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Alzheimer’s Association Evaluation ProposalBrandon Mendenhall, Tou Vang, Jessica PollardHEA 625: Community Health Education Program EvaluationThe University of North Carolina at GreensboroSection 1: Conceptualization of EvaluationEvaluation Purpose: The purpose of the evaluation will be to measure the effectiveness of the program, “Know the 10 Signs: Early Detection Matters,” at achieving its intended goals.Broad Evaluation Questions:Process: Are educators properly trained to conduct the program?Do educators effectively disseminate information?Is the program relevant to the audience?Does the audience understand the program materials?Are participants engaged in the presentation?Outcome:Did the program increase awareness of Alzheimer’s disease?Did the program increase participants’ confidence to seek early diagnosis for themselves or their loved ones?Did the program increase participants’ ability to identify the early warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease?What are the participants’ attitudes towards the program?Key Stakeholders: Alzheimer’s Association, caregivers of Alzheimer’s disease patients, Alzheimer’s disease patients, those at risk for Alzheimer’s disease, healthcare providers, health educators, long-term care facilitiesAssumptions: The program facilitators are presenting the program the way it is intended to be presented.Each program session offers the same material.Program participants speak the same language and have the ability to understand the material being presented.There will be enough scheduled sessions for evaluation.Program participants have enough interest in the program topic to be engaged during the session.Major Contextual Factors: One of the major contextual factors that need to be considered is the way in which the materials are being presented. Facilitators should be able to adjust their teaching style to meet all of the participant’s needs in order for them to have the utmost capability for learning. Diversity is a huge contextual factor that will influence the way an individual processes information. Facilitators need to examine the population at interest first (race, gender, skill level, age, etc) and then develop lesson plans to reach all of the participants effectively. Prevalence of stigma related to Alzheimer's disease may lessen community members’ willingness to participate. Prevalence of the disease may increase community members’ willingness to participate.Section 2: Program DescriptionProgram Purpose: The program “Know the 10 Signs: Early Detection Matters” is an educational program delivered by the Alzheimer’s Association which is meant to increase the general public’s understanding of the differences between age-related memory loss and dementia. This program also teaches participants how to seek medical care if they show signs of Alzheimer’s disease. The ten warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease are identified by the Alzheimer’s Association as: memory loss that disrupts daily life, challenges in planning or solving problems, difficulty completing familiar tasks at home, at work or at leisure, confusion with time or place, trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships, new problems with words in speaking or writing, misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps, decreased or poor judgement, withdrawal from work or social activities, and changes in mood and personality. Overall, the program “encourages early detection, early diagnosis and early intervention” of Alzheimer’s disease. Program Goals and Objectives: After attending one program session of “Know the 10 Signs: Early Detection Matters”, participants will be able to identify the 10 warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease and what steps to take if someone they know shows signs of Alzheimer’s disease. Participants will better understand how to approach a physician to obtain a medical diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and how to identify the risks of Alzheimer’s disease such as age, genetics, and family history. Finally, participants will understand the benefits of early detection.Target Audience: The target audience is open to the general public, particularly anyone who would like to know more about Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.Program Location: The program is intended to be implemented within a classroom setting, based on requests from communities.Previous Evaluations: No previous evaluations have been conducted.Logic Model Description: The program is illustrated in the logic model below, which is read left to right, but not in a linear fashion. The inputs are the resources necessary to implement a successful program. These are accompanied by relevant activities and outputs. The short-term and long-term outcomes are the changes expected to occur and are relevant to the program as a whole.The first input necessary for a successful program is to have trained educators to deliver the “Know the 10 Signs: Early Detection Matters” program. The second identified input is community partnerships. By creating partnerships with community organizations, the Alzheimer’s Association will be able to increase their resource referral and likely increase the number of programs held each month and program participants. Another required input is technology for presentations because the program is delivered through a PowerPoint presentation with embedded video clips. The Alzheimer’s Association has a projector and screen that they will take to the presentation site. The next identified input is to have program materials which will include a PowerPoint presentation and any necessary handouts and resources for program participants. Funding is another necessary input because the program is free to participants. The secured funding would allow the Alzheimer’s Association to pay their employees for their time spent delivering the program and obtain necessary materials and technology for the program delivery. An additional input is to have a facility to hold the program. This location will likely change with different program delivery dates as the Alzheimer’s Association often travels to a requesting organization’s facility.The next step in the program logic model is to identify the activities that will be conducted to ensure the program’s success. In turn, these activities will lead to quantifiable outcomes which will serve as a performance criteria. To have trained educators, the Alzheimer’s Association must hold training sessions to ensure the educators know the program material well enough to deliver to program participants. The associated outcome is to have two educators who have completed the required training and can facilitate the program. The activity to create partnerships will require Alzheimer’s Association employees and volunteers to identify potential partnerships and begin to foster a relationship with the organizations. The associated outcome will be to have one new community partnership a month. To have a successful program, the organization must recruit program participants from communities of interest by marketing the program to community members. This may involve identifying communities that have a higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Developing curriculum that is specific to Alzheimer’s disease should be an ongoing process that will ensure the program material is relevant and up to date. This curriculum will be represented in the PowerPoint presentation and program handouts/resources for participants. It will also be necessary for the organization to plan program events at their designated facilities. As stated above, the facility location may change with different program dates. Specific community organizations could request their own program presentation to be held at the requesting organization’s own facility. If the program is being held for the general public, then it will be necessary for the Alzheimer’s Association to find and designate a facility. Since obtaining funding is necessary for successful programming, the Greensboro chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association must plan and host their own fundraising events to ensure enough