Evaluation and Monitoring: Overview and Outcome Evaluation

Evaluating our multi-step program will be completed using a humanist approach. Our objectives involve the perceptions and opinions of various members of the community. Therefore, our main focus will be to record the experiences of these participants in our various programs. Approaching this task means that we must attempt to generate an understanding of how participation in this program has affected the perceptions of youth by parents, community members, and you themselves.

In order to evaluate the outcomes, we will use a multi-method, quasi-experimental design to measure outcomes for youth involved in our programs. We will measure the youths’ perceived feelings of self-determination and perceived sense of societal value before their participation in our public awareness presentations and school media project. After the programs are completed, we will measure these factors again to determine if there was a significant impact as a result of their participation.

In addition, we will ask the youth participants to reconvene with us 6 months after the programs are completed. Participants will engage in group discussions in which we will record their perceived agency and ability to affect social change after completing our program. This is imperative for us to understand in that the results of our programs must translate into these perceptions in order for us to work towards our greater goal. If our participants do not feel a greater sense of agency in their own lives outside of our programs, then we must reconsider if our programs are worth the cost we are putting in.

We will also ask parents and other community members to report their perceptions of youth in terms of their societal value, involvement in their own political agenda, and associations with alcohol-related harm before and after participation in our public awareness presentations. In addition, we will perform a social impact assessment by investigating changes in youth anti-alcohol campaigns, anti-drinking and driving campaigns, and alcohol advertising within these communities. This will allow us to understand the extent to which our implemented programs have affected collective change on a community level.