Evaluating Community-based Prevention Programs

Abstract

On June 2, 2009, Trust for America’s Health, The New York Academy of Medicine, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and The California Endowment convened policymakers, researchers, and evaluators to discuss strategies for assessing the impact of the $650 million investment in community-based prevention in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The ARRA investment was discussed as an opportunity to demonstrate the value of community-based prevention. Meeting participants generated six recommendations to address the areas of concern policymakers typically have regarding investment in communitybased prevention programs. Community-based prevention has the support of academics and practitioners in public health and preventive medicine. As a result of philanthropic investments and the growing success of local policies and programs, there has been a paradigm shift away from focusing primarily on individual behavior change to promote health, toward environmental and policy change for health improvement. However, outside the fields of public health and preventive medicine, the effectiveness of this strategy is less well known. There was consensus at the meeting that ideally, the ARRA program and evaluation of its supported interventions will be designed to help address the concerns and questions of policymakers in particular. The following were identified as some of the areas of concern policymakers typically have regarding investment in community-based prevention programs: