About the TEIP Program Evidence Tool

What type of program is the Program Evidence Tool designed for?

The Program Evidence Tool can be used for all programs (including an activity, set of activities or practices) related to health promotion, policy development, disease and injury prevention, and health protection..

How was the Program Evidence Tool developed?

In 2007 an extensive internet search of existing tools was undertaken. In addition, TEIP staff completed a five day course on Evidence-based Practice for Health Professionals – Public Health Stream at McMaster University.

To further guide the process, an Expert Advisory Committee, consisting of researchers and academics in the fields of health promotion, knowledge exchange and evaluation as well as frontline practitioners representing the intended audience for the Tool, was established.

A draft version of the Tool was piloted in four Ontario communities.  Feedback from a rigorous independent evaluation (both formative and process) guided the revision of the current TEIP Program Evidence Tool.

What does the Program Evidence Tool do?

By following the systematic and practical guidelines and using the worksheets you will be able to search for and apply evidence to strengthen local program planning and implementation. The intended outcomes also include:

• Awareness & use of relevant sources of public health evidence
• More confidence in interpreting & adapting evidence for local use
• Increase in practice-based learning
• Creation of relationships with community stakeholders, researchers and academics

Overview of the TEIP Program Evidence Tool

How much time will it take to complete the Program Evidence Tool?

The completion of the Program Evidence Tool process can take a number of weeks. However, users generally feel that the process is worth the investment of time.

• Program Evidence Checklist and Suggested Timeline

How do I use the Program Evidence Tool?

• Step 1: Define the evidence question by completing the Evidence Question Worksheet to prioritize and focus your question.
• Step 2: Develop a search strategy that sets out where you will go to search for evidence and document this strategy on the Search Strategy Worksheet. This worksheet addresses four distinct categories of evidence relevant to health promotion and prevention: (1) Academic/research literature; (2) Grey literature; (3) Content advisors; and (4) Practice networks/Informed colleagues.
• Step 3: Once you have developed your search strategy the next step is to collect and synthesize the evidence. The Evidence Collection Spreadsheet (WORD EXCEL) is a knowledge management tool that can be used to summarize and share the evidence you collected. Electronic use of the spreadsheet permits multiple team members to contribute to evidence collection. After collecting the evidence, the next step is to synthesize all of the evidence by completing the Evidence Synthesis Worksheet.
• Step 4: Program staff, key stakeholders, informed colleagues and content advisors come together in an Evidence Forum to discuss the strengths, gaps and implications of the evidence. The objective of the forum is to decide how to apply the evidence findings. The Evidence Forum can be held in-person or by teleconference and should be facilitated by a facilitator. To ensure a successful Evidence Interpretation Forum the Evidence Collection Spreadsheet(WORD EXCEL) and the Evidence Synthesis Worksheet completed in the previous step should be sent to all forum participants.
• Step 5: After deciding whether and how to modify your program based on your interpretation of the best available evidence, the next step is to plan to implement changes and evaluate impacts. The Knowledge Dissemination Strategy Worksheet guides you through the process of developing a succinct communications plan to create buy-in for desired change by identifying key implementation issues, gatekeepers and their information interests, communication preferences and potential motivators. Finally, an action plan is developed to outline the timelines, action steps and persons responsible for moving the plans forward. If major changes to a program are envisioned, it is important to build-in appropriate evaluation components such as formative, process and outcome evaluation.

Did you use the Program Evidence Tool? Send us your feedback.