Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

First Advisor

Claire Halverson

Abstract

In the social service field, evaluation is an oft-misunderstood step in the program planning process, and as such is often poorly planned or left out altogether. Yet a well-designed evaluation strategy provides information vital to making sound programmatic decisions for the evaluator, the program administrator and the funder. In the field of health education, it is common for evaluation to take place in a resource-constrained environment in which the chosen strategy requires tradeoffs between data reliability, validity, and utility, and feasibility of data collection techniques. The difficulty of designing and implementing an effective evaluation strategy is exacerbated when working with a migratory population, such as migrant farmworkers. Yet creative evaluation is possible in seemingly difficult conditions.

This paper will attempt to provide an answer to the question of what are effective evaluation tools for measuring reaction to and impact of health education sessions offered by East Coast Migrant Health Project, Inc., field staff to Hispanic migrant farmworkers. Corollaries to this question include:

- Is the method appropriate for use with Hispanic migrant farmworkers?;

- Can the method be easily incorporated into normal field staff work activities?;

- Do the results obtained by this method answer one or more of the following questions: Has the training had an impact, defined by measurable or observable changes, on knowledge, attitudes, skills and/or behavior? Did participants think the training was interesting, helpful or useful?

Disciplines

International and Intercultural Communication | Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies

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