Implementation and evaluation of an HIV/STD intervention in Peru

This paper presents the lessons learned through a process evaluation (PE) after 1 year of implementation of a 2-year community intervention in Lima, Peru. The intervention consisted of training and motivating community popular opinion leaders (CPOLs) for three marginal population segments to disseminate prevention messages among their peers. PE data included: observations, qualitative interviews with CPOLS, conversations and messages delivered by CPOLs, training facilitators' perceptions about implementation, and a survey of CPOLs. The PE helped to document and enhance the intervention. CPOLs were motivated to talk to their peers. CPOLs perceived that their participation had an effect on their own risk behaviors and saw their role as beneficial to their community. The PE was helpful in examining training delivery and the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention in order to assess the elements related to program success necessary to replicate the CPOL model.     

The social construction of pain: an evaluation

Drawing upon the work of Hughes and Patterson, this paper addresses the issue of whether a socially constructed conception of pain is possible or desirable. Contrary to a number of postmodern inspired conceptions that pain exists exclusively at the level of discourse and linguistic construction, pain is viewed as a material barrier that exists beyond the politico-aesthetic level. The body is much more than a canvas upon which we can create appropriate discursive formation to incorporate within our preferred conception of 'self'. To recognize the existence of biologically based realities is not to accept biological dysfunction as the sole cause of disability or any other form of reactionary politics of disability.     

Trustworthiness in evaluation practice: an emphasis on the relational

As canons for trustworthiness developed explicitly in the discourse of qualitative inquiry, the emphasis was on procedural matters rather than fundamentally relational ones. A nod was made to the relational in such strategies as “member checks” but the issues of how the evaluator actually relates to participants and to the larger communities of practice and discourse—matters subsumed under moral principles and ethical standards—were often marginalized. This chapter posits that the first consideration in designing and conducting rigorous evaluation inquiry, and in critiquing the results of any research, should be the study's trustworthiness. Judging a study's trustworthiness, however, should focus on much more than procedural matters; it should also rely on moral principles and ethical standards which specifically address how we relate to an evaluation's participants. Central to these considerations are cross-cultural sensibilities about the nuanced meanings associated with any principles and standards. The chapter provides a theoretical framework for this position and offers two illustrative examples in the form of dialogues.     

Theory-based evaluation of a comprehensive Latino education initiative: an interactive evaluation approach

Latino student access to higher education has received significant national attention in recent years. This article describes a theory-based evaluation approach used with ENLACE of Hillsborough, a 5-year project funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for the purpose of increasing Latino student graduation from high school and college. Theory-based evaluation guided planning, implementation as well as evaluation through the process of developing consensus on the Latino population of focus, adoption of culturally appropriate principles and values to guide the project, and identification of strategies to reach, engage, and impact outcomes for Latino students and their families. The approach included interactive development of logic models that focused the scope of interventions and guided evaluation designs for addressing three stages of the initiative. Challenges and opportunities created by the approach are discussed, as well as ways in which the initiative impacted Latino students and collaborating educational institutions.     

Institutional contexts and mortality: the case of Peru

Increasingly, attention is being given to institutional contexts to explain differential demographic and health outcomes. Regional inequality in terms of economic development, social institutions, and health services leads to regional disparities in health outcomes, especially infant mortality. The author uses linked data from population and economic censuses, government agencies, and health surveys on 24 Peruvian provinces to explore how differential economic development and institutional contexts influence health outcomes. Regional inequities based on rural population, subsistence activity, women's illiteracy, monthly income, gross domestic product, medical care, and health facilities are compared, with a cluster analysis identifying institutional contexts which have internal similarities. These contexts are able to discriminate differences in infant mortality. The analysis demonstrates that infant mortality in Peru varies systematically with social, economic, and medical contexts. Economic development, income and subsistence levels, women's literacy, and the amount of medical care and public health services influence health outcomes. It is clear that understanding such regional inequities can help explain disparities in health outcomes.     

Case study of an evaluation coaching model: Exploring the role of the evaluator

This study examined the role of the external evaluator as a coach. More specifically, using an evaluative inquiry framework (Preskill and Torres, 1999a, Preskill and Torres, 1999b), it explored the types of coaching that an evaluator employed to promote individual, team and organizational learning. The study demonstrated that evaluation coaching provided a viable means for an organization with a limited budget to conduct evaluations through support of a coach. It also demonstrated how the coaching processes supported the development of evaluation capacity within the organization. By examining coaching models outside of the field of evaluation, this study identified two forms of coaching — results coaching and developmental coaching — that promoted evaluation capacity building and have not been previously discussed in the evaluation literature.     

Family roles and female mortality differentials across cultures: an inquiry of cultural adaptation in industrialization

The relationship between family support systems and female mortality in Chinese and American cultures is studied using 1980 official data from Taiwan and the United States. The differences in female mortality by marital status support the hypotheses that Chinese families provide greater support for older than younger females, and that the emphasis on filial piety in Chinese society provides more support for the elderly by Chinese than American children.     

Women's erotic rape fantasies: an evaluation of theory and research.

