The Outcome Evaluation Tool offers step-by-step guidance for planning and conducting an outcome evaluation, which measures how well a program achieves its intended effects on participant outcomes. It explains what outcome evaluation is and why it matters, outlines evaluation design options (e.g., pre-post designs, control groups), provides tips for selecting valid and reliable measures and managing data collection, and offers practical advice on data analysis and using findings to assess program impact and inform future decisions.
Category: Evaluation
Communicating Evaluation Results
The Dissemination Evaluation Tool guides practitioners through the intentional process of sharing program evaluation findings with key audiences—such as stakeholders, community members, funders, and policymakers—in ways that are accessible, understandable, and actionable. It explains why dissemination matters (e.g., increasing awareness of program impact, informing decision-making, fostering collaboration, and supporting sustainability), outlines how to tailor messages to different audiences, and offers strategies and formats for effectively communicating results so they drive learning, improvement, and informed action.
The Peer Review Process.
This video explains the peer review process for prevention programs, which is a quality control process that involves careful review of scholarly and academic work. Experts with knowledge and experience in the same field as the prevention program that is being reviewed will scrutinize the research, ideas, methods, and outcomes of the program to ensure that the research has occurred according to professional standards. These experts also ensure that the program outcomes may be reproduced in other similar contexts and conditions. Then, a publication is produced with the findings which is also referred to as a scholarly publication. To learn more about the Peer Review Process, please view the YouTube video.
The Meaning of “Evidence-Based” Programs.
This handout outlines criteria for what it means to say a program is ‘evidence-based’ and where programs then fall along a ‘continuum of confidence’.
The Do’s and Don’ts of Community Program Evaluations.
This video introduces a discussion on the do’s and don’ts of community prevention program evaluation, emphasizing that strong evaluations are collaborative – grounded in shared logic models, clear goals/objectives, and trust between implementers and evaluators. The guest explains key tradeoffs between in-house and external evaluation (e.g., local context knowledge vs. objectivity/credibility) and underscores why process evaluation (implementation/fidelity) is essential before drawing conclusions about outcomes. The conversation also highlights practical guidance such as using validated measures, planning for dissemination, and evaluating adaptations to ensure programs are effective (and not inadvertently harmful).
Theory of Change: Understanding Program Goals and Outcomes.
This one-page resource defines a theory of change as the rationale for why prevention activities, services, events, or products should lead to desired outcomes, and notes that theories of change often inform program design and logic models. It briefly describes several common public health theories used for behavior change—such as the Theory of Planned Behavior, Transtheoretical (Stages of Change) Model, Ecological Model, Social Cognitive Theory, and the Health Belief Model. It also emphasizes that selecting an appropriate theory can require domain expertise and recommends consulting a research partner when needed.
Logic Model Template.
This document is a logic model template designed to help teams plan and describe how a program is intended to work by outlining its resources (inputs), activities/outputs, short-term outcomes, and long-term impacts, and encouraging clear specification of the program theory of change and dosage. It serves as a practical tool for guiding program planning, implementation, communication, and evaluation by visually linking what a program invests and does to the results it aims to achieve.
Developing a Program Evaluation Plan.
This resource is an 18-page practical guide for developing a comprehensive program evaluation plan, walking teams through key steps from establishing an evaluation team and understanding program materials to planning both process and outcome evaluations, launching data collection, and reporting results. It provides actionable guidance on selecting appropriate measures, aligning evaluation activities with a logic model, tracking implementation and outcomes, and ensuring findings are communicated effectively to support program improvement and stakeholder engagement.
Process Evaluation
The Steps for Process Evaluation resource outlines how to assess whether a program is being implemented as planned by systematically tracking key aspects of delivery. It guides teams to plan the process evaluation before implementation, identify what to measure (e.g., participant characteristics, attendance/utilization, fidelity/adherence, participant satisfaction, staff perceptions, work-plan adherence), determine data collection methods, assign responsibilities and timelines, and then analyze and summarize findings to inform midcourse corrections and support quality implementation. These steps help ensure the program runs according to design and provide documentation that can improve current and future implementations.