Assignment #2

Assignment #2   - Evaluating  Program Evaluation

After reading the program explaining the implementation of a prenatal exercise program to aid Aboriginal women living in Saskatoon and their children, I found Stufflebeam’s model most appropriate.  I believe a formative approach to the evaluation would be most beneficial to direct decision making and future recommendations.

The goal or according to Stufflebeam’s model, context evaluation, indicated the problem: What can be or needs to be done to promote regular exercise in Aboriginal women in order to diminish or decrease the risk of GDM and promote healthy pregnancies? 

One question I had was what other programs exist or once existed which had similar goals and how did they fare?

When researching the input or plans of the evaluation, it was very clear that creating an exercise program and inviting pregnant women to participate would be the best approach. 

The process or actions and how the program should be implemented were well thought-out.  The appropriate location of the YMCA being relatively central to the city, along with food, maternity bathing suits, healthy snacks, providing free childcare and the program being free itself would attract, not hinder women being involved in the program.

The product or outcomes of the project in the initial article were not given, however the program was designed to improve the participants’ involvement in regular exercise.  It would be interesting to see out of the 69 women involved, how regular their participation was? 

According to the article, “From a health promotion perspective, this program functioned as both a means and an end to address health-related issues in the participants,” (Klomp, Dyck, and Sheppard, 2013), so it is curious to me why the program ended in 1997 and only ran for two years?

Questioning this, I wonder if the evaluation completed was a summative evaluation to sum up an effort and examine the worth of the program, rather than make suggestions or aid in decision-making?