Program in Brief
HIV/AIDS in Kenya Health Promotion is the program that provides the population with knowledge about the rates of HIV infections in a particular area (Kenya) among married and cohabitating couples as well as people, who just have stable sexual relations and who are under a threat of getting an HIV/AIDS infection (Omanje, Bosire, Mwenda 73). The program aims at promoting education and consultations about HIV/AIDS and the possible prevention of the disease.
The following evaluation plan of the program has a number of points for consideration.
Evaluation Question
What are the effects of the HIV/AIDS in Kenya Health Promotion Program in regards to the short-term and long-term goals set by its developers before the implementation?
Importance of the Evaluation Question
The offered evaluation question is important because of several reasons. First, it helps to analyze the immediate effects of the program under consideration (McKenzie, Neiger, and Thackeray 376). Second, it promotes the development of the discussion about the possible changes in attitudes to the program (Adamchak, Bond, MacLaren, Magnani, Nelson, and Selter 5). Finally, the problem of HIV/AIDS spread in Kenya is burning indeed as more than 1,6 million people (among its population about 44 million people) have the infection (AVERT para. 1). Therefore, the question seems to be a perfect solution for the beginning of the evaluation plan. It touches upon different aspects of the problem and mentions its present essence as well as the future effects.
The Program’s Effects in Regards to Short-Term and Long-Term Goals
This section of the evaluation plan should focus on different goals that are connected with the health promotion program and different ethical aspects (Thurston, Vollman, and Burgess 45). The following points have to be mentioned in the plan:
Stakeholder needs
- Who are in need of the findings?
- What do people learn with the program?
- How is it possible to use the findings?
Goals’ identification
- What are the short-term goals of the program?
- What are the long-term goals of the program?
- Is it possible to improve the already achieved results of the program?
The Evaluation Design
For the HIV/AIDS in Kenya Health Promotion Program, the pre-test and post-test design is chosen (Langbein and Felbinger 115). With the help of such choice, it is possible to consider the program before and after the intervention and define its impact on the intervention group. The changes of the intervention outcomes may be also considered during this type of evaluation. The following questions are necessary for this section of the evaluation plan:
- What are the expected and evident impacts of the program?
- Do people believe in the power of the program?
- What do stakeholders expect to get from the program?
- How are the developers going to implement the program?
- Are the developers satisfied with the results got after the program’s implementation?
- Do the stakeholders of the program want to make some corrections and adjustments?
- Do the stakeholders have enough reasons to prove the worthiness of their program?
The answers should be provided with clear examples to explain how the program works and should actually work and make certain improvements if necessary.
Design’s Strengths and Weaknesses
The collection of the data for the evaluation of the program using the design chosen in the paper requires certain time and efforts. The main challenge of the evaluation is the necessity of time. The evaluators have to spend some time before the implementation of the program and define their expectations and then, compare the results achieved with the expectations established beforehand. The following questions may be posed:
- Are there any differences between the results and expectations?
- Are the changes positive or negatives?
- What can be improved?
- Who should take responsibility for the changes between the goals set and achieved?
Methods to Collect Data
In order to answer the evaluation question about the effects of the HIV/AIDS in Kenya Health Promotion Program in regards to the short-term and long-term goals set by its developers, the following methods to collect data may be applied:
- Questionnaires for the ordinary population in Kenya about the necessity of the program;
- Identification of the people with HIV/AIDS and their willingness to participate in the program;
- Literature review of the material about HIV/AIDS
- Use and analysis of the statistics about HIV/AIDS in different regions of Kenya.
The following questions will help to identify the quality of the information chosen for the program implementation process:
- How is the collected data tested?
- What additional investigations are used to check the credibility of the information?
- How can the data be protected?
- What are the main sources of information?
Possible Modifications
In this part of the evaluation, it is necessary to clear up what kind of improvements can be offered for the already created program. The developers have to be stimulated to define what kind of work they can do on the already offered basis.
- Does the program look complete?
- Does the program help the population to avoid HIV/AIDS directly? Why/why not?
- Are some modifications possible without changing the main goals of the program?
- What kind of work may be used to improve the program?
- Who should participate in the modification process if necessary?
All these questions are necessary for the evaluation plan due to their possibility to explain the developers their main mistakes and necessary improvements.
Effects of the Evaluation Results (Quality, Utility, Priority Populations)
In general, the evaluation plan offered in the paper helps to analyze the impact of the HIV/AIDS in Kenya Health Promotion Program from different aspects. In the beginning, the quality of the program is checked by means of the comparison of the questions about the goals set and the results achieved. Then, the ways of how the information can be utilized are discussed. It helps to clear up several aspects of the program: its reliability, utility, and even the priority in regards to the region the program is implemented in.
The evaluation shows a real importance of the program and defines some additional steps that can be offered. It is not enough to make some adjustments just in order to make them. It is more important to identify what kind of work may considerably improve the effectiveness of the HIV/AIDS in Kenya Health Promotion Program and help people get ready for this infection and take the crucial precautionary methods. In fact, the problems connected with HIV/AIDS and people’s inabilities to prevent the spread of infection sometimes make the program really important, and its evaluation should not be neglected as well.
References
Adamchak, Susan, Bond, Katherine, MacLaren, Laurel, Magnani, Robert, Nelson, Kristin, and Judith Seltzer 2000, A Guide to Monitoring and Evaluating Adolescent Reproductive Health Programs. 2015. Web.
AVERT 2015. “HIV and AIDS in Kenya.” Web.
Langbein, Laura and Claire Felbinger. Public Program Evaluation: A Statistical Guide. New York, NY: M.E. Sharp, 2006. Print.
McKenzie, James, Neiger, Brad, and Rosemary Thackeray. Promotion Programs: A Primer. San Francisco, CA: Pearson, 2013. Print.
Omanje, Thadeus S, Sheillah Bosire and Samwel Mwenda. “Knowledge and Perceptions of HIV/AIDS among Married Couples in Kenya.” Public Health Research 5.3 (2015): 73-78. Print.
Thurston, Wilfreda, Vollman, Adrene, and Michael Burgess. “Ethical Review of Health Promotion Program Evaluation Proposals.” Health Promotion Practice 4.1 (2003): 45-50. Web.