Positive Evaluation

The challenges that this population faces are directly related to psychosocial, physiological, economic and behavioral factors. Challenges such as these can cause serious obstacles for the prevention of STDs due to their influence on access to care, willingness to seek treatment, and social behaviors regarding sexuality. Often older adults are looked at as

Evaluation is a process that is used to look at the project, policy or program critically. It includes the collection and analyzing information that is related to the program or policy and that of its outcome. The Main purpose is to improve the policy or the program effectiveness. This will also help to identify any of the weak areas and changes that need to be made in the policy.

First, we need to raise awareness of the prevalence of HIV in Baton Rouge by posting flyers saying how the capital has one of the highest prevalence of HIV in the country and that HIV is no longer a death sentence with modern medicine available. Also, list a plethora of clinics and free HIV testing centers on the flyers if people are interested in getting tested. We also need to create efficient and committed HIV advocacy organizations and advertise them around Baton Rouge for those with HIV who are seeking help. Even so, a study in Canada constructed a trial run consisting of using HIV-positive peer counselors administering seven 2-hour counseling sessions to small groups of gay and bisexual men. The goal of these sessions was to help reduce the prevalence of HIV transmission and high-risk sexual behaviors through implementing motivational interviewing, behavioral skills, and information about HIV (Hart et al. 1). When the trial run was finished, there were some impressive results. No doubt, there was a significant reduction in a number of men participating in sex without a condom with all status partners by 30 percent. Also, there was a significant reduction in loneliness, sexual compulsivity, and fear of being sexually rejected for insisting on condom use, by which these factors heavily contribute to sexually high-risk behaviors (Hart et al. 11).

A program evaluation offers a way to determine if adjustments are needed to improve upon the project in order for it to remain successful. Furthermore, the project evaluation team will analyze and measure each component of the outcome, input, and process in order to clarify the program’s objectives and goals. Thus creating a framework of evaluation methods and questions in addition to setting up a timeline for the evaluation activities will assist in the evaluation (CDC, 2011; HRSA, n.d.; McGonigle & Mastrian, 2015). The goal of outcome measures is to describe the overall performance of the process; therefore, outcome measurement will determine the program cost-effectiveness, attribution, and efficiency (CDC, 2012; HRSA, n.d.; McGonigle & Mastrian, 2015). There will be additional evaluation concerning the input measures, which are the resources that were put into the process. Lastly, the appraisal of process measures will provide data regarding the performance each course of action involved in the implantation of the project (HRSA, n.d.). After a thorough evaluation of the project, recommendations and the dissemination of results will be prepared and

To truly understand the success or failure of a program, evaluations must be done. There are several ways to evaluate a program. For instance, a survey could be given to each client after they discharge from the program or checking on the offender two months after they discharge is a way to evaluate the outcome. Also, a stop to look at the direction the program is headed is a way to evaluate. If the program is starting to go in the opposite direction of the goals and objectives, then it would be time to revamp the program and get a fresh start. “Process/implementation evaluation determines whether program activities have been implemented as intended. (cdc.gov).” This shows that goals and objectives hold a significant function in designing a

Purpose of the evaluation: What aspect of the program would you assess? How does this complement the larger group evaluation? (5 points)

According to Mertens and Wilson, program evaluation is a systematic method for collecting, analyzing, and using information to answer questions about projects, policies and programs, particularly about their effectiveness and efficiency. Stakeholders often want to know whether the programs they are funding and supporting are effective. While program evaluation first focuses on the effectiveness of the program, other important factors to take into consideration is cost of the program, improvements that could be made, outcomes of the program, and usefulness of the program. Evaluators help to answer these questions, and stakeholders have to work with the evaluators in order to come to the best conclusion about the effectiveness of a program so that all aspects are taken into consideration. Program evaluations can involve both quantitative and qualitative methods of research. People who do program evaluation come from many different backgrounds, such as sociology, psychology, economics, social work, and public policy. Some graduate schools also have specific training programs for program evaluation.

An important aspect of creating any program is to insure it has a way to continue. This means the program will have to have be evaluated and tweaked in order to change with the growing needs of those it serves. Evaluation is an integral part of any program development.

