The Practice of Health Program Evaluation

Book excerpt: As more and more money is spent developing programs and services to solve health problems, how can one know if a specific health program works or what it would take to improve it? Aimed at addressing this issue, The Practice of Health Program Evaluation provides readers with the methods to evaluate health programs and the expertise to navigate the political terrain so as to work more effectively with decision makers and other groups. To convey these principles, Grembowski uses the metaphor of evaluation being a three-act play with a variety of actors and interest groups, each having a role that involves entering and exiting the "stage" at different points in the evaluation process.