An “Enabling System for Practice-based Learning in Chronic Disease Prevention”: A “ What ”?!!

1. An “Enabling System for Practice-based Learning in Chronic Disease Prevention”: A “What”?!! Barbara Riley CPHA, Halifax June 4, 2008

2. Public Health Agency of Canada: Marie DesMeules, Alan Amey, Kerry Robinson Advisors: John Garcia, John Millar, Helen Thomas, others TBD Collaborators: Virgo Planning and Evaluation Consultants (Brian Rush), Performance Management Network Inc (Steve Montague, Suzanne Lafortune) CBRPE Colleagues: Roy Cameron, Kim Lamers-Bellio, Barbara Zupko

3. Overview • Context: PHAC • Key concepts and assumptions • Planning phase – Jun to Dec 2008 • Your feedback and advice

4. Context: Knowledge development and exchange

6. Key concept: Practice-based Learning • Practice is ahead of science in population intervention (Sweet M & Moynihan R. 2007. Improving Population Health: The Uses of Systematic Reviews. Milbank Memorial Fund and Centers for Disease Prevention and Control.) • There is a need for improvement-oriented evaluations, and infrastructure and capacity to support such evaluations and their use

8. Key concept: Enabling system • Early work in health promotion (e.g. Chavis and Florin, 1990-92) to increase the capacity of communities to manage and control change • A deliberately coordinated set of supports to increase/strengthen the capacity of _______ to ______ • Examples of enabling system components: • Federal-provincial priority setting process • Training and technical assistance • Common approach to evaluation • Seed funding for innovations • Peer networking opportunities

9. Planning phase: Jun to Dec 2008 Provisional goal: To strengthen the capacity of leaders in CDP(those responsible for programs, policies, advocacy, research and evaluation) for practice-based learning to improve CDP intervention

10. Provisional project objectives • To identify main needs for evaluation to support improvement of CDP intervention (priority topics, decisions) • To develop a preliminary map of major evaluation resources (people, organizations) • To identify and critically appraise relevant evaluation tools • To synthesize findings and recommend components of an enabling system to support practice-based learning

11. Project components • Needs assessment • Synthesis of relevant documents • Primary data collection through key informant interviews and focus groups (evaluator, practitioner, contractor perspectives) • Critical appraisal of evaluation frameworks and tools

12. Initial feedback and advice • In your opinion, is the project worthwhile? What benefits can you envision for your work? • Do the components (needs assessment and critical appraisal) make sense? • What individuals or networks would you suggest contacting as key informants? (e.g. CDP Alliances? CES chapters?) • What other advice do you have to strengthen the project?

13. The Centre for Behavioural Research and Program Evaluation is supported by the National Cancer Institute of Canada with funds from the Canadian Cancer Society. We are located at the University of Waterloo. For more information: Barb Riley Tel: 519.888.4567 ext 37562 Email: briley@healthy.uwaterloo.ca