Evaluation of Health Promotion Programs for Older Adults: An Introduction

This article provides an overview of the evaluation of evidence-based health promotion programs for older adults and introduces an upcoming series of related articles in the Journal of Applied Gerontology. With an aging population, a growing demand for health promotion and chronic disease self-management programs, and limited resources, evaluators must provide leadership to identify positive outcomes for adult older clients, inform program planning, and provide accountability to funders. The article addresses the following topics: the need for assessing the effectiveness of programs; research-based foundations for evaluation, specifically the RE-AIM model; the role of the evaluator; and guiding principles for evaluation and theoretical models that drive measurement. It concludes with the description of a process for conducting program evaluation based on the Center for Disease Control's framework for program evaluation, which actively engages program and community stakeholders in tailoring evaluation to the unique needs, characteristics, and barriers present in a community.