Abstract
BackgroundDetermining what constitutes “good practice” in the measurement of the costs and effects of health promotion and disease prevention measures is of particular importance. The aim of this paper was to gather expert knowledge on (economic) evaluations of health promotion and prevention measures for children and adolescents, especially on the practical importance, the determinants of project success, meaningful parameters for evaluations, and supporting factors, but also on problems in their implementation. This information is targeted at people responsible for the development of primary prevention or health promotion programs.MethodsPartially structured open interviews were conducted by two interviewers and transcribed, paraphrased, and summarized for further use. Eight experts took part in the interviews.ResultsThe interviewed experts saw evaluation as a useful tool to establish the effects of prevention programs, to inform program improvement and further development, and to provide arguments to decision making. The respondents’ thought that determinants of a program’s success were effectiveness with evidence of causality, cost benefit relation, target-group reach and sustainability. It was considered important that hard and soft factors were included in an evaluation; costs were mentioned only by one expert. According to the experts, obstacles to evaluation were lacking resources, additional labor requirements, and the evaluators’ unfamiliarity with a program’s contents. It was recommended to consider evaluation design before a program is launched, to co-operate with people involved in a program and to make use of existing structures.ConclusionWhile in in this study only a partial view of expert knowledge is represented, it could show important points to consider when developing evaluations of prevention programs. By considering these points, researchers could further advance towards a more comprehensive approach of evaluation targeting measures in children and adolescents.
Highlights
Determining what constitutes “good practice” in the measurement of the costs and effects of health promotion and disease prevention measures is of particular importance
Health promotion and prevention measures are often directed at children and adolescents, even fewer attempts have been made to take into account the costeffectiveness of health promotion and disease prevention measures for children and adolescents
Two recent systematic reviews exist on this topic (e.g. [6, 7]), which found only two economic evaluations for health promotion programs targeting children and adolescents in Germany [8, 9]
Summary
Determining what constitutes “good practice” in the measurement of the costs and effects of health promotion and disease prevention measures is of particular importance. The aim of this paper was to gather expert knowledge on (economic) evaluations of health promotion and prevention measures for children and adolescents, especially on the practical importance, the determinants of project success, meaningful parameters for evaluations, and supporting factors, and on problems in their implementation. This information is targeted at people responsible for the development of primary prevention or health promotion programs. The question of the costs and effects of health promotion and disease prevention measures has, until now, barely been answered, especially for children and adolescents and for settings in Germany. A much higher number of evaluations would have been expected, as for example, a relatively high number of prevention programs is listed in the “KNP-Projektdatenbank”, which includes all projects that were funded within the German interdisciplinary Prevention Research Funding Program, and gives an excellent overview of the German prevention landscape
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