Outreach Evaluation Resource Center

Quarterly Report: May - July, 2001

Training and continuing education

June 1: C. Burroughs and M. Blake taught a full-day workshop on outreach planning and evaluation for the Health Libraries of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C., a member group of the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Medical Library Association. Jim Henderson, director of Medical Library Services at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. had participated in a previous evaluation workshop; he arranged for and promoted the B.C. workshop and the Health Libraries chapter paid for travel.

July 20: The NN/LM GMR invited C. Burroughs to present about outreach evaluation to the executive committee members of their Regional Advisory Committee meeting in Chicago.

Web site development

No new activity.

Consultation with Network members

C. Burroughs consulted with the PNR to revise guidelines for evaluation planning in the RFP for the Outreach Project Awards, especially in sections on the Identification of Need; Goals, Outcomes and Objectives; and Evaluation Planning. The revised RFP encourages applicants to demonstrate thoughtful planning for a feasible project, and acknowledges that the PNR will expect more detailed objectives and evaluation plans after completing a thorough community assessment (post funding). The RFP now links applicants to the OERC website and to articles about aspects of evaluation published in the RML newsletter, Dragonfly (http://nnlm.gov/pnr/funding/outproj2001.html).

C. Burroughs was asked to review several versions of the evaluation proposal drafted by the University of Texas, San Antonio for the Texas Lower Rio Grande Valley Health Information Hispanic Outreach project. C. Burroughs provided input to help clarify the main objectives of the study and core evaluation questions.

Assistance with analysis, synthesis, and reporting of evaluation results

C. Burroughs oversaw completion of an outcomes evaluation of the Tribal Connections Project. She assisted with analysis of the findings, and wrote several sections of the final report, including the executive summary, background and implications.

C. Burroughs assisted with a pilot study conducted by Zoe Stavri, in collaboration with NLM, to investigate personal health information seeking (PHIS) behavior, including use of Internet resources such as MedlinePlus. C. Burroughs helped to develop the research methodology and instrument. She assisted with intensive interviews of 10 participants in Honolulu, and wrote up the results.

Communications and collaboration

May 5: C. Burroughs and R. Sahali participated on a panel at the mid-year meeting of the Society of Public Health Educators, held in Seattle. They presented on the Tribal Connections project and evaluation of health information outreach.

May 25: C. Burroughs presented an overview of the Outreach Evaluation Resource Center to the RML Director's meeting in Orlando.

Marlo Young, an NLM Associate Fellow, asked C. Burroughs review a draft 37-page report "Hispanic Health Information Outreach: Culturally Sensitive Tactics." The report addresses the importance of community-based efforts for effective outreach outcomes and includes several references to theories and principles in Measuring the Difference: Guide to Health Information Outreach Planning and Evaluation.

Utilization and promotion of the evaluation guide

C. Burroughs and PNR staff promoted the evaluation guide to various groups encountered in projects, presentations and classes. Examples include the PNR Consumer Health Advisory Members, the GMR Regional Advisory Council, participants in the "Teaching the Adult Learner in the Library Setting," CE course taught by N. Press, participants in the evaluation workshop taught by C. Burroughs and M. Blake; and at the annual scientific meeting of the Society for Public Health Educators.

There were 92 individual requests for the guide via the OERC website. Many were from health and medical libraries. Others include:

State, county, and public libraries

Memorial Library of Radnor Township Wayne

Monroe County Public Library Bloomington, IN

Utah State Library Division

Public health departments

Alameda County Public Health Dept. Oakland, CA

County Of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency

Chemung County Health Department Elmira, NY

Monroe County Health Department Roachester, NY

New York State Department of Health Albany, NY

Schools of dentistry and pharmacy

College of Dentistry Liaison University of Nebraska-Lincoln

School of Pharmacy West Virginia University

Patient and health educators

Family and Acute Care Nurse Practitioner

Duke University Maryland Cancer Prevention

Education, Screening and Treatment Program

Mayo Clinic - Section of Patient Education

Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky

Seattle Indian Health Board

The Learning Center M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Government agencies

Office on Smoking and Health, Epidemiology Branch, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Consultants

ACCESS Consulting International, Inc. Washington, DC

Ferre Institute, Inc. Binghamton, NY

C. Burroughs received comments from several users of the evaluation guide. One example follows:

From: Donna Cameron "Several months ago I ordered the book Measuring the Difference: Guide to Planning and Evaluating Health Information Outreach by Burroughs and Wood (2000). I have found it to be a very useful resource for teaching family medicine residents during their 1-month Community Medicine rotation. The organization of the document makes it easy to use and though its central theme is evaluation, it provides a practical, usable context for evaluation with its clear, simple diagrams and narrative on planning and outreach activities. In the future I plan to use sections of the document in orientation sessions for first-year medical students who are involved in our Service-Learning Program."