Public health program evaluation best practices within the Canadian federal government [research project]
Abstract
Program evaluation findings are reported in evaluation reports as part of Treasury Board
of Canada Secretariat (TBS) funding requirements and are key information used to ensure
accountability for planned results. This project critically appraises the Public Health
Agency of Canada’s (PHAC) eight program evaluation reports for their strengths and
weaknesses - program evaluation planning, design and implementation, data collection
and analysis, and reporting - for informing public health practice. First, these reports are
appraised using a modified version of the review template obtained from the “Review of
the Quality of Evaluations Across Departments and Agencies”, developed by the TBS.
These findings are then reviewed in light of public health program evaluation guidelines
for compliance with the standards of public health evidence, as well as the current TBS
Evaluation Policy (2001) for compliance with the standards of performance reporting.
The project concludes with recommendations to advance public health program
evaluation planning, design and implementation, data collection and analysis, and
reporting in the joint context of public health practice and the Canadian federal
government accountability for performance.