In determining the type of evaluation used in this research, I supposed that the evaluation cannot be formative, because there is no recommendation based on the findings (Posovac, 2011). Then, I hesitated between the summative evaluation and the monitoring one. Firstly, the evaluation could be summative because of the comparison between the old and the new programs, there is no indication in the article stating that the evaluation’s findings will be used to decide amongst the two programs, and the findings could be used for accountability purposes (Posovac, 2011). Secondly, because the new program is a refined program stemming from the quality improvement of the old one, this could be a monitoring evaluation, since the authors only gathered the feedback to confirm that the program was still effective (Posovac, 2011).

Another model of evaluation based on the personal observations makes the use of intensive personal observations and conversations with the stakeholders would be the proponents of “qualitative or naturalistic” argues that only a deep and thorough understanding of a program will permit the most helpful with the evaluation. Offering the “expert opinion model” where the evaluator must be the data-gathering instrument; yet, a greater emphasis is placed on the understanding the experiences to such issues.

Program evaluation is an important tool to show that the health interventions have been effective and they also intend to improve the health of the target population. Evaluation helps define the worth of a program. It is imperative to conduct program evaluation in order to provide feedback to improve the effectiveness of the program. Evaluation plans should be developed at the beginning of the health program interventions. The CDC framework for program evaluation is comprised of the following steps:1) Engage stakeholders; 2) Describe the program; 3) Focus on evaluation design; 4) Gather credible evidence; 5) Justify conclusions; 6) Ensure use and share lessons learned. Also listed are the four standards for assessing the quality of evaluation activities: utility, feasibility, propriety, and accuracy (CDC, 2013). According to an article

If you are looking for a class to meet both a general education and a diversity requirement class I’d recommend taking Sociology 268. The class, Race and Ethnicity, is an introduction course taught by Professor Kristina Cantin. I am going to evaluate this professor based off of five criteria: subject knowledge and passion; setting high standards and clear classroom objectives; ability to create a sense of community within the class; professor accessibility; and mutual respect.

HIV/AIDS is an ongoing epidemic in the United States. The African American population is greatly affected by this due to high risk behaviors such as, unprotected heterosexual contact, injection drug use, unprotected sexual contact, multiple sexual partners and fear of disclosing sexual orientation. There is a great need to provide effective HIV/AIDS prevention education materials to the population, in particular those in the African American population. Prevention education programs, based on curriculums that can be implemented to groups in, clinics, and other community settings have been found to be a promising form of intervention to reduce sexual risk behaviors. Although community based programs are the simplest and one of the most efficient routes in providing prevention education to the population, prevention efforts have been shown to be ineffective due to lack of appropriate resources and fear of disclosure.

To do that, the first thing to do is to try to prevent the disease from spreading by encouraging people to get tested at least once in their lives if they are low risk and yearly if they are high risk (CDC, 2018). In addition, if they suspect they might be infected with the virus, they should get tested right away. Furthermore, it’s essential for them to know that HIV diagnosis is confidential and by law, you cannot share any of their information without their permission. Many places offer free HIV testing as a preventive part to detect early HIV infection, thus starting early treatment to prevent the spread of HIV. Secondly, HIV education is an essential tool to stop the spread of the disease. Persistent instruction about HIV contamination gives patients HIV disease and their relatives with a more precise comprehension of the disease process, treatment alternatives, self-care, and the most effective method to take an interest in settling on choices identified with treatment and clinical care (Engelke and Schub, 2017). Nationwide, nurse practitioners should focus on educating homosexual and Latinos men about the importance of getting tested at least yearly. In Palm Beach County, since most individuals affected by HIV is heterosexual and African American, and older people, the emphasis should be on these targets. We should encourage them to see their primary care provider at least once a year and

The face of the HIV epidemic has changed. People ages 50 and older now represent the fastest growing segment of HIV positive adults in the United States (Sankar et al, 2011). A workshop on HIV Infection and Aging estimated that by 2015, adults aged 50 and older will make up approximately 50% of all HIV/AIDS in the U.S. (Effros et al, 2008). Factors, including decreased efficiency of the immune system and decreased likelihood that older adults have been tested for HIV, increase the vulnerability of older adults to HIV transmission (Hillman & Broderick, 2002; Solomon, 1996).