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Date: September 14, 2005 (Wednesday)
Time: 12:30 – 14:00 (sandwich lunch from 12:30 –12:45;
seminar begins at 12:45)
Venue: Seminar Room 6, LG/F, Laboratory Block, Faculty of Medicine
Building,
21 Sassoon Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Abstract:
Several issues of current debate in health promotion evaluation
will be considered. These include the definition and measurement
of relevant outcomes to health promotion, and the use of evaluation
methodologies which assess both the outcome achieved and the
process by which it is achieved.
Considerable progress
is being made in understanding the complexity of health promotion
activity, and in the corresponding need for sophisticated measures
and evaluation research designs which reflect this complexity.
The more effective forms of health promotion action are those
which are long-term, and least easily predicted, controlled and
measured by conventional means. Against this, important and valued
advances in knowledge and credibility have come from more tightly
defined and controlled interventions, which have been evaluated
through the application of more traditional experimental designs.
This tension between “scientific rigour” and the perceived
advantages (in long-term effectiveness and maintenance) coming
from the less well defined content and methods of community controlled
programs continues to pose technical problems in evaluation. It
is important to foster and develop evaluation designs which combine
the advantages of different research methodologies, quantitative
with qualitative, in ways which are relevant to the stage of development
of a program. The use of a diverse range of data and information
sources will generally provide more illuminating, relevant and
sensitive evidence of effects than a single “definitive” study.
Evaluations have to be tailored to suit the activity and circumstances
of individual programs. No single methodology is right for all
programs.
Bio-sketch:
Professor Don Nutbeam returned to Australia from England in September
2003 to take up the position of Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Head
of the College of Health Sciences at Sydney University. The College
of Health Sciences comprises the Faculties of Dentistry, Health
Sciences, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy. His responsibilities
in this role include providing academic leadership and financial
management across the health sciences disciplines to improve
research performance, and to develop teaching. With over 10,000
students, the College is the largest health sciences group in
Australia, and a leading health and medical research institution.
In this role as Head of Public Health in UK for the period 2000-2003,
he managed the Public Health Division in the Department of Health
with major responsibilities to leading work within the Department
and across government on addressing health inequalities; oversight
of government policy and national programmes on the prevention
of heart disease and cancer, tobacco control, prevention and treatment
of drug and alcohol misuse, and sexual health promotion on HIV/AIDS
prevention and treatment. He was also responsible for the development
of the public health workforce, and public health research and
information strategies.
As an academic, Professor Nutbeam's research interests have included
public health intervention research in schools and communities
as well as studies of health literacy, and adolescent health behaviour,
in particular on the development of research designs and outcome
measures that can be applied to the evaluation of public health
intervention programs. More recently, he has combined his academic
and policy experience to examine the uses of evidence in policy-making.
He is co-author (with Elizabeth Harris) of a popular text book:
Theory in a Nutshell: a guide to health promotion models and theories.
Professor Nutbeam has substantial international experience in
both developing and developed countries. He has worked as an advisor
and consultant for the World Health Organisation over a 20 year
period, and as consultant for the World Bank. Professor Nutbeam
has also represented UK Public Health interests in the European
Union and in bi-lateral agreements with the USA.
Before going to Australia in 1990, he was a co-founder and Research
Director of the Welsh Heart Programme (Heartbeat Wales) (1985-88)
and following that Director of Research and Policy Development
for a government agency, the Health Promotion Authority for Wales
(1988-90). The early part of his career was spent in public health
positions at local and regional level in the British NHS.
Registration:
For registration and enquiries, please call Ms Maggie Cheuk of
MHRN at 2819-2841 or email mhrn@hkusua.hku.hk
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