Evaluation of health programmes in remote Aboriginal communities
Over 2009/10, Allen + Clarke evaluated two high profile health programmes in the Northern Territory for the Australian Department of Health and Ageing, the Northern Territory Department of Health and Families, and the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance of the Northern Territory (AMSANT).
One of the programmes – the Child Health Check Initiative (CHCI) – provided health checks for Aboriginal children living in remote communities. The other programme – the Expanding Health Services Delivery Initiative (EHSDI) – focuses on expanding primary health care service delivery in remote Aboriginal communities, developing regional approaches to planning and delivering services, and increasing Aboriginal community control and participation in health service planning and delivery.
We used different approaches to evaluate each programme. The CHCI programme was largely completed at the time of the evaluation; therefore the approach taken was summative. The EHSDI, on the other hand, was at an early stage of implementation. Given the more emergent nature of this programme, we took a formative approach to our evaluation, working closely with the three partner agencies to support continuous improvement in the ongoing implementation of the programme.
The overall purpose of our work was to assess the performance of the two programmes in terms of their effectiveness, efficiency, appropriateness, and sustainability.
The evaluation involved a mixed-method design, drawing on multiple sources of information and involving five key phases of work: design; implementation; consultation, communication and dissemination; and analysis and final reporting. The main methods were key informant interviews, case studies in five remote Aboriginal communities, workshops with the programme partner agencies, and analysis of population health data sets. We interviewed 175 people as part of the evaluation, almost half of whom were Indigenous Australians.
The evaluation has been challenging, due to the complexity of the two programmes and the context in which they have been implemented. Our work has involved looking for ways to improve the ability of health services to meet the high needs of Aboriginal people living in very remote rural communities. This has been a very rewarding challenge and a privilege to work with the partner agencies and the other participants in the evaluation process.
More information on the evaluation, including any publicly available reports, is available below.