Adding Value through Community Participation: Evaluating Capacity in Community Health Committees
| DOI | 10.1177/1035719X0900900106 |
| Published date | 01 March 2009 |
| Author | Phil Entwistle |
| Date | 01 March 2009 |
| Subject Matter | Refereed Article |
40 Evaluation Journal of Australasia, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2009
Evaluation Journal of Australasia, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2009, pp. 40–45
REFEREED ARTICLE
Adding value through community
participation: evaluating capacity in
community health committees
This article describes the procedure involved in evaluating
the effectiveness of the capacity-building process within
the Community Health Committees (CHCs) established
by the Sunrise Health Service Aboriginal Corporation
(SHSAC) as part of their service governance structure.
SHSAC itself was set up as the initial stage of the rollout of
the Katherine East Coordinated Care Trial in the Northern
Territory. A purposive sample of three CHCs was selected
in consultation with SHSAC for the evaluation.
The development of an evaluation instrument and the
subsequent evaluation of the capacity of the health
committees was one part of the overall evaluation of the
Katherine East Coordinated Care Trial. The criteria for
measuring capacity were developed in close collaboration
with members of the CHCs and the SHSAC Community
Development Unit. The evaluation framework was based
on the Community Capacity Index (Bush, Dower & Mutch
2002), which assesses four areas of competence. This
framework was suitably modified in collaboration with
the Community Development Unit to reflect the Sunrise
Health Service situation. The result was an evaluation that
increased knowledge and capacity for the CHCs and
Community Development Unit, in addition to evaluating the
capacity of the CHCs to function in their designated role.
Background
Community health committees were formed during the setting up of the
Sunrise Health Service Aboriginal Corporation (SHSAC) as part of the service
governance structure. The health service itself was instigated as the initial stage
of the rollout of the Katherine East Coordinated Care Trial, one of five that
comprised the Second Round Coordinated Care Trials.
This particular Coordinated Care Trial was located in the Katherine region
of the Northern Territory, 312 kilometres south of Darwin. The area covered by
the Katherine East Coordinated Care Trial was approximately 75 000 square
kilometres and included nine communities and associated outstations. The trial
targeted the whole population of these communities including the predominant
Aboriginal population, as well as non-Aborigines in the area and those on
pastoral leases. The estimated population of interest was 3700.
Phil Entwistle
Phil Entwistle is a Senior Lecturer/
Researcher at the Centre for Remote
Health, a joint centre of Flinders
University and Charles Darwin
University, Katherine Campus.
Email:
<philip.entwistle@flinders.edu.au>
EJA_9_1.indb 40 18/10/09 10:34:22 PM
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