J.
Myers
NIOSH Education and Information Division
The
Southeast Center for Agricultural Health and Injury Prevention
is funded by NIOSH and began operations in September, 1992.
The Southeast Center implemented a regional scope of operations
in eight states. The five-year goal of the Center is to develop
an innovative program of research, education and prevention
that will reduce work-related injuries and illness among agricultural
workers and their families.
The
three broad areas of activity are: (1) health and safety among
minority agricultural workers; (2) capacity building within
public and private agencies to strengthen infrastructure relating
to agricultural health and injury prevention; and (3) engineering
and ergonomic activities.
The
Southeast Center is multidisciplinary and operates in more
than one state.
When
the program was designed, a part-time evaluator was identified
to examine and evaluate the development of the Southeast Center.
Evaluation of individual Center projects were integrated within
those projects and the responsibility of the principal investigators
of the individual projects. The evaluation of the Southeaster
Center overall was addressed separately. The Southeast Center,
like other such centers in the U.S., is dynamic, evolving,
and multi-faceted. The designated evaluator brought an applied
focus to the evaluation. To a large extent, the evaluation
was designed to meet the needs of the Southeast Center. Process
evaluation has been the major emphasis.
This
report offers a frank discussion of some of the challenges
and opportunities involved in evaluating a Center. The structure
and environment of the Southeast Center is discussed with
respect to its influence on the evaluation approach. Thoughts
about design of an evaluation in the absence of definitive
funding agency expectations are offered in the context of
the evaluation opportunity this presents.
Evaluators
and managers of other Centers are encouraged to attend. The
intent of this presentation is to generate discussion about
Center evaluation.
Disclaimer
and Reproduction Information: Information in NASD does not represent
NIOSH policy. Information included in NASD appears by permission
of the author and/or copyright holder. More
NASD Review: 04/2002
This
research abstract was extracted from a portion of the proceedings
of "Agricultural Safety and Health: Detection, Prevention and
Intervention," a conference presented by the Ohio State University
and the Ohio Department of Health, sponsored by the Centers
for Disease Control/National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health.
The
authors noted above are from: University of Kentucky, Hazard,
KY
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