Evaluating Application of Knowledge and Skills: The Use of Consensus Expert Review to Assess Conference Abstracts of Field Epidemiology Training Participants.

Background: Often evaluations of training programs are limited - with many focusing on the aspects that are easy to measure (e.g., reaction of trainees) without addressing the important outcomes of training, such as how trainees applied their new knowledge, skills, and attitudes.

The national inventory of core capabilities for pandemic influenza preparedness and response: an instrument for planning and evaluation.

Background: Reviews of the global response to the 2009 pandemic of influenza A/H1N1 affirmed the importance of assessment of preparedness and response capabilities.

Design: The U. S.

National inventory of core capabilities for pandemic influenza preparedness and response: results from 36 countries with reviews in 2008 and 2010.

Background: Re-emergence in 2003 of human cases of avian H5N1 and the resultant spread of the disease highlighted the need to improve the capacity of countries to detect and contain novel viruses. To assess development in this capacity, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) produced a tool for assessing a country's capability in 12 critical areas related to pandemic preparedness, including monitoring and identifying novel influenza viruses.

Objectives: Capabilities the CDC tool assesses range from how well a country has planned and is prepared for an outbreak to how prepared a country is to respond when a pandemic occurs.

Youth risk behavior surveillance--selected steps communities, 2005.

Problem: Unhealthy dietary behaviors, physical inactivity, and tobacco use contribute to chronic disease and other health conditions, including obesity, diabetes, and asthma. These behaviors often are established during childhood and adolescence, extend into adulthood, are interrelated, and are preventable.

Reporting Period Covered: January-May 2005.

Steps to a HealthierUS Cooperative Agreement Program: foundational elements for program evaluation planning, implementation, and use of findings.

The Steps to a HealthierUS Cooperative Agreement Program (Steps Program) enables funded communities to implement chronic disease prevention and health promotion efforts to reduce the burden of diabetes, obesity, asthma, and related risk factors. At both the national and community levels, investment in surveillance and program evaluation is substantial. Public health practitioners engaged in program evaluation planning often identify desired outcomes, related indicators, and data collection methods but may pay only limited attention to an overarching vision for program evaluation among participating sites.

Participatory research and evaluation: from best practices for all states to achievable practices within each state in the context of the Master Settlement Agreement.

Because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) already assisted state tobacco control initiatives, many state health departments turned to CDC for guidance on how to use Master Settlement Agreement monies. This article describes how CDC funded participatory research to establish local evidence and provided technical assistance for participatory program evaluation. The article (a) presents a telephone interview study of principal investigators (PIs) to determine how CDC could best facilitate participatory research and (b) identifies factors CDC considered to devise evaluation technical assistance that reflected local context.