PHCA9506 Program Planning and Evaluation in Public Health

This topic aims to provide students with the knowledge and skills required to plan a public health program and its evaluation.

It provides students with the opportunity to develop their understanding of key program planning and evaluation concepts and expand their knowledge of relevant approaches and methods. In particular, this topic will focus on the key complexities inherent in planning public health programs in relation to evaluation planning, and the nexus between program planning and the identified public health problem. Students will be involved in critically appraising evaluations and will design a public health evaluation relevant to their area of work or interest.

This topic aims to:

• Provide students with an opportunity to develop their capacity to plan and undertake the evaluation of public health and primary health care initiatives
• Enhance students' theoretical and practical understanding of key evaluation issues relevant to the practice of public health and primary health care

1. Have an understanding of the key elements of program planning and implementation, and their relation to the identified health problem
2. Apply a range of key evaluation concepts to the evaluation of public health care initiatives
3. Critically analyse examples of public health program evaluations, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses
4. Select appropriate methods for the evaluation of a range of public health initiatives
5. Provide a convincing rationale for an evaluation plan they have developed for a public health program of their choice
6. Identify strategies to facilitate the dissemination and utilisation of evaluation findings