Systematic Health Program Evaluation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Systematic Health Program Evaluation - Essay Example A health program is â€Å"an organized response to reduce or eliminate one or more problems by achieving one or more objectives, with the ultimate goal of improving the health of society.† (Shortell & Richardson, 1978 as cited by Grembowski, 2001, p.3). Program evaluation, representing the techniques and concepts of social science, is the use of social research methods to systematically investigate the effectiveness of social intervention programs and is â€Å"intended to be useful for improving programs and informing social action aimed at ameliorating social problems.† (Rossi, Lipsey & Freeman, 2003, p.28). â€Å"Evaluation research can be defined as a type of study that uses standard social research methods for evaluative purposes, as a specific research methodology, and as an assessment process that employs special techniques unique to the evaluation of social programs† (Powell, 2006). Ever since the concept of value for money in health care was introduced there has been concerted effort to develop techniques that assist decision makers to bring a balance between benefits and costs associated with each option available before them and â€Å"the early application of cost-benefit analysis were undertaken in the United States during the 1930s in connection with flood control programs.† (Robinson, 1993). Policy analysis and evaluation research received fillip at the federal government level in the year 1965 with the introduction of ‘the War on Poverty-Great Society initiative and the Executive Order establishing the Planning-Programming-Budgeting system in the U.S. Both programs initiated scholars to examine the â€Å"efficiency with which public measures allocate resources.... ed scholars to examine the "efficiency with which public measures allocate resources, their impacts on individual behavior, their effectiveness in attaining the objectives for which they were designed, and their effects" in bridging the socio-economic divide. (Rossi, Lipsey & Freeman, 2003, p. 14). Program evaluation is defined as the use of social research methods to systematically investigate the effectiveness of social intervention programs in ways that are adapted to their political and organizational environments that are designed to inform social action in ways that improve social condition. The evaluation sponsors are the person, group, or organization that requests or requires the evaluation and provides the resources to conduct it. Stakeholders include individuals, groups, or organizations having a significant interest in how well a program functions, for instance, those with decision-making authority over the program, funders and sponsors, administrators and personnel, and clients or intended beneficiaries. The findings of an evaluation may be used by decision makers and other stake holders in their day-to-day management level or at broader funding or policy levels. The health promotion cycle consists of four stages, beginning with needs assessment, leading to program planning, implementation and then to evaluation. According to Hawe, Degeling, and Hall (1990) for health promotion, evaluation involves measurement and observation and comparison with some criterion or standard. An evaluation tries to answer the differences made with the introduction of a particular health promotion program and the changes in health status it has produced. Hence, an evaluation involves observing, documenting and measuring of the actual results of the programs in relation to the

History of Slavery in Colonial America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

History of Slavery in Colonial America - Essay Example The Portuguese first utilized the slave trade around 1562 (Sylvester, 1998). The prime area for slaves was on the west coast of Africa called the Sudan. The peoples inhabiting the Sudan and surrounding areas were known for their skills in agriculture, farming, and mining. Europeans soon realized the commodity these skilled laborers could bring to their countries and began trading them regularly. African tribal wars produced captives, which became a bartering resource in the European slave market. Black and white slave hunters obtained those not captured during war. The main sources of barter used by the Europeans to secure African slaves were glass beads, whiskey, ivory, and guns. The first slaves to arrive in America were brought to the Jamestown settlement in 1619. A Dutch slave trader exchanged his cargo of Africans in that year (Becker, 1999). This was the first time an African set foot in the New World. The first slaves were brought to Jamestown as indentured servants, having to serve seven years for a master before gaining their freedom, the same as white indentured servants. This became a problem in latter years however, when the indentured servants were done with their time, they became competition for their masters and caused outrage among the predominantly white business world. There is some argument a... Some argue however, that the word servant as was used to describe the African slaves by the white settlers was the same inference that the word had in England, which was more akin to the more modern definition of slavery. These same scholars argue that southern plantation owners and slave masters still used the term "servants" to describe their slaves right up until the end of the Civil War. While white indentured servants where still the primary source for cheap labor in the colonies, tensions were growing between the poor workers and the newly emerging merchant class. The merchant class was now able to seize land and hold it as their own, regardless of the poor farmer's objections. The merchant class was also given the right to vote since they were technically landowners. This had the former indentured servants angry, and they were beginning to revolt. Bacon's Rebellion Slavery in the colonies grew in necessity following Bacon's Rebellion. Bacon's Rebellion occurred when a settler named Nathaniel Bacon disobeyed direct orders and seized a tribe of Native Americans for allegedly stealing his corn. Bacon was reprimanded and soon he began leading revolts against the Native Americans who had been attacking small out-lying farmers and their property. While Bacon was repeatedly reprimanded, his attacks continued and grew in their ferociousness. Bacon's rebellion ended when a group of his men surrounded Jamestown and burned it to the ground. The rebellion led the wealthy landowners of the time to begin to look elsewhere for cheap labor, fearing they too would have to endure another rebellion similar to that of Nathaniel Bacon (Bacon's 2005). With the emerging slave class in the colonies, twenty-five thousand and growing by 1700, came new laws