Evaluation of chronic disease self-management programs: A framework to ensure the right outcomes are assessed at the right time

Dr Richard Osborne, Senior Lecturer
NHMRC Population Health Fellow, Centre for Rheumatic Diseases
The University of Melbourne.

The choice of the right range of measures to capture the intended and potential unintended effects of selfmanagement interventions can be difficult for program managers, researchers and evaluators alike. With the plethora of measures and evaluation tools available and the wide range of possible impacts of interventions, including immediate and long term effects, a framework to support comprehensive assessment is warranted.

This workshop will focus on self-management support and education programs as a working example of how to specify what needs to be measured and how this can be done in the most efficient manner. Programs may have a wide range of immediate impacts (e.g. education/knowledge), intermediate impacts (e.g. life quality, symptom reduction) and longer term impacts (e.g. use of health services, reduction of disability).

Poor understanding and poor specification of the objectives of an intervention can lead to poor choice of outcome measurement. Without a clear idea of what you are measuring, how can you measure it accurately?

The workshop will include insights derived from the heiQ (Health Education Impact Questionnaire), the National Quality and Monitoring System for chronic disease health education and self-management programs now applied in 250+ organizations across disease groups and intervention types. In a high energy, fast moving and participatory workshop setting, attendees will be encouraged to raise their current chronic disease program evaluation issues for "work-shopping".

This workshop is sponsored by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia