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Health decision makers' perceptions of program evaluation. Relationship to purpose and information needs
S E Carpinello1, D L Newman, L L Jatulis
1New York State Office of Mental Health.
Evaluation & the Health Professions
|November 4, 1992
Summary
Community health care program evaluations serve multiple purposes, including accreditation, true assessment, and pseudo-evaluation. Information needs, particularly descriptive and empirical data, predict evaluation types, but not accreditation, indicating its symbolic role.
Area of Science:
- Health Services Research
- Program Evaluation
- Healthcare Management
Background:
- Program evaluation is crucial in community healthcare for accountability and improvement.
- Understanding the diverse motivations behind evaluations and their link to information needs is essential for effective practice.
- Previous research has not fully elucidated the relationship between specific information requirements and the varying purposes of program evaluation in healthcare settings.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate alternative reasons for conducting program evaluations in community healthcare.
- To examine the relationship between identified purposes of program evaluation and decision-makers' information needs.
- To determine which types of information needs predict specific evaluation purposes.
Main Methods:
- A survey was administered to 136 community healthcare decision-makers.
- Factor analysis was employed to identify major purposes of program evaluation.
- A second factor analysis identified distinct types of information needs.
- Regression analyses were conducted to explore relationships between information needs and evaluation purposes.
Main Results:
- Three primary purposes for program evaluation were identified: accreditation, true evaluation, and pseudo-evaluation, in descending order of use.
- Five types of information needs were identified: descriptive information for validity/credibility, opinions, financial information, action information, and empirical information for validity/credibility.
- No significant relationship was found between information needs and accreditation, suggesting its symbolic use.
- Information needs, particularly descriptive and empirical evidence of validity/credibility, predicted true evaluation and pseudo/quasi evaluation.
Conclusions:
- Accreditation serves a symbolic function in program evaluation, independent of specific information requirements.
- Information needs are significant predictors of both genuine and pseudo/quasi program evaluations in community healthcare.
- The type of information sought influences the perceived purpose and utility of program evaluation, highlighting the need for tailored information strategies.