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Qualitative and Quantitative Validation of Tools with Rating Scales Aimed at Assessing the Quality of University Service-Learning
Published on: August 29, 2025
[Effectiveness assessment in public health: conceptual and methodological foundations]
Manel Nebot1, Ma José López, Carles Ariza
1Agencia de Salud Pública de Barcelona, Barcelona, España. mnebot@aspb.cat
Gaceta Sanitaria
|November 8, 2011
Summary
Evaluating health programs is crucial for social utility and economic efficiency. This review clarifies evaluation methods, focusing on outcome evaluation and addressing challenges in public health program assessment.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Health Program Evaluation
Context:
- Growing interest in evaluating health programs for social utility and economic efficiency.
- Lack of consensus on key evaluation issues like terminology, goals, and methods.
- Need for standardized approaches in public health program and policy evaluation.
Purpose:
- To review definitions, classifications, and designs of evaluation for public health programs and policies.
- To focus on outcome evaluation and discuss threats to internal validity in weak designs.
- To analyze limitations of traditional evaluation designs for complex public health interventions.
Summary:
- Discusses various evaluation designs, emphasizing outcome evaluation and its challenges.
- Highlights limitations in evaluating complex public health interventions, such as difficulty in forming control groups.
- Proposes a two-step approach using adequacy and plausibility for evaluation with weak designs.
Impact:
- Provides a framework for understanding and conducting health program evaluations.
- Aims to improve the rigor and validity of public health program assessments.
- Offers practical strategies for decision-making in health program evaluation, even with limited designs.
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