Evaluation is the 'icing on the cake' for a health campaign. In other words, to 'top it all off,' one must know whether or not his or her campaign is working for the better. As Sheila mentioned in class, there are campaigns that have negative affects on the target population i.e. D.A.R.E program. Evaluation via pre/post-test and evaluation during a health campaign is needed to be sure that it is working in a positive manner i.e. working in a way in which people ARE making behavior modifications and changes to improve their health status.
Evaluation is an arena I already partake in my current occupation. After completion of training parents about the importance of oral health, the program I work for needs feedback regarding the information I disseminated. Making sure I have reached, or even exceeded, the audience's expectation with the training session allows my co-workers and I to plan our educational material accordingly. If parents learned something new after witnessing my presentation, great; however, whether or not they learned something new and are going to put that new knowledge to use in the future is what we, in the public health field, are trying to target.
Positive feedback from surveys I hand out at the end of the trainings are good, but negative or constructive feedback is better. Allowing the target population offer feedback makes way for new insight for one's program and gives the general public the opportunity to constructively criticize one's program in order to make changes which can be seen as building blocks for a more effective health campaign.
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