Queensland Stay On Your Feet® - Step 4B: Measure impact

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Step 4B: Measure impact

Measuring the impact of your project/program helps you to see whether it was effective in achieving its objectives, and determines the positive and negative changes that have resulted from your work [17, 89, 90]. All changes that occurred should be looked at, as there may have been some unexpected positