Building an evidence base for community health: a review of the quality of program evaluations

• Published in: Australian health review Vol. 31; no. 4; pp. 603 - 610
• Main Authors: Jolley, Gwyn M, Lawless, Angela P, Baum, Fran E, Hurley, Catherine J, Fry, Denise
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Australia Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association 01.11.2007; CSIRO
• Subjects: Birth defects; Community health care; Community health services; Community Health Services - organization & administration; Community Health Services - standards; Decision making; Eating disorders; Evaluation; Evidence-Based Medicine; Health administration; Health care policy; Health Policy; Health promotion; Health services; Health Services Research; Humans; Intervention; Medical care; Native peoples; Outcome Assessment (Health Care) - standards; Performance evaluation; Policy Making; Primary care; Program Evaluation - standards; Quality; Quality management; South Australia; State government; Studies; Systematic review; Womens health; South Australia; Australia
• ISSN: 0156-5788; 1449-8944
• DOI: 10.1071/AH070603

An assessment of the quality of program evaluations conducted in South Australian community health services investigated how effective evaluation reporting is in producing an evidence base for community health. Evaluation reports were assessed by a team of reviewers. Practitioner workshops allowed an understanding of the uses of evaluation and what promotes or acts as a barrier to undertaking evaluations. Community health services do undertake a good deal of evaluation. However, reports were not generally explicit in dealing with the principles that underpin community health. Few engaged with program theory or rationale. Typically, reports were of short term projects with uncertain futures so there may seem little point in considering issues of long term health outcomes and transferability to other settings. The most important issue from our study is the lack of investment in applied health services research of the sort that will be required to produce the evidence for practice that policy makers desire. The current lack of evidence for community health reflects failure of the system to invest in research and evaluation that is adequately resourced and designed for complex community settings. (author abstract)