcome indicators for which data are
available and accessible.
When designing an evaluation, it is useful to
consider short- as well as long-term outcomes. For example, building
on the example
above, a long-term outcome of the program would be a decrease
in the number of children without tooth decay enrolled in elementary
school, while a shorter-term outcome may be a percentage decrease
in current rates of tooth decay in 2 years. Often, an evaluation
documenting positive short-term outcomes can be used to leverage
resources needed to sustain the program.
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