public health

public health

Introduction

The principal aim of public health interventions is to boost people’s health or at-risk subgroups. The health workers are required to dedicate their skill to assessing the effects of public health actions so as to improve people’s health. Various questions can be part of a program evaluation, and this depends on the time the program has been in existence. It also depends on the person asking the questions and the why the assessment information is required (Fleming & Parker, 2009).. Therefore, evaluation questions for an existing situation can either fall into procedural evaluations or outcome evaluations.

However, there are areas where procedural evaluations are preferred compared to outcomes assessment. Procedural evaluations are preferred in complex situations as they document whether a program has been well-implemented. For instance, procedural assessments are required in a situation whereby one is evaluating a program that is involved in preventing poisoning among children.  In this situation, an individual may need to analyze if the activities are taking place, the person conducting the activities and also the target of the activities (Scutchfield & Keck, 2003). One may also consider if there are enough inputs. For instance, in this case, the program is aimed at helping children in low-income urban neighborhoods.  One may also need to analyze if the caregivers are well equipped. Therefore, the most important aspect of this situation is whether the program is working well rather than its outcome.

Procedural evaluation is also preferred in cases involving diet and smoking research. Diet and smoking entail intricate multi-factorial etiology. Therefore, in this case, they will mainly aim to address more than one cause simultaneously, targeting factors at multiple levels (Ivanov & Blue, 2007). The factors may also comprise several elements that interrelate to affect multiple outcomes. Hence, in this situation, one may prefer more to know how it works rather than evaluating the outcome. 

References

Fleming, M. L., & Parker, E. (2009). Introduction to public health. Sydney, N.S.W: Churchill

Livingstone/Elsevier.

Ivanov, L. L., & Blue, C. L. (2007). Public health nursing: Leadership, policy, & practice.

Australia: Delmar Cengage Delmar.

Scutchfield, F. D., & Keck, C. W. (2003). Principles of public health practice. Clifton Park:

Thomson/Delmar Learning.

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