10.K. Workshop: Evaluating the effectiveness of health promotion and prevention

The discussion about evidence and the ‘right’ form of evaluation for assessing effectiveness in the field of health promotion and prevention continues to be controversial in the relevant literature. Randomised controlled trials analogous to evidence-based medicine as the ‘gold standard’ of effectiveness research are often rejected as inappropriate for the evaluation of health promotion and prevention interventions because they would not do justice to the complexity of the interventions. In the search for alternatives, system-theoretical approaches for dealing with complexity are reflected. The evaluation of effects moves in the field of tension between simplicity and complexity, which is difficult to map. In the application of impact models, the use of a generic framework model, which roughly represents the intervention logic (‘theory of change’) is recommended. An important implication of evaluating interventions in the field of health promotion and prevention is that effects can not only be measured in numerical ways. To address this, approaches are needed to evaluate interventions also with qualitative research and mixed methods. In order to disseminate evidence-based practices which have been evaluated, evaluation criteria are needed to determine the degree of effectiveness, evidence, and practical applicability. The organisers will share their experiences and perspectives of different methods for evaluating the effectiveness of health promotion and prevention, and discuss the advantages and challenges of approaches with the workshop participants. Three countries (the Netherlands, Finland and Germany) will present different approaches resp. aspects of evaluating health promotion and prevention measures. The different contributions will be discussed and the participants will be invited to share their experiences and successes. With the objective to: • Illustrate the role of health literacy in the evaluation of health promotion and prevention interventions (Germany) • Present a checklist for qualitative research and mixed methods, criteria for an assessment system of interventions as well as first results of the pilot study (Netherlands) • Present the evaluation criteria of evidence-based practices to be selected for the national best practice portal (Finland) • Reflect and discuss the different aspects of evaluation to contribute to a better understanding and implementation of methods to ensure effectiveness in the complex contexts. KEY MESSAGES: • To give insight into new attempts of evaluating effectiveness of health promotion and prevention in Europe. • To reflect and discuss advantages and disadvantages of the different evaluation approaches.