funds for the continuation of their free programming.The activities as described above will result in outputs which are the actual services that will be created and delivered. The number of programs delivered each month will be scheduled at the request of community organizations and partnerships. After training the necessary educators, there will be two trained program educators from the Greensboro chapter. The number of program participants may vary with each program date based on the hosting organization and the scheduled time and date. Additionally, the number of new partnerships created each month will depend on the ability of the Alzheimer’s Association’s employees to extend their reach within their community.As the program is delivered within the community, there are results that the program should create which will be defined as short-term outcomes. After attending a program, there is an expectation that the material presented will allow program participants to have increased awareness about Alzheimer’s disease. Program participants should also have increased confidence to seek an early diagnosis for themselves or their loved ones following the program presentation. Since the program is titled “Know the 10 Signs: Early Detection Matters,” the Alzheimer’s Association should anticipate that participants will have an increased ability to identify the early warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease. Finally, program participants should also have an increased understanding of the benefits of early detection which may aid in raising their confidence and urgency to seek an early diagnosis. Providing the public with new knowledge and skills should lead to the attainment of the program’s long-term goals.The program’s long-term goals will be defined as the changes that the program would hope to create over time as a result of the program presentations within the community. If the short-term goals of increased confidence to seek an early diagnosis and increased understanding of the benefits of early detection are accomplished, the program would hopefully result in overall earlier diagnoses of Alzheimer’s disease within the community. In turn, earlier diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease will lead to better care for Alzheimer’s disease patients. With better care provided to those with Alzheimer’s disease, those patients will ultimately have a better quality of life.InputsActivitiesOutputsST OutcomesLT OutcomesTrained EducatorsTrain educators to conduct presentationsEducators who have completed trainingIncreased awareness of Alzheimer's diseaseEarlier diagnosis of Alzheimer's diseaseCommunity PartnershipCreate partnerships with community organizations to increase resource referralNew partnerships each monthIncreased confidence to seek early diagnosisBetter care of Alzheimer's disease patientsProgram MaterialsReview curriculum specific to Alzheimer's diseasePresentations to potential participants and partners a monthIncreased ability to identify the early warning signs of Alzheimer's diseaseBetter quality of life for Alzheimer's disease patientsFundingPlan and hold fundraising events for the Greensboro chapterParticipants attending programIncreased understanding of the benefits of early detectionFacility to hold programPlan program events at facilityTechnology for PresentationsSection 3: Evaluation PlanSpecific Evaluation Questions: Do program participants have increased confidence to seek an early diagnosis for themselves or their loved ones?Do program participants have an increased ability to identify the early warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease?Do program participants have an increased understanding of the benefits of early detection?Quasi-Experimental Design: This evaluation will determine the program’s goals by using a quasi-experimental design through pre/post-tests, qualitative interviews, instructor and participant observations, and post program participant evaluations. The evaluation will be conducted during twelve program sessions over the course of six months. A knowledge-based pre-test will be given to each participant at the beginning of the program session, followed by a post-test to conclude each session. Each instructor and three program participants from each session will be asked to participate in qualitative interviews. The evaluators will observe the instructor and participants during each program session. Finally, each participant will be given a post program evaluation following the completion of the program.Variables: Awareness and knowledge about Alzheimer’s diseaseConfidence to seek early diagnosisAbility to identify the early warning signs of Alzheimer’s diseaseUnderstanding of the benefits of early detectionAttitude towards the programInstrumentation:Pre/Post-Test: All participants at each of the twelve program evaluation sites will be given a pre-test prior to the start of the program. The pre-test will measure the participants’ current knowledge about the warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease and early diagnosis. Upon completion of the program session, all participants will be given a post-test. The post-test will include all pre-test questions with the addition of post program evaluation questions. Post-test questions will measure what participants have learned. Post program evaluation questions will measure participants’ attitudes towards the program.SPSS will be used to run a descriptive data analysis to view individual responses. A repeated measures T-test will be used to compare the differences among pre- and post-test results.Qualitative Interviews: Each program instructor and three participants from each evaluation session will be interviewed. The instructor interview will measure the instructor’s attitudes towards program implementation and perceived program effectiveness. Evaluators will request three participant volunteers from each evaluation session, preferably at least one male and one female. The participant interview will measure participants’ attitudes towards the program and the instructor. Each interview will consist of approximately six or seven open-ended questions.Two reviewers will listen to the recorded interviews and identify emerging themes from across all sessions. These themes will be placed into a conceptual map for ease in reading and visualizing results. Instructor/Participant Observations: Two evaluators will be placed in each evaluation session, one designated for instructor observation and the other for participant observation. The instructor observation will measure how well the instructor adheres to the program curriculum and their level of engagement with program participants. The participant observation will occur at 15-minute intervals. The evaluator will measure participant engagement. Each observer will be given a developed checklist which will include: points to cover in adherence with program curriculum, number of questions asked by instructor and participants, body language of instructor and participants, and number of distractions. SPSS will be used to analyze the level of instructor adherence to the program curriculum using the developed observer checklist. The checklist will also be used to measure participants and instructor engagement at each 15 minute interval. Data Collection PlanPre/Post-Test: Tests will be disseminated and collected on the same day from all program participants at evaluation sites.Qualitative Interviews: All interviews will be conducted on the same day with program instructor and three program participants.Instructor/Participant Observations: All observations will be done at each evaluation site.Evaluation Crosswalk:Section 4: Reporting PlanThe data collected will be summarized and analyzed into a final report. The complete report will include an executive summary, detailed explanations of data with visual representations where relevant, and the determined effectiveness of the program. The report will be provided to the Alzheimer’s Association in both electronic and hard copies. There are no intentions for publication of these findings by the evaluation team.Section 5: Detailed BudgetSection 6: Detailed Timeline ................
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