title: Assessing and developing the evidence base of macro practice interventions with a community and neighborhood focus.
abstract: Assessing and developing the evidence base of macro practice with a community and neighborhood focus is challenging because of the lack of rigorous studies, difficulties posed by conducting research at the community level, and lack of evaluation capacity at multiple levels of practice. Current evidence on community interventions is summarized. Resources for assessing community interventions are presented, along with strategies for searching, appraising, and synthesizing the evidence. Challenges and potential solutions to developing the evidence base of community interventions are discussed, including defining and analyzing complex community interventions, developing rigorous research designs, and building the evaluation capacity of community-based organizations.
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30302, USA. mohmer@gsu.edu
authors.forename: Mary L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Ohmer
mesh_terms: D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003256:Community Participation; D055317:Evidence-Based Practice; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000379:methods; D012107:Research Design; D012922:Social Change; D012947:Social Work / Q000379:methods*