Research and evaluation (including needs assessments and monitoring and evaluation) is an essential process to use when seeking to understand what health professionals need and how they share, adapt, and apply health information, knowledge, and best practices.  K4Health is committed to using robust and systematic approaches to understand audience needs and to demonstrate project effectiveness.

 

Needs Assessments: What do health professionals want?

 

Limited access to health information remains a barrier to evidence-based health care in developing countries. Improving health care practices first requires an understanding of the information needs of health workers themselves. K4Health is contributing to this global knowledge base through our needs assessment activities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. To understand better the health information and learning needs of health policy makers, program managers, and service providers, K4Health investigates some of the following questions:

The needs assessments provide a useful means to address the unique needs of each country, existing gaps in health information, as well as preferred formats and delivery mechanisms that will enhance work performance, save costs, and ultimately improve the quality of health care services and health outcomes in each country.

 

Monitoring and Evaluation: How do we know we are making a difference?

 

Our monitoring and evaluation (M&E) methodology is guided by the K4Health Knowledge Management conceptual framework, knowledge management principles, relevant theoretical constructs including the diffusion of innovations, and a comprehensive logic model that links health information demand with products, services, and ultimately, health outcomes.

 

Information programs are often asked to demonstrate how their products and services “make a difference.” K4Health’s predecessor spearheaded a collective effort among dozens of health organizations to develop a seminal guide that helps information programs answer these types of questions.  

 

The Guide to Monitoring and Evaluating Health Information Products and Services provides publishers, knowledge managers, program managers, M&E specialists, and health information communicators with a standardized way to evaluate whether their print or electronic products and services meet the requirements needed to make them effective, used, and adapted by health care practitioners and policy makers in the field.

 

The Guide includes the innovative “Conceptual Framework for Monitoring and Evaluating Health Information Products and Services” [overview | detailed], developed by the INFO project with input from other collaborators. The conceptual framework illustrates how improving the reach and usefulness of information products and services facilitates and increases their use—which in turn enhances public health policy and practice.

 

An article in the Knowledge Management for Development Journal discusses the theoretical basis of this conceptual framework and the components of the conceptual framework in greater detail, and provides recommendations for its further development. Please consult the journal article for more information:

 

Sullivan, T.M.; Ohkubo, S.; Rinehart, W.; Storey, J.D. (2010) From Research to Policy and Practice: A Logic Model to Measure the Impact of Knowledge Management for Health Programs. Knowledge Management for Development Journal. Vol. 6, No. 1, May 2010, 50–65  (in press)