Across Australia, multiple tobacco resistance and control programs are occurring in Aboriginal communities. Often being pioneered by local Aboriginal Community-Controlled Health Services (ACCHSs), these programs are already making great strides in educating communities and reducing the prevalence of smoking and vaping.
Equally as important as the programs themselves is their evaluation. Measuring a program’s impact can ensure continuous improvement and better results for Aboriginal communities. In this article, we look at some guiding principles when evaluating tobacco control programs.
What are tobacco control programs?
Remembering that a tobacco control program isn’t about just one thing is important. It’s a collection of activities and efforts aimed at reducing tobacco usage. In the past, governments have implemented schemes and initiatives with similar goals, but more work can be done to bring these programs together.
That’s the aim of the Aboriginal Tobacco Resistance and Control (ATRAC) framework. This strategy has been developed by the NSW Ministry of Health and the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (AH&MRC) to support tobacco resistance and control efforts.
Tobacco control programs, contrary to their name, are not just about restricting the supply of tobacco. Rather, they are a collection of activities, including education, support programs and assisting local support services with their tobacco and smoking cessation programs.
Evaluating programs for continuous improvement
While many programs are successful, none are 100% perfect. That’s why the evaluation and assessment of tobacco control programs is so crucial. But in evaluating programs, it’s important to take a balanced approach. In every program, there are likely things that worked well and those that didn’t. So, it’s about building on the things that worked well and reconsidering those that didn’t. Identifying all of these aspects and learning from them is what program evaluation is all about.
Numerous smaller-scale tobacco control programs are going on in the community, and groups such as AH&MRC can assist Aboriginal community-controlled health services (ACCHSs) in evaluating, learning from, and improving their effectiveness.
What worked well?
Organisations typically create a set of key metrics to measure when planning a program. At least before program commencement, these metrics are the indicators that organisers believe will show whether the program is a success or failure. But the reality is that it’s not always about statistics when dealing with community health. Naturally, key performance indicators still need to be measured, but you may discover other positive indicators throughout a program. For example, you may hear some good news stories that don’t necessarily fit into a neat box but are still just as relevant when evaluating community programs.
When analysing what worked well with any tobacco control program, it’s important to explore the easily measurable (numbers and statistics) aspects and those that aren’t so easy to quantify. Programs that help communities need to be about individuals, not just numbers.
What could be improved?
The above principles should be applied when evaluating what didn’t work well within a program. Again, numbers are important, indicating a program’s reach or effectiveness. But, organisations should take a holistic approach when working out what can be improved.
It’s a chance to consider a range of practical aspects in the delivery of the program, too. Could you improve the way you deliver a service? For example, if you hold a smoking cessation seminar and few attend, don’t write off all seminars as failures. Consider whether you could have advertised it better to local communities. Dig deep into the results, not just the numbers.
Celebrate good news stories
Finally, always celebrate good news stories. It’s not about focusing on the warm and fuzzy results to cover less impressive aspects of a program. But good news stories give communities, organisations, and individuals hope for the future. Even if certain programs don’t perform as well as you might hope, don’t forget about the great impacts you had along the way.
The good news stories motivate everybody to analyse and assess tobacco control programs for continuous improvement. Evaluation isn’t about criticism. It’s about making every program better and delivering better results for communities.
