Evaluation Measures for Community Health Worker Programs
Rural program planners should select evaluation measures that align with the purpose, goals, and key questions to be answered through the community health worker (CHW) program evaluation. For example, if a CHW program goal is to improve patients' knowledge about how to manage their diabetes, evaluation measures may address patient health data such as diet, medication, or blood glucose levels.
When possible, programs can consider selecting evaluation measures that allow for components to be compared with other, similar CHW programs. This helps strengthen the evidence base for CHW programs.
Additional information on strategies and measures for gathering appropriate data and evidence can be found in Collect and Analyze Quantitative and Qualitative Data in the Rural Community Health Toolkit.
Process measures focus on how CHW services are provided, answering the evaluation questions about program implementation. Examples of process measures related to CHW programs include:
- Patient demographics
- Age
- Sex
- Health status
- Program reach and participant engagement
- Number of consumers who participated in CHW-led education programs
- Number of CHWs involved in community outreach
- Number of referrals made by CHWs to health and social services
- Number of education programs facilitated by CHWs (for example, outreach sessions, home visits, educational workshops)
- Number of people who received health screenings through the CHW program
- Consumer behaviors
- Reasons consumers use or seek CHW services
- How individuals learned about CHW services
- Consumer perception of access to health or social services
- Presence and types of compliance and self-management challenges
Outcome measures examine how successful the CHW program was at achieving its intended goals and improving patient health outcomes. Examples of outcome measures related to CHW programs include:
- Patient health outcomes
- Change in clinical outcome measures (for example, blood glucose level, blood pressure, cholesterol level)
- Number of healthcare visits (for example, primary care visits, emergency department visits)
- Number of patients newly diagnosed with chronic disease (through CHW screenings)
- Improved self-reported health status
- Increased self-efficacy (confidence) in managing personal health
- Consumer satisfaction with CHW services
- Improved health knowledge and awareness among participants
- Economic impact and cost
- CHW program costs (for example, staff salaries, training expenses, start-up costs)
- Cost savings (for example, fewer emergency department visits)