Breaking barriers and building bridges: Increasing community engagement in program evaluation

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Communication
• Community-Based Participatory Research

Background:

• Project PrIDE by MDHHS aimed to boost PrEP awareness in Wayne County, MI (2015-2018).
• Strained relationships between MDHHS and the community hindered effective engagement.
• A local evaluation (LE) was conducted to identify engagement barriers and facilitators.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine barriers and facilitators to community engagement in Project PrIDE activities.
• To understand factors influencing the project's goal of increasing PrEP awareness.
• To assess the impact of community engagement on program effectiveness.

Main Methods:

• A mixed-methods participatory evaluation approach was employed.
• Data collection included meeting surveys (quantitative), focus groups, and a photovoice project (qualitative).
• Data analysis involved descriptive statistics and deductive thematic coding.

Main Results:

• Community Advisory Board (CAB) engagement enhanced collaboration, feasibility, utility, appropriateness, and sustainability.
• Barriers identified included restrictive funding, service delivery issues, and underutilized CAB feedback.
• Ineffective campaign messages resulted from a lack of integrated community input.

Conclusions:

• Initial strained relationships improved through interagency collaboration in program and evaluation activities.
• Encouraging collaborative development, implementation, and utilization strengthened the community-MDHHS relationship.
• Addressing identified barriers is crucial for sustained and effective community engagement in public health initiatives.