Evaluation

Evaluation is an essential part of any health communication effort. It is the only way that we can determine whether or not our messaging and interventions are effective. There are three types of evaluation that should be included in every health communication campaign: 1) Outcome Evaluation; 2) Formative Evaluation; and 3) Process Evaluations.^{1Gateway to Health Communication. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved March 2, 2021 from https://www.cdc.gov/healthcommunication/research/index.html.,2Types of Evaluation. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved March 1, 2021, from https://www.cdc.gov/std/program/pupestd/types%20of%20evaluation.pdf.}

The Playbook’s companion worksheet will help you organize your evaluation plan.

On this page:

Outcome Evaluation | Process Evaluation | Formative Evaluation | Resources | Next Step

Outcome Evaluation

Before you develop a health communication strategy or tactic, define what the health behavior change is that you want to see in a specific population.^{1Yeager, K. R. (2004). Evidence-based practice manual: Research and outcome measures in health and human services. Oxford University Press.} Outcome evaluation is a measure of the effectiveness of your health communication interventions on your target population. If you are not achieving your outcomes, then you may need to consider revising your health communication campaign efforts.

More About Outcome Evaluation

Consider outcome evaluations for COVID-19 vaccinations amongst vulnerable populations at a community level such as:

COVID-19 infection and death rate by race and ethnicity for a specific area.
Vaccine adoption rate.
Vaccine sentiment rate.
Vaccine distribution at the community level.

Process Evaluation

This type of evaluation includes metrics to count your program or health campaign’s activities. Process evaluation helps to describe the output of your efforts—what was done, and how much was done.

More About Process Evaluation

Process evaluation metrics relative to communication efforts can include items such as:

Web analytics.
Social media metrics.
Number of engagements or community meetings held
Number of communication materials distributed (e.g., flyers, posters, emails, etc.).

Formative Evaluation

When working with diverse populations, formative evaluation is essential to ensuring that your message will resonate with a particular audience. Conduct formative evaluations before and during your health campaign or message development.

More About Formative Evaluation

Form a Community Health Advisory Board. If you haven’t already done this in the Design phase, create a community health advisory board with members who are from the community.

Establish a Design and Review Process. Design a process for developing and reviewing health messages with the board before using them in communication materials with the targeted population.

Review the Messaging. When developing your health messaging, you can include board members in the message development or ask them to review it prior to using the messages to communicate with the larger community. This will ensure that the message is culturally appropriate and relevant to the community, addresses community values and beliefs, and is in the primary language of the community.

Confirm the Appropriate Graphics. Ask the board to review the graphics that you use in your health communication materials to ensure that they are culturally appropriate and represent the people in the community.

Resources

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National Resource Center for Refugees, Immigrants, and Migrants: Community Engagement Toolkit

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Evaluating the Effectiveness of Public Health Communications Campaigns – Part I

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Indian Health Service (IHS) COVID-19 Vaccine Information. COVID-19 vaccine resources developed by IHS in consultation with tribal partners and state and local public health officials.

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Center for American Indian Health. Produces materials related to the COVID-19 vaccine; materials are available for download for use with tribal communities.

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Next Step

Health communication campaigns are strengthened by evaluation. Develop your evaluation plan using the companion worksheet. Be sure to check out the Resources tab to review documents, websites, and other items that may be helpful as you develop and implement your communication strategy.