EVALUATION OF HEALTH-EDUCATION PROGRAMS - CURRENT ASSESSMENT AND FUTURE-DIRECTIONS

Recently there has been an increase in the different types of strategi es used in health education interventions, including an emphasis on br oadening programs focused on individual behavior change to include lar ger units of practice. There has also been an increasing critique of t he traditional physical science paradigm for evaluating the multiple d imensions inherent in many interventions. Additionally, there is a gro wing recognition of the importance of involving multiple stakeholders in designing, implementing, and evaluating interventions. Each of thes e factors carries specific evaluation challenges. With the overall aim of strengthening the evaluation of health education programs, this ar ticle aims to (a) present conceptual and technical design issues and o ptions, (b) describe different approaches to evaluation, (c) highlight evaluation approaches that have been effective, (d) critique the limi tations of traditional evaluation approaches, (e) examine promising ap proaches and implications for future evaluations, and (f) provide reco mmendations for evaluation designs, data collection methods, roles, re sponsibilities, and principles for evaluating interventions.