The Program Evaluation section of the organization’s website can be extremely useful for program planning and evaluation endeavors. Regarding planning, the online resource promotes the development of step-by-step outcome measurement procedures peculiar to community health programs (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Program Performance and Evaluation Office, 2021). Aside from that, the website offers a plethora of practice-based resources with logic models and the recommended evaluation reporting practices.
The CDC’s self-study guide for program evaluators can be a valuable source for dental hygienists in the public health system. For me, the guide will be helpful since it is applicable to almost any organized public health action. It covers both large-scale direct service interventions and local citizen training or advocacy programs (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office of the Director, Office of Strategy and Innovation, 2011). When participating in any community-based knowledge improvement initiative, I will be able to resort to the guide’s recommendations regarding measuring post-implementation positive changes’ attribution to the program.
Another resource from the website that I find particularly valuable is a comprehensive list of logic models for program development and evaluation in different clinical and educational contexts. The resource distinguishes between diverse healthcare fields’ requirements for logic models or models of relationships between program resources (CDC, PPEO, 2018). There are unique model development guidelines for numerous divisions, including oral health, which support the determination of programs’ intended effects.
Finally, as for training events and opportunities, there are not many offers from the CDC apart from two webinars and announcements regarding evaluation workshops that are no longer available. One opportunity that I find particularly intriguing is viewing the recorded webinar by Thomas Chapel devoted to program roadmaps (CDC, PPEO, 2021). The opportunity is applicable to my current learning situation since the resource is in open access and would support the evaluation portion of my mock program development efforts.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office of the Director, Office of Strategy and Innovation. (2011). Introduction to program evaluation for public health programs: A self-study guide. Author.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Program Performance and Evaluation Office. (2021). Program evaluation.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Program Performance and Evaluation Office. (2018). CDC evaluation documents, workbooks and tools: Logic models.