Development of 'Health Challenge Newport' as a resource for rigorous evaluation of community-based health promotion initiatives

Development of 'Health Challenge Newport' as a resource for rigorous evaluation of community-based health promotion initiatives

Introduction

‘Health Challenge Newport’ is a major new initiative due to be launched within Newport, with the aim of increasing levels of physical activity and health literacy in the whole population. It is a partnership project between Newport Local Health Board and Newport City Council, also relying on input from the voluntary and private sectors. The project is currently in the early stages of development and implementation. It will be piloted in two areas of Newport initially, and subsequently rolled out across the city.

Evaluating community / city-wide projects such as this is methodologically challenging. Often the opportunities to learn from the processes involved in implementation are missed and the effectiveness and outcomes unknown. The purpose of this research project is both to develop ‘Health Challenge Newport’ as a well-defined, well-structured intervention through extensive process evaluation and to develop a methodological framework for the evaluation of this programme and others of its kind.

Aims of Project

The key aims of the research are:

To develop a programme within a sound theoretical framework to promote the participation of stakeholders in design, implementation and evaluation
To ensure that components are evidence-based, or theoretically driven if no evidence is available
To ensure that the whole programme can be evaluated through time by establishing baseline data, as well as process and outcome indicators
To contribute to the understanding of rigorous evaluation of large-scale, multi-disciplinary community-wide initiatives such as this one

Funder

Wales Office of Research and Development for Health and Social Care (WORD). Developing Health Challenge Newport as a resource for rigorous evaluation of community based health initiatives (Clark, R. PI with 3 other investigators)