The program under consideration is The Children’s Oral Health Education Program. It is an intervention program the aim of which is to improve oral health of children in elementary school (New Jersey). Among the activities initiated by this program there are “Franny Flossisaurus” and “Mr. Gross Mouth” Programs”, as well as distribution of a special newsletter, the “Miles of Smiles” among local schools and health departments (Children’s Oral Health Education Program, 2007). Apart from this, the program carries out classroom oral health activities which turn children’s attention to daily tooth brushing and the usage of fluoride toothpaste. With respect to this program, two main evaluations can be conducted, summative and external ones; the evaluation findings can then be used for future research and the analysis of the health issue in question.
To begin with, summative evaluation can be conducted to determine whether The Children’s Oral Health Education Program has entailed any positive changes. In general, summative evaluation “begins with the development of goals and objectives and is conducted after implementation to determine the program’s impact on the priority population” (McKenzie, Pinger, & Kotecki, 2008, p. 141). With regards to this, the evaluation should consist in comparing the objectives of the program set during the formative evaluation (if it was carried out) and the program’s meeting these objectives. To do this, any improvements of the children’s oral health should be registered and compared with the state of their oral health before taking part in the program; any improvements will testify to the success of the program. In this way, summative evaluation will be conducted.
Another kind of evaluation useful to carry out is the external evaluation. In contrast to the internal evaluation, the external one is performed by a person who does not have any relation to the program, which makes the results of such evaluation objective. One of the greatest benefits of external evaluation is that it verifies whether the right activities are carried out and whether the proper methods are used. Thus, external evaluation is effective and objective.
The results from these two kinds of evaluation can be used further in some ways. Firstly, they provide basis for future research; for instance, if the external evaluation defines the weaknesses of the methods used by the program, this can be used to make the program more effective in future. Secondly, the data obtained from the summative evaluation will reflect the current state of the oral healthcare and contribute into improving it if necessary because it will be clear which issues should be paid more attention to. Finally, the value resulting from the evaluation findings consists in their emphasizing the necessity of social programs; the Children’s Oral Health Education Program may serve as an example for those who are planning to initiate intervention programs in this or other sphere of healthcare. Therefore, the uses to which the evaluation findings for the Children’s Oral Health Education Program may be put are numerous and significant.
In sum, the Children’s Oral Health Education Program’s efficiency can be assessed with the help of two kinds of evaluations. They are summative evaluation which helps to trace any positive changes which the program entailed and external evaluation which helps to objectively assess the program methods and activities and their efficiency. The results from these evaluations are valuable because they may be put to some significant uses.
Reference List
McKenzie, J. F., Neiger, B. L., & Thackeray, R. (2008). Planning, implementing, and evaluating health promotion programs: A primer (5th ed.). San Francisco: Pearson Benjamin Cumming.
Children’s Oral Health Education Program. Web.