Refining an Evaluation Tool for Southeast Arizona Health Education Center: A Quality Improvement Project

Abstract

Background: Lack of congruence between the Southeast Arizona Area Health Education Center (SEAHEC) objectives and components of the Health Professions Training Opportunities Program (HPTOP) program evaluation framework rendered successful program impact evaluation unfeasible. Objective: Alignment of the SEAHEC objectives with components of the HPTOP evaluation framework to create a comprehensive HPTOP evaluation tool. Design: Gap analysis. Setting: SEAHEC in Nogales, Arizona. Target: Two SEAHEC stakeholders, the SEAHEC executive director and the HPTOP project coordinator Interventions: Gap analysis and logic model were implemented using qualitative data gleaned from discussions with stakeholder, as guided by the Plan-Do-Study-Act framework. Brainstorming, thematic association between components of the HPTOP evaluation framework, and development of recommendations for a revised HPTOP evaluation tool and refined HPTOP evaluation framework based on gap analysis findings were executed in this quality improvement (QI) project. Results: The results were assessed thematically in terms of HPTOP program objectives, measures, activities, and expected outcomes.