The few existing economic evaluations of community-based health promotion interventions were reported retrospectively at the end of the trial. We report an evaluation of the costs of the Kin Keeper(superscript SM) Cancer Prevention Intervention, a female family-focused educational intervention for underserved women applied to increase breast and…

Background: This paper describes a portion of a larger evaluation project of a state hepatitis prevention program. Purpose: The study explored the suggestions of key informants related to the delivery of hepatitis services in the state. Methods: Researchers conducted key informant interviews lasting 30 to 45 minutes. Results: Important findings…

Context: Multiple national agencies and organizations recommend that women age 40 years and older have an annual screening mammogram. Women who are poor, less educated, lack a usual source of care, and reside in rural Appalachia are less likely to have had a recent mammogram. Purpose: To increase use of mammography among a rural Appalachian…

Strategies to avoid the penalties of extra variation described by J. Cornfield and reduced degrees of freedom in community-level trials were compared in Monte Carlo simulations. The three conditions necessary to ensure nominal Type I and Type II error rates are detailed. (SLD)

A Monte Carlo study compared performance of linear and logistic mixed-model analyses of simulated community trials having specific event rates, intraclass correlations, and degrees of freedom. Results indicate that in studies with adequate denominator degrees of freedom, the researcher may use either method of analysis, with certain cautions. (SLD)

Authors describe their experience in an unusual free clinic in Galveston, Texas, and present implications derived from that experience. (DM)

A method is described for increasing residual degrees of freedom in a community experiment without substantially increasing cost or difficulty by dividing experimental subunits into batches. Theoretical advantages of batch sampling are described and illustrated with data from the Pawtucket Heart Health Program. (SLD)

Articles in this special issue consider different aspects of community-level evaluation research and demonstrate the emerging sophistication and promise of this field. Process evaluation, qualitative research, and meta-analysis are promising new directions for ensuring more appropriate levels of analysis and more appropriate outcomes. (SLD)

A methodology is presented for collection of cost data in evaluation of community-level health interventions that coincides with the intervention implementation. The seven discrete steps of the analysis are described, and the Minimal Contact Education for Cholesterol Change study is used as an example of how the strategy is used. (SLD)

There is an extensive body of research on the factors that are associated with reproductive health, focusing on factors within the adolescent as well as within the various components of the adolescents environment. This paper presents a selective review of the research pertaining to each layer of the adolescent's ecosystem. Emphasized are (1)…

Prepared by the Public Health Service to clarify the role of health professionals and subprofessionals in the home care field, this guide is directed to dietitians and public health nutritionists who are involved in planning, directing, carrying out, and evaluating the nutrition aspects of medical care programs for patients at home. Program…

Utilizing the professional expertise of school nurses, the Des Moines (Iowa) Public School system is committed to providing professional health services and health education for students, employees, and the community in order to promote success in the learning process. The health services program is an integral part of the total school program in…

Health needs and health services in rural America are key issues directly related to education as well as community well-being. This report examines rural America's access to basic health care services and discusses options for congressional consideration. The focus is on trends in availability of primary and acute rural health care and on factors…

The theme of this serial issue is helping individuals involved in community health programs at the local level to devise and apply a protocol for the evaluation of a community health program. In the opening sections of the issue evaluation is defined, the difference between a direct quantifying measure and an indicator is clarified, obstacles to…

The School Health Demonstration Program (SHDP), undertaken in 1981, is a coordinated effort by the New York State Departments of Health, Education, and Social Services to provide direct health care, health promotion/illness prevention, and health education to children from low income communities with inadequate access to primary health care…