Ontario Health Care Evaluation Network
Public Health Effectiveness Inventory|Public Health Effectiveness Project|Hamilton Teaching Health Unit
Ontario Health Care Evaluation Network
Public Health Effectiveness Inventory|Public Health Effectiveness Project|Hamilton Teaching Health Unit
Abstract OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this overview was to summarise evidence about the effects of community development projects that are within the scope of Public Health Nursing practice.
DATA SOURCES: A search for published and unpublished studies included on-line computer searches of MEDLINE (1986-1994), CINAHL (1981-1994), and SOCIOFILE (1974-1994); hand searching of 12 key journals (1987-1994), retrieval from the citations of all articles, contact with 12 key informants, and a search of the Public Health Effectiveness Reference Database already developed.
STUDY SELECTION: Of 133 articles, 24 articles, representing seventeen different community development projects, met the inclusion criteria of describing an intervention or program within Public Health Nursing scope of practice, providing information on process or outcome evaluation, and having evidence of community involvement in the planning phase of the project. For inclusion, each article was reviewed by a primary reader and a subset was reviewed by a secondary reader. The level of agreement between the two raters was high (kappa= .08).
DATA EXTRACTION: Two readers independently assessed all articles against validity criteria, which included description of project, issue identification, planning phase, action phase, information gathering or evaluation phase and analysis. Four projects were judged to be strong, nine moderate and four weak. The community participants in the four strong projects were seniors (2 projects) and adults (2 projects). Examples of issues addressed in the strong projects included nutrition and access to food, crime and safety, recreation, and environmental health. Data on the program, population and effects were extracted using a pre-tested tool.
DATA SYNTHESIS: Positive outcomes of the community development projects included improved community leadership and problem-solving, the creation of community social and environmental services or programs such as a community garden and recycling programs, the establishment of planning structures such as coalitions and community councils, and impact upon legislation. Statistical combination was not appropriate.
CONCLUSIONS: Successful Community Development projects used theoretical frameworks, and worked to eliminate barriers. They remained flexible and followed a realistic time frame. Small attainable goals were initially identified.
Copyright
© 1996 Ontario Health Care Evaluation Network;
Last modified: April 11, 1996;