Evaluating community-based health professions education programs.
This paper assumes the reader (1) has little knowledge about program evaluation, and (2) is interested in evaluation to improve a community-based health professions education program. There are other important and useful approaches that can be used to address an evaluation of a community-based health professions education program, and readers are encouraged to explore them--they appear in health education, public health education, in evaluation, and in program theory literature. The paper is organized around a group of questions as a reference or organizer for the reader. These include topics like why evaluation is wanted, what kinds of questions can be addressed through evaluation, who stakeholders are, who should conduct the evaluation, what methods can be used, and how to analyze data and report results from the evaluation. In the paper, I have attempted to include examples that are related to community-based health professions programs. Finally, the paper ends with the recognition that there is much more to learn in the field of evaluation and suggestions for ways to continue pursuit of knowledge in this topical area.
Kalishman
Summers
S
Office of Program Evaluation, Education and Research, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, 87131, USA. SKalish@salud.unm.edu