Rapid Evaluation and Assessment Method (REAM) and its Uses

Achieving Trustworthy Evaluations with REAM

Task:

1)Describe three things that can be done when using a Rapid Evaluation and Assessment Method (REAM) to achieve a balance between the speed that's necessary to get the evaluation done and the trustworthiness of the data that's collected in the process.

Answer: The three things that can be done by Rapid Evaluation and Assessment Method (REAM) are evaluating programs' likelihood to become successful, provide the users with knowledge of resources and feasibility of the program, and development of receptiveness before the investment rate becomes higher. This generates a balance between the speed of evaluation and the trustworthiness of the collected data.

*Feedback: I am not clear on what this means in terms of trustworthiness in data that is collected. Investment of what by whom? Receptiveness in whom about what. Maybe an example might help here.

2) Describe an example of a Participatory Rural Appraisal and list the purpose, target population and methods that could be employed to conduct this type of REAM.

Answer: This example consists of a humanitarian crisis arising in eastern Chad (2003) as the post-war effects. The purpose is to assess the perceptions of the refugees about improving the quality of healthcare. The target population is the residents present in the refugee camps of Tanzania and Nigeria. Problem ranking, focus groups, free listing, interviews, observation, mapping, existing data analysis, and historical narratives are the methods that can be employed to conduct this type of REAM.\

3) From Chapter 4 of the text in the Guide for Review of Documentation and Interviews, identify three of the questions we can answer from the reports of the CMHI 1.0 project to inform our proposal for CMHI 2.0 and name the data source (meaning which stakeholder group or document source)?

Answer: The three questions are, *how was the adoption setting controlled in the documentation process, whether the interview process was able to produce accurate results, and how was the REAM process followed in the report. These three questions will be used in the proposal CMHI 2.0 during the creation of its proposal on the basis of CMHI 1.0. The sources of data collection are interviews and existing data sets with the organizers selected as the stakeholder group for this study.

4) Describe the difference between a Rapid Assessment and a Rapid Feedback Assessment.

Answer: Rapid assessments are cost-effective since it gathers the information from semi-structured interviews, focus groups mapping and transect walks. Decision making is also used to generate information on the basis of rapid assessment. However rapid feedback assessment collects data from existing program performances and doing the preliminary evaluation. Only program-related staff are interviewed for the data collection related to program performance. A full evaluation process makes its investment higher that rapid assessment.*Feedback: Some type of analysis of decision making?

5) In Kotter’s model for implementing change, give an example scenario and provide at least one activity that supports each of the three phases.

Answer: The example scenario is stated as a sudden need for modified artificial heart valves in a selected hospital in the United States. The "climate for change" will be created by imposing urgency for the requirement of modified artificial heart valves by cross-checking the effectiveness of older heart valves on the patients. This concern will be followed by "Engaging and enabling the whole organization" (hospital) to implement the manufacturing of the heart valve and buying them for use in the associated patients. A small population of patients will be first tested upon and the positive effect percentage will be calculated.  "Implementation and sustaining change" will be done by continuing the use of modified heart valves in the future for treatment processes.

Feedback: I am not sure this is a good example in that it is not in the public health realm as described, and hospitals don’t engage in heart valve manufacturing. Sudden needs for changes in medical devices may come from an FDA recall due to patient safety concerns, so that would apply to all settings, not just one hospital. Try to address this with a public health program we have discussed in class.

Within the RE-AIM framework, define Reach and Adoption, and describe how they differ.

Answer: Reach deals with the portion, absolute number and representatives of the selected individuals participating in the intervention.

Adoption deals with the same factors as reach; however, only the people willing to undergo the initiation are selected.

Therefore both of them differ in the associated settings and the delivery of the intervention and the associated organization support. However, reach only deals with whether the program was able to reach its target population or not, along with any recruitments made for the study.