Teaching Practical Public Health Evaluation Methods

Abstract

Human service fields, and more specifically public health, are increasingly requiring evaluations to prove the worth of funded programs. Many public health practitioners, however, lack the required background and skills to conduct useful, appropriate evaluations. In the late 1990s, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) created the Framework for Program Evaluation in Public Health to provide guidance and promote use of evaluation standards by public health professionals. The emphasis of the Framework is utilization-focused evaluation for program improvement or to assess program impact. This article presents the use of the CDC Framework for Program Evaluation in Public Health to create and teach practical evaluation methods to master’s of public health students. The article includes the teaching approach, semester-long syllabus for students, and course evaluation data; suggests supplementary materials; and discusses implementation issues.