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| "He
that will not apply new remedies must expect new
evils."
— Francis Bacon |
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Evaluation Overview
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Tobacco use
is the single most preventable cause of death and disease
in the United States, contributing to more than 430,000
deaths annually.1
Tobacco control programs in every community attempt
to change this discouraging statistic with innovative
approaches that reach all segments of the population.
Many of these programs |
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succeed; some of them do
not. And the only way to prove that a program is actually
reducing death and disease related to tobacco use is
to evaluate its effect. |
| Many tobacco prevention
and control programs do tremendous work that is never
fully recognized by the public, by other health professionals,
or even by the people who benefit directly from the
program’s accomplishments. Why does this happen?
Usually, it is because program managers and staff strongly
believe that their work is doing good |
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Another fact:3
"Each year, 280 children actually die
from respiratory illness resulting from
secondhand smoke; and another 300 kids suffer
from injuries resulting from smoking-caused
fires." |
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things, but have no solid
evidence to prove their success to people outside their
program. In other words, such programs are missing one
important element: evaluation. |
Evaluation encourages us to examine all the parts of a program,
including what we put into the program, which activities take
place, who conducts the activities, and who is reached as
a result. In addition, evaluation will show how well the way
the program is actually run matches the guidelines for how
it is supposed to be run.2
The information provided here will help you understand the
importance of evaluating your program, explain what’s
involved, and offer some valuable tips and resources for getting
started.
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1. Source: Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. (1997). Smoking-attributable mortality and years
of potential life lost—United States, 1984. MMWR
46 (20), 441–51.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00047690.htm
2. Source:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
(2001). Describe the program. In Introduction to program
evaluation for comprehensive tobacco control programs
(pp. 21-48). Atlanta, GA: the Author.
Click to view the website.
3. Source:
National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids. (2000). Harm to
kids from secondhand smoke. Washington, DC: the Author.
http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0104.pdf
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