Designs and methods used in published Australian health promotion evaluations 1992-2011

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Promotion
• Evaluation Science

Background:

• Health promotion evaluations are crucial for assessing intervention effectiveness.
• Understanding trends in evaluation methodologies informs practice and policy.
• Previous research has not systematically analyzed Australian health promotion evaluation designs and methods over time.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the designs and methods employed in Australian health promotion evaluation articles published between 1992 and 2011.
• To identify patterns and trends in the methodologies used in this field.
• To provide empirical evidence on the state of health promotion evaluation in Australia.

Main Methods:

• Content analysis of 157 Australian health promotion evaluation articles.
• Systematic review of published literature from 1992 to 2011.
• Categorization of evaluation types, designs, and data collection methods.

Main Results:

• Impact evaluation was the most common type.
• Quantitative designs were exclusively used in over half of the articles.
• Surveys were the most frequent data collection method, with nearly half of evaluations using only one method.
• Explicit references to intended evaluation outcomes or published evaluation models/frameworks were rare.

Conclusions:

• This study provides the first empirical investigation of designs and methods in Australian health promotion evaluation articles.
• Little change in the overall designs and methods of published evaluations was observed since 1992.
• Increased methodological transparency and sophistication in published evaluations could enhance practice and public health outcomes.