Evaluation
Bronx Health REACH is committed to evaluating the effectiveness and impact of its various initiatives. Evaluation provides a means to determine what works, what doesn’t, and why. Results are then used to improve programs and share lessons learned with others.
Bronx Health REACH programs are evaluated using a community-based participatory approach that incorporates both quantitative methods like surveys and analysis of program records, and qualitative methods like interviews and focus groups. Through evaluation we seek to understand the extent to which we carry out initiatives as intended (process evaluation) and the changes that resulted (impact evaluation). Results are reported back to the Bronx Health REACH coalition and disseminated beyond the coalition through numerous presentations and publications.
The overall evaluation of Bronx Health REACH under REACH 2010 was completed by NYU’s Center for Health and Public Service Research. As a REACH U.S. program, our evaluation is currently overseen by The New York Academy of Medicine’s Center for Evaluation and Applied Research. Evaluation of the Faith-Based Outreach Initiative is guided by a Community Research Committee. A separate evaluation of the School Based Obesity Prevention Program is being conducted in partnership with Johnson & Johnson/John Hopkins Community Health Care Scholars Program and the HEA+LTHY Schools NY program is being evaluated by the NYS Department of Health. CDC’s evaluation consists of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and a bi-annual reporting of progress on our goals and objectives.