Evaluation of health promotion capacity gains in a state-wide rural food literacy intervention
Claire Palermo A D , Louise van Herwerden A , Isabella Maugeri A , Fiona McKenzie-Lewis B and Roger Hughes CA Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Monash University, Level 1, 264 Ferntree Gully Road, Notting Hill, Vic. 3168, Australia.
B Queensland Country Women’s Association, Ruth Fairfax House, Level 1, 89–95 Gregory Terrace, Spring Hill, Qld 4000, Australia.
C School of Medicine, College of Health and Medicine, The University of Tasmania, Medical Science Precinct, 17 Liverpool Street, Hobart, Tas. 7000, Australia.
D Corresponding author. Email: claire.palermo@monash.edu
Australian Journal of Primary Health 25(3) 250-255 https://doi.org/10.1071/PY18182
Submitted: 19 November 2018 Accepted: 29 April 2019 Published: 14 June 2019
Abstract
Building capacity to enhance health promotion intervention effectiveness is a desirable, difficult to achieve and rarely evaluated aspect of practice. This study aims to describe an approach for evaluating capacity building embedded in a state-wide health promotion intervention that had a primary objective of enhancing food literacy and secondary objective of building health promotion capacity. The multi-strategy rural food literacy intervention centred on a group-based, hands-on learning workshop series. Logic modelling, theory of change and clarification of the explicit assumption of the intervention relating to food literacy and capacity building objectives were documented. The evaluation approach acknowledged the complexity of the intervention that utilised a food literacy program as a vessel to build relationships, enabling capacity-building strategies over time, and used multiple forms of data to measure organisational, community and individual capacity. The development of a shared mixed method program evaluation plan was achieved through co-design. One-hundred and twenty-two peer facilitators were trained across 81 communities and reported increases in self-efficacy for health promotion action. There was broad awareness and support for the program within the organisation. The majority (75%) of communities involved in the intervention implemented at least one health promotion activity, demonstrating some health promotion capacity gain.
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