Health Promotion Evaluation Plan (Term Paper Sample)

Health Promotion Evaluation Plan: The Quit Victoria Smoking Cessation Program Name Institutional Affiliation Course Name and Number Instructor Date The Quit Victoria Smoking Cessation Program Tobacco smoking is one of the leading public health threats globally. Various public health stakeholders have initiated efforts to reduce the impacts of tobacco smoking. However, smoking remains a challenge for different populations, especially among adolescents. The recent reports by the World Health Organization (2023b) outline that smoking causes over 8 million mortalities across the globe every year. WHO (2023b) continues to indicate that over 7 million of those deaths result from tobacco smoking, while approximately 1.3 million casualties are non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke. Notably, this occurs when non-smokers breathe in smoke from individuals burning tobacco products, such as heated tobacco, pipe tobacco, bidis, cigarillos, cigarettes, cigars, and others (World Health Organization, 2023b). Tobacco smoking also poses a serious public health problem to the US healthcare system, despite enormous investments in quit-smoking and smoke-cessation programs. Today, tobacco smoking causes over 20,500 annual deaths in Australia (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2022). In other words, about 1in 5 deaths occurring in the US can be associated with tobacco use. In addition, reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2023) and Onyeaka et al. (2022) indicate that smoking tobacco products remains a prominent cause of preventable diseases and disabilities in various parts of the US. The United States and the world at large also record large numbers of chronic diseases resulting from cigarette smoking, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart disease, various cancers, stroke, diabetes, and other lung diseases (Vidanapathirana et al., 2016). These chronic diseases associated with smoking increase the annual government spending on individuals’ health and other healthcare facilities. Despite positive news from the recent health statistics on the downward trend of tobacco smoking, it remains a huge challenge with nearly 12 out of 100 US citizens engaged in smoking (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2023). While smoking is also common among elderly adults, including individuals aged 66 years and above, most of the smoking habits are recorded among youths in adolescence (Bahelah, 2017). Clearly, reducing the impacts of smoking requires joint efforts and appropriate strategies aimed at reducing tobacco smoking and promoting the health and well-being of the residents of Victoria and the world at large. Therefore, this informed the development of the Quit Victoria Smoking Cessation Program to reduce smoking rates and promote smoking cessation among Victoria residents. The primary goal of the Quit Victoria Smoking Cessation Program is to help the identified population (the residents of Victoria) reduce tobacco smoking and possibly quit and adopt healthy living habits. The program is intended to help various priority populations from Victoria, including the youth, pregnant women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and persons from diverse cultural backgrounds quit smoking. The program will include various parts including stakeholder engagement. This part outlines the program participants, such as the evaluator, the evaluated, and those who will use the evaluation results. Another crucial part of the program plan includes the program’s goals and objectives, program strategies and target groups, and the evidence required to execute the program to achieve the desirable outcomes. The third section of the program will justify the program design, including the theoretical perspective and areas that the program will address. The last of the program will outline the program logic, showing the relationship between various parts, outputs, and activities involved. This part will also explain outputs and outcomes, determining whether the program achieved its goals and objectives. The program results and effectiveness will be evaluated through impact evaluation. Impact evaluation is one of the CDC’s evaluation frameworks that helps program stakeholders assess the results (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022a). Impact assessments of the program’s effects on participants and other stakeholders will come in handy in outlining if the program achieved its intended outcomes, or if there is a need for changes. A. Engaging Stakeholders Various stakeholders will be involved in the program, such as the evaluators, the evaluated, and those for whom the evaluation will be intended. The primary evaluation audiences for the program will be the residents of Victoria. Different populations, including the youths, pregnant women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and older persons from multicultural groups will provide the relevant data about tobacco smoking in the selected area. Data collected from the community members will be used to determine the extent of tobacco smoking in the area and its health impact, before developing educative topics. Health educators from Victoria will engage the community members, and educate them on the importance of reducing and quitting smoking to live a healthy life. Program evaluators will be crucial in analyzing the program’s effectiveness through an impact evaluation framework. The program evaluators will be highly skilled professionals from various public health organizations, the Office on Smoking Health (OSH), and program supervisors (see Table 1). The evaluators will employ impact evaluation criteria to evaluate the program’s outcomes and effectiveness. Besides assessing the impact of the program, evaluators will make recommendations for improvement and provide feedback to the project managed. The program evaluators will engage the implementors (health educators) and the audiences (community members) to ensure an objective and unbiased evaluation process. Additionally, evaluators will determine whether the program met its goals and objectives. The evaluation outcome will be critical for reducing smoking and helping tobacco addicts quit. Overall, the evaluation report will be handed to the Quit Victoria Smoking Cessation Program managers who will share the report with community leadership, health agencies, OSH, and other government agencies responsible for the health and well-being of Victorian residents (see table 1). Table 1 below presents a concise overview of stakeholders within each category and elucidates their unique roles in the evaluation process. Table 1: Primary Evaluation Audiences Category Stakeholders Role in Evaluation The Evaluator * External evaluators * Research team * Public health organizations e.g., OSH * External evaluators bring impartiality and expertise to assess program effectiveness * The research team and public health organizations contribute methodological rigor and data analysis capabilities The Evaluated * Program staff * Healthcare providers * Priority populations/participants e.g., youth, pregnant women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities * Program staff and healthcare providers provide insights into program implementation and participant engagement * Participants' feedback and experiences are vital for understanding the program’s impact The Evaluation is For * Funding agencies * Community leaders * Policymakers * Health agencies e.g., OSH * Funding agencies seek accountability and evidence of impact * Community leaders, OSH, and policymakers benefit from data-driven insights to inform decision-making Engaging these stakeholders ensures that their diverse perspectives and interests are considered when designing, conducting, and interpreting the evaluation. The insights and feedback provided by program staff, healthcare providers, and participants are essential for a comprehensive understanding of the program’s implementation and its impact on the target populations. External evaluators and the research team bring methodological rigor and impartiality to the evaluation, enhancing its credibility and objectivity. Stakeholder engagement is not merely a one-time effort but an ongoing process that promotes transparency, collaboration, and shared ownership of the evaluation outcomes (Kujala et al., 2022). It ensures that the evaluation is not conducted in isolation but as a collective effort to assess and enhance the effectiveness of the Quit Victoria Smoking Cessation Program. B. Description of the Program Plan The program plan consists of the following parts; goals and objectives of the program (as specified by McKenzie, Neiger, & Thackeray (2013)), an overview of the strategies to evaluate, and the target groups. The plan will also provide evidence of the chosen strategies and rationale of the selected program model. 1. Goals and Objectives of the Program 1.1 Goals a. To reduce smoking rates and endorse smoking cessation The primary goal of the program is to reduce tobacco smoking and encourage different populations to quit tobacco smoking. The program implementors will commit adequate efforts towards educating the community members about the side effects of tobacco smoking. Public health education will take both individual-based and community-based approaches. Public campaigns dwelling on the importance of quitting smoking will be conducted in Victoria to help individuals adopt a healthy lifestyle. b. To reduce mortality due to smoking Smoking is among the leading deadly activities costing the lives of several Americans. Tobacco smoking is a risk factor for several chronic diseases, such as lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and stroke among others (WHO, 2023b; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2023). These chronic diseases are sources of many death...