Evaluation

In order to assess the public health effectiveness of the IDU-SSE HRI, it is necessary to thoroughly evaluate the intervention. Evaluation activities tied to the HRI focus on process and outcome measures that allow us to gauge how things are going with program implementation, who is being reached, as well as identify the biggest challenges and successes related to the intervention.

Evaluation Materials

The evaluation for the IDU-SSE HRI integrates quantitative and qualitative evaluation activities. Table I highlights some of the details related to each of these evaluation activities. Click on any of the instruments in the table below to view and download them.

Table I: IDU-SSE HRI Evaluation Instruments

Instrument	Participants	Type	Timeframe	Assessment Focus	Estimated Time to complete
Provider Survey	SSEs	Serial cross-sectional survey	Baseline, 3, 6, 9 months	Demos, SSE risk behaviors, services offered to IDU clients	20 mins.
Recipient Survey	IDUs on periphery; clients of SSEs	Annual cross-sectional survey	2005-2007	IDU client risk behaviors, services received from SSEs, why no SEP use?	10-15 mins.
Weekly Outreach Check-sheet	SSE Peer Educators	Client and service matrix	Weekly/Bi-weekly	Clients served; SSE services provided	10-15 mins.
Contact Sheet	SSE completes	Check-sheet	After each contact with an IDU Client	IDU network and services provided info.	1 minute

The quantitative instruments include:

1. A survey with the SSE Peer Educators at baseline (prior to training) and at 3, 6 and 9-month follow-up;
2. A cross-sectional recipient survey with clients of SSE Peer Educators;
3. A weekly outreach check-sheet that allows us to monitor the number and characteristics of IDUs that the SSEs reach and the type of services, materials and referrals that the SSEs provide to their IDU clients; and,
4. A Client Contact Form, that allows the SSE to document individual contacts with their clients and the types of services and harm reduction materials that they provide to their clients.

Additionally, semi-formal in-depth interviews and focus groups have been conducted with SSEs and their clients periodically throughout the project. Theinterview field guide that has been used during interviews with SSEs includes questions about SSE risk behaviors, experiences with the intervention, and services provided to IDUs clients. The guide also includes requests for feedback and suggestions from the SSE-peer educators that can lead to improvements in the intervention and evaluation activities.

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Additional Evaluation Materials

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