5 - Enhancing Program Evaluation through Engaging Community Partners

Abstract Information: To incorporate equitable practices into program design, implementation and evaluation, it is important to center community. This includes involving community in the development, facilitation and evaluation of community-based programs. Power sharing with community-based organizations and community voices creates trust and can result in high fidelity and program effectiveness as well as contribute to diverse representation in the field. For the Healthy Food Rx program, staff from the Public Health Institute Center for Wellness and Nutrition (PHI CWN) partnered with community-based organizations to implement and evaluate a food as medicine program in multiple settings. PHI CWN worked with and trained Community Health Workers (CHWs) and Health Educators (HEs) with lived community experience to conduct study recruitment, obtain consent and implement pre- and post-intervention surveys. These evaluators bring a unique perspective that includes the understanding of the cultural and social needs within the target communities. This led to an evaluation process that was relevant, accurate, and credible to the community participants and had high participation and retention rates, 83% study consent rate and 85% response rate to post-surveys. Data integrity and protection of human subjects in evaluation is of high priority. To ensure equitable, accurate, and systematic data collection, the CHWs and HEs received formal human subjects training as well as weekly capacity building sessions with PHI CWN staff. These sessions modeled peer-to-peer learning, consisting of data collection protocols and human subjects protections. This process also encouraged collaboration in co-creating study protocols including flowcharts, job aides, and frequently asked questions, and optimized outreach and enrollment strategies. Ultimately, CHWs and HEs, who are also community members, were empowered to actively participate in the planning, preparation, and adaptation of the Healthy Food Rx evaluation to help ensure evaluation efforts respectfully and authentically aligned with participant values. PHI CWN focused on preparing the evaluators with the necessary skills and resources to effectively conduct study recruitment, data collection and surveys, as well as increasing general knowledge about program evaluation practices. These skills are transferable to other work and will enhance the community’s capacity to conduct evaluation in a systematic way. During the Birds of a Feather session, there will be a discussion of the process of working with community based health workers to conduct a systematic program evaluation with integrity and highlightimg the significance of centering community in the program evaluation process. The presenters and discussants will include research staff as well as at clinic-based health education staff and/or CHWs involved in the evaluation. The presenters will highlight how to balance the roles of the research team and community-based evaluators and discuss lessons learned in the process.