The Importance of Learning Objectives in Program Design and Evaluation

Blog post to AEA365, a blog sponsored by the American Evaluation Association (AEA) dedicated to highlighting Hot Tips, Cool Tricks, Rad Resources, and Lessons Learned for evaluators. The American Evaluation Association is an international professional association of evaluators devoted to the application and exploration of program evaluation, personnel evaluation, technology, and many other forms of evaluation. Evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products, and organizations to improve their effectiveness

Debi Lang and Kathy Muhr on Identifying Hidden or Hard to Reach Populations

Blog post to AEA365, a blog sponsored by the American Evaluation Association (AEA) dedicated to highlighting Hot Tips, Cool Tricks, Rad Resources, and Lessons Learned for evaluators. The American Evaluation Association is an international professional association of evaluators devoted to the application and exploration of program evaluation, personnel evaluation, technology, and many other forms of evaluation. Evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products, and organizations to improve their effectiveness

Debi Lang and Sharon Grundel on Youth Program Ingredients: How to Measure Success and Tell the Story

Blog post to AEA365, a blog sponsored by the American Evaluation Association (AEA) dedicated to highlighting Hot Tips, Cool Tricks, Rad Resources, and Lessons Learned for evaluators. The American Evaluation Association is an international professional association of evaluators devoted to the application and exploration of program evaluation, personnel evaluation, technology, and many other forms of evaluation. Evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products, and organizations to improve their effectiveness

Starting at the End: Measuring Learning Using Retrospective Pre-Post Evaluations

Blog post to AEA365, a blog sponsored by the American Evaluation Association (AEA) dedicated to highlighting Hot Tips, Cool Tricks, Rad Resources, and Lessons Learned for evaluators. The American Evaluation Association is an international professional association of evaluators devoted to the application and exploration of program evaluation, personnel evaluation, technology, and many other forms of evaluation. Evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products, and organizations to improve their effectiveness

MassHealth Hospice Program: Overview and Analysis Final Report

The MassHealth Hospice Program: Overview and Analysis study employed mixed methods to conduct a descriptive analysis of primary and secondary data, using document review, key informant interviews, and MassHealth claims and enrollment data. This report explains the structure and implementation of the hospice benefit, examines the increase in hospice benefit utilization and expenditures, assesses member and family satisfaction with the benefit, and describes end of life services provided by Medicaid programs in five states. Client/Partner: MassHealt

In a neighborhood near you: how community health workers help people obtain health insurance and primary care

Implementing the health insurance mandate of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), signed into law in 2010, will require states to reach, educate, and successfully enroll individuals and families who have had little experience with health coverage. The uninsured are likely to require considerable individualized application and enrollment support. Consumer advocates believe there is a need for ongoing support so that the newly insured retain their coverage, navigate their way effectively through the health care system, and engage in wellness and prevention activities. As many states prepare to enroll millions of low-income uninsured Americans, the experience of Community Health Workers (CHWs) in Massachusetts can inform outreach and enrollment efforts across the country

Facilitating Access to Health Coverage and Care by Advancing Health Insurance Literacy

Although Massachusetts currently has the highest rate of health insurance coverage in the nation, reports suggest health care consumers do not fully understand how their insurance works. Thus, the insured and uninsured populations alike need ongoing support in order to develop health insurance literacy, defined as the degree to which individuals obtain, process, and understand information about health insurance in order to make informed decisions about choosing and using their coverage, which in turn can lead to positive health outcomes. Educating consumers and giving them tools and resources are strategies that advance health insurance literacy. Since 2001, the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation (the Foundation) has awarded over $5 million to community health centers and community-based organizations throughout Massachusetts, through its Connecting Consumers with Care (CCC) grant program, to conduct outreach, provide education and help consumers enroll in health insurance and access primary care. In 2015, the Foundation focused its CCC grant activities to improve health insurance literacy and engage consumers to utilize the health care system more effectively. Grantees have collected data on common measures, using adaptable data collection tools (e.g., brief client surveys), to assess changes in clients\u27 knowledge, confidence, and/or preparedness to better navigate complex systems of coverage and care. The poster presentation will discuss: - the importance of health insurance literacy and its relevance to improving population and community health - strategies currently used to increase health insurance literacy among diverse populations, including successes and challenges - how the impact of these strategies was measured - how assessments were designed to reflect consumers\u27 voices

ZikaPLAN: addressing the knowledge gaps and working towards a research preparedness network in the Americas.

Zika Preparedness Latin American Network (ZikaPLAN) is a research consortium funded by the European Commission to address the research gaps in combating Zika and to establish a sustainable network with research capacity building in the Americas. Here we present a report on ZikaPLAN`s mid-term achievements since its initiation in October 2016 to June 2019, illustrating the research objectives of the 15 work packages ranging from virology, diagnostics, entomology and vector control, modelling to clinical cohort studies in pregnant women and neonates, as well as studies on the neurological complications of Zika infections in adolescents and adults. For example, the Neuroviruses Emerging in the Americas Study (NEAS) has set up more than 10 clinical sites in Colombia. Through the Butantan Phase 3 dengue vaccine trial, we have access to samples of 17,000 subjects in 14 different geographic locations in Brazil. To address the lack of access to clinical samples for diagnostic evaluation, ZikaPLAN set up a network of quality sites with access to well-characterized clinical specimens and capacity for independent evaluations. The International Committee for Congenital Anomaly Surveillance Tools was formed with global representation from regional networks conducting birth defects surveillance. We have collated a comprehensive inventory of resources and tools for birth defects surveillance, and developed an App for low resource regions facilitating the coding and description of all major externally visible congenital anomalies including congenital Zika syndrome. Research Capacity Network (REDe) is a shared and open resource centre where researchers and health workers can access tools, resources and support, enabling better and more research in the region. Addressing the gap in research capacity in LMICs is pivotal in ensuring broad-based systems to be prepared for the next outbreak. Our shared and open research space through REDe will be used to maximize the transfer of research into practice by summarizing the research output and by hosting the tools, resources, guidance and recommendations generated by these studies. Leveraging on the research from this consortium, we are working towards a research preparedness network

An Observational Overview of Solar Flares

We present an overview of solar flares and associated phenomena, drawing upon a wide range of observational data primarily from the RHESSI era. Following an introductory discussion and overview of the status of observational capabilities, the article is split into topical sections which deal with different areas of flare phenomena (footpoints and ribbons, coronal sources, relationship to coronal mass ejections) and their interconnections. We also discuss flare soft X-ray spectroscopy and the energetics of the process. The emphasis is to describe the observations from multiple points of view, while bearing in mind the models that link them to each other and to theory. The present theoretical and observational understanding of solar flares is far from complete, so we conclude with a brief discussion of models, and a list of missing but important observations.Comment: This is an article for a monograph on the physics of solar flares, inspired by RHESSI observations. The individual articles are to appear in Space Science Reviews (2011