Evaluating Health Promotion: Practice and Methods

Health Promotion is a relatively new discipline and there is little in the way of practical help for students and practitioners in choosing and implementing appropriate evaluation methods. As the demands for rigorous evaluation and evidence-based decision making increase, health promotion cannot ignore the need for accurate, reliable and valid methods to carry out evaluation. This book provides clear descriptions (with plentiful practical examples) of such methods, and the problems that can arise from their implementation.
The book sets the concepts of health promotion and of evaluation in their historical context and highlights key issues in the evaluation of health promotion interventions. Both qualitative and quantitative methods that are commonly used are described and the problems and benefits that arise with their use are explained. Experiences in the practical implementation of evaluation are explained, with examples from a variety of different social, economic and cultural contexts. In this second edition new examples including evaluating social marketing and the difficulties of evaluating 'hidden' problems such as intimate partner violence are explored.

Margaret Thorogood is a Professor of Epidemiology, University of Warwick, UK. Yolande Coombes is a Regional Researcher, Population Services International, Nairobi, Kenya.