title: Collecting health data with youth at faith-based institutions: lessons learned.
abstract: Faith-based organizations (FBOs) are ideal for health promotion but can present unique challenges in data collection. The present initiative included 6 years of awards to mostly small, rural, predominantly African American FBOs to conduct tobacco prevention lessons for youth in Grades 4-6 while they were attending summer Vacation Bible School. In 2005, these awards included $1,500 disbursed to 64 geographically diverse FBOs who had never before received this funding. Lessons learned include the following: Plan for evaluation in every aspect of the project; pilot-test everything; use reminders judiciously; make backup plans at every step; personally collect data in a nonthreatening way; and safeguard data entry. Evaluation requires extensive time, money, and effort; so, in both the intermediate and the long run, this extra work is worth it.
authors.affiliation: University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS 39406-5025, USA.
authors.forename: Bonita
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Reinert
authors.forename: Vivien
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Carver
authors.forename: Lillian M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Range
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pike
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003625:Data Collection / Q000592:standards*; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008922:Mississippi; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000379:methods; D012067:Religion; D000074606:Smoking Prevention