This article is the first systematic review of the research literature on women's rape fantasies. Current research indicates that between 31% and 57% of women have fantasies in which they are forced into sex against their will, and for 9% to 17% of women these are a frequent or favorite fantasy experience. Erotic rape fantasies are paradoxical: they do not appear to make sense. Why would a person have an erotic and pleasurable fantasy about an event that, in real life, would be abhorrent and traumatic? In this article, the major theories of women's rape fantasies are evaluated both rationally and empirically. These theories explain rape fantasies in terms of masochism, sexual blame avoidance, openness to sexuality, sexual desirability, male rape culture, biological predisposition to surrender, sympathetic physiological activation, and adversary transformation. This article evaluates theory and research, makes provisional judgments as to which theories appear to be most viable, and begins the task of theoretical integration to arrive at a more complete and internally consistent explanation for why many women engage in erotic rape fantasies. Methodological critiques and programs for future research are presented throughout.     

Adapting the jury trial for program evaluation: A report of an experience

A portion of the graduate program in clinical community psychology at SUNY Buffalo was subjected to a jury trial as a form of program evaluation. The theory of the trial as evaluation, the problems of implementation, and a posttrial evaluation are discussed. The trial, while time-consuming, especially in its pretrial phases, has the potential for presenting a dramatic picture of a program through the medium of human testimony. The jury was able to arrive at clear decisions on questions put to it, with a high degree of confidence. Decision makers accepted some of the jury's conclusions, and subjective evidence suggests that many of the controversial issues which generated the trial were resolved for the group by the procedure. The posttrial evaluation revealed limitations, such as evidence which was not presented at the trial. The experience proved useful for purposes of interdisciplinary education, providing another lens through which the evaluation problem could be viewed.     

Client progress toward referral for discharge to the community: an illustration of an evaluation technique.

Data on referral and discharge from a short-term habilitative facility are used to illustrate the "survival analysis" of the rate at which institutionalized mentally retarded persons are released to the community and regression analysis of factors which help predict time to release. These techniques can be used to assess the degree to which habilitative facilities and community agencies achieve their stated goals, to help community agencies plan placement requirements, to compare the progress of various subgroups of clients, and to assess the overall benefit of deinstitutionalization efforts for the entire population at which it is aimed.     

Promoting children's interest in health: an evaluation of the child health profile

The child health profile was developed as an extension for older children of the personal child health record, which has normally been kept by mothers. The profile was introduced in three health board areas in Scotland. A questionnaire survey of young people revealed a mixed response concerning the usage and value of the profile. A small number had used it fully as a means of recording or communicating about personal health‐related matters, but a majority had not actively used the profile and two fifths said they had lost their copy. Children reported that doctors and nurses rarely asked to see the profile. Many respondents wanted more extensive and detailed health information. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Telephone support for parenting: an evaluation of Parentline Plus

Recent Government policy has advocated universal support services for parents, including a national telephone helpline (for example, Department for Education and Skills, 2003). The Home Office funded just such a helpline—Parentline Plus—as part of the Supporting Families initiative. The efficiency and effectiveness of this service in supporting parents were evaluated through secondary analysis of call data, assessment of taped calls, and interviews with callers. The helpline offers anonymous non‐stigmatising support to a growing number of callers, and most callers interviewed valued highly the service they received. Many had significant support needs that were not met by other forms of service provision.     

Collaborative evaluation and market research converge: an innovative model agricultural development program evaluation in Southern Sudan

In June and July 2006 a team of outside experts arrived in Yei, Southern Sudan through an AID project to provide support to a local agricultural development project. The team brought evaluation, agricultural marketing and financial management expertise to the in-country partners looking at steps to rebuild the economy of the war ravaged region. A partnership of local officials, agricultural development staff, and students worked with the outside team to craft a survey of agricultural traders working between northern Uganda and Southern Sudan the steps approach of a collaborative model. The goal was to create a market directory of use to producers, government officials and others interested in stimulating agricultural trade. The directory of agricultural producers and distributors served as an agricultural development and promotion tool as did the collaborative process itself.     

The emergency system for the town of Milano: evaluation of an help point

The article presents a complex work of which the author has been asked by the Municipality of Milan an its Service Company (AEM, now A2A) to apply Ergonomics to evaluate a product designed for asking information and emergency, with particular attention to vulnerable city users.     

Homeless children and education: an evaluation of the Stewart B. McKinney homeless assistance act

Children are the poorest group of Americans, and among those most devastated by poverty are homeless children. Numerous problems associate with homelessness for children, including academic problems: Homeless children tend to perform more poorly in school, repeat grades more often, and drop out of school more often than do other children. Risks at each stage of a homeless child's development contribute to this poor academic performance, which engenders tremendous costs for homeless children and for society. This paper explains the provisions and evaluates the worth of the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act of 1987 in relation to the education of homeless children. The act upholds lofty principles, but there are crucial flaws in the act itself and in the enforcement of the act that critically undermine its worth. Based on this evaluation, recommendations for policymakers are offered.