The utility of any concept lies in the real-world application of the theories behind it and the procedures designed to test it. Evaluation Focused Consulting presents actual case studies for your review.

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California Medical Association Foundation (CMAF)
CMAF is interested in addressing the misuse and inappropriate use of antibiotics, a threat to the public’s health. Potential resistance to antibiotics may occur when patients are over-prescribed or ill-prescribed antibiotics by their physicians, when patients use antibiotics obtained from unlicensed sources, or when patients incompletely or indiscriminately use antibiotics.

Initially, the project aims to develop partnerships between physicians and community health workers for health education services to Latino patients. Short-term and mid-term project objectives include culturally specific messaging diffused through CMAF-trained promotoras (community outreach workers) and ethnic media for Spanish-speaking Latinos who seek health care from private and public providers.

Evaluation Focused Consulting assisted in the development of a logic model for the project, Prevenir es Vivir (Prevention is to Live) to focus the trajectory between project staff’s activities and desirable public health outcomes related to proper use of antibiotics.

Focus groups of Latino consumers and promotoras were conducted by EFC to inform the development of Prevenir es Vivir as a pilot project. EFC consulted on development of customized data-collection instruments for project monitoring and process evaluation. Thus, assisting future project phases to contribute to the long-term outcome of having culturally relevant educational preventive efforts influence the reduction of antibiotic resistance levels among Latino communities (2007-2008).

California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA)
Evaluation Focused Consulting, in association with Michael Scott Studios/XLRQ.com, was contracted for an evaluation of CALCASA's Prevention Connection, The Violence Against Women Prevention Partnership. Prevention Connection's web conference design is an innovation toward advancing the concept of primary prevention in work related to prevention of violence against women throughout the United States.

Consulting services included protocol development, data collection, analysis and report writing. Data sources included online focus groups of service providers in academic, community-based organizations; health departments and statewide coalitions; phone interviews with program supporters and constituents; and web conference quantitative data and program transcripts previously collected by CALCASA. Audio recordings by Michael Scott Studios/XLRQ.com enabled quality assurance of interview and focus-group data for final report preparation by Evaluation Focused Consulting.

Evaluation findings were presented with program design, marketing, and web site enhancement recommendations for short-term and long-term planning by CALCASA staff. Michael Scott Studios/XLRQ.com prepared a report outlining a communications and technology roadmap for use by CALCASA in fiscal year 2007.

Open Society Institute (OSI), New York
To inform the processes of future grant making, OSI commissioned an independent evaluation of the effectiveness of its grant application, selection and implementation processes.

Evaluation Focused Consulting was selected in November 2005 to conduct document analysis and interviews with grantees and staff for first-hand accounts of experiences with the TB/HIV Small Grants Project. Accounts from interviews supplemented information found in project progress reports by grantees and the observations and experiences of OSI and Treatment Action Group staff members. Phone interviews with grantees in Latin America, Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe were conducted between December 2005 and February 2006.

A final report of assessment findings and recommendations was presented to OSI for internal use.

Kaiser-Permanente, Regional Community Benefit Department, Southern California
To address pediatric overweight and obesity among Latinos, Kaiser Permanente Southern California Region called for a community assessment to identify what organizational leaders, parents, and community residents believed were the interventions best suited for implementation among Latino communities. This community assessment also served as a means of including those community representatives in the strategic planning of Kaiser Permanente’s Health Education Department.

The department was interested in gathering information to inform programmatic and policy development and to strengthen relationships with community organizations already engaged in addressing childhood overweight and obesity in Latino communities. Additionally, Kaiser Permanente wanted to learn how promotoras (community-based educational staff and volunteers) could be effective conduits for health promotion messages to the Latino community.

Interviews with staff from community based public and private organizations, educational institutions, clinic-based programs, and school districts were conducted in the fall of 2005. Focus groups of Latino parents and promotoras were also conducted. Focus group participants were primarily Spanish speaking, Latino residents or promotoras in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties.

This project was performed in affiliation with The Center for Applied Local Research.

Spanish Speaking Women’s Cancer Initiative
SSWCI is a collaborative effort of government and community-based organizations that includes the Contra Costa Department of Health Services, The American Cancer Society, The Wellness Center and the Women’s Cancer Resource Center. The data collected and report written for the initiative was funded by The California Endowment in 2004 to assess the benefits of the initiative’s outreach, educational, counseling, and clinical services in a four-year period and inform future grant funding requests.

Data collection methods included a literature review on cancer among Latinas, co-facilitation of focus groups of Spanish-speaking cancer survivors, and survey instrument development for use with service and clinical providers. Data analysis and writing of the evaluation report section, Effectiveness in Sustaining Collaboration and Systems Change, was prepared in affiliation with The Center for Applied Local Research.