Development of a Planning and Evaluation Methodology for Assessing the Contribution of Theory to a Diabetes Prevention Lifestyle Intervention

¹ associate professor and vice chair of Research in the Department of Family and Community Medicine and the assistant dean for Research in the School of Medicine at the University of New Mexico, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
² evaluation specialist with the Research, Development and Accountability Department of Albuquerque Public Schools, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
³ professor of public health nutrition in the Department of Exercise and Health Sciences at the University of Bristol, in Bristol, England.
⁴ Office of Evaluation, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of New Mexico, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

	Abstract

The benefits of utilizing and measuring application of theory for behavior change programs are numerous, including the emergence of new theories and theoretically bound strategies. Despite recent attempts to make theory use more salient, there remains a dearth of practical frameworks for the development and evaluation of theory-based programs. Without literature documenting how theories have been specifically applied to interventions and their evaluation, health educators may not be well prepared to utilize theory for the design, implementation, or as a focus of the evaluation. Using a case study example of a diabetes prevention program, this article describes how theory was used for the program design and the evaluation and provides a framework for using theory in other programs. Issues discussed include: the challenges in successfully utilizing theory for intervention development and the processes of developing theoretically based instruments.

Key Words: theory-based programs, behavior change, diabetes, evaluation

First published on July 21, 2006, doi:10.1177/1524839906289076

Health Promotion Practice 2008;9:404.

A more recent version of this article appeared on October 1, 2008


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?