title: Enhancing the Capacity of Community Organizations to Evaluate HIV/AIDS Information Outreach: A Pilot Experiment in Expert Consultation.
abstract: The National Library of Medicine's AIDS Community Information Outreach Program (ACIOP) supports and enables access to health information on the Internet by community-based organizations. A technical assistance (TA) model was developed to enhance the capacity of ACIOP awardees to plan, evaluate, and report the results of their funded projects. This consisted of individual Consultation offered by an experienced evaluator to advise on the suitability of proposed project plans and objectives, improve measurement analytics, assist in problem resolution and outcomes reporting, and identify other improvement possibilities. Group webinars and a moderated blog for the exchange of project-specific information were also offered. Structured data collections in the form of reports, online surveys, and key informant telephone interviews provided qualitative feedback on project progress, satisfaction with the TA, and the perceived impact of the interventions on evaluation capacity building. The Model was implemented in the 2013 funding cycle with seven organizations, and the level of reported satisfaction was uniformly high. One-on-one TA was requested by four awardee organizations, and was determined to have made a meaningful difference with three. Participation in the webinars was mandatory and high overall; and was deemed to be a useful means for delivering evaluation information. In subsequent funding cycles, submission of a Logic Model will be required of awardees as a new model intervention in the expectation that it will produce stronger proposals, and enable the evaluation consultant to identify earlier intervention opportunities leading to project improvements and evaluation capacity enhancements.
authors.affiliation: Nicole Dancy-Scott, MPH is a Technical Information Specialist at the Specialized Information Services, National Library of Medicine, 6707 Democracy Blvd, Suite 510, Bethesda, MD 20892.
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dancy-Scott
authors.affiliation: Arletha Williams-Livingston, PhD, MPH is CEO of Transforming Communities Inc., a consulting firm specializing in Non-profit organizational development. P.O. Box 870285, Stone Mountain, GA 30087 www.transformingcommunitiesinc.com.
authors.forename: Arletha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Williams-Livingston
authors.affiliation: Andrew Plumer, is an Outreach Librarian at the Division of Specialized Information Services, National Library of Medicine, 6707 Democracy Blvd, Suite 510, Bethesda, MD 20892.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Plumer
authors.affiliation: Gale A. Dutcher, MS, MLS, AHIP is Deputy Associate Director for Specialized Information Services, National Library of Medicine, 6707 Democracy Blvd, Suite 510, Bethesda, MD 20892.
authors.forename: Gale A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Dutcher
authors.affiliation: Elliot R. Siegel, PhD, FACMI leads Elliot Siegel Consulting, P.O. Box 3095, Bluffton, SC 29910. Dr. Siegel is retired from the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. where he served as Associate Director for Health Information Programs Development.
authors.forename: Elliot R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Siegel