The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #69487

Renée I. Boothroyd, MPH, CHES¹, Adrienne Paine-Andrews, PhD², Mary V. Ransom, PhD³, Jacquie Fisher, MPH, MS¹, and Stephen B. Fawcett, PhD¹. (1) Work Group on Health Promotion and Community Development, University of Kansas, 1000 Sunnyside Avenue, 4082 Dole Human Development Center, Lawrence, KS 66045, 785-864-0533, rbooth@ku.edu, (2) University of Kansas, Adolescent Substance Abuse Prevention, 8000 West 113th Terrace, Overland Park, KS 66210, (3) Ransom Consulting & Educational Services, P.O. Box 403, Willaimsburg, KS 66095

In 1999, three Kansas communities were funded to mobilize a community response for effective and sustainable changes for teen pregnancy prevention. Community changes are new or revised programs, policies, and practices that create an environment to address an outcome of concern. The Work Group on Health Promotion and Community Development at the University of Kansas worked with these initiatives to build local capacities for documenting and evaluating progress. Sites and Work Group staff shared access to a web-based documentation system to regularly track community change efforts. Sites were trained in a shared measurement system, and as primary observers, tracked their ongoing progress. The Work Group staff coded for reliability, and KAPPA scores were maintained at or above 85%. Four years of community change data are available for critical reflection and sense-making to explore community impact on teen pregnancy prevention. Through personalized and technological assistance, sites have become co-managers of their evaluation data and maintain accountability for their own change efforts. As such, this collaborative evaluation process illustrates efforts to use data for understanding and improvement, creating conditions for lasting change, and building bridges of relationship and responsibility for sustainable improvements.

Learning Objectives:

• Discuss technologies to to build local capacities for documenting and evaluating progress.
• Review lessons learned from the collaborative evaluation process.

Keywords: Community Capacity, Evaluation

Related Web page: ctb.ku.edu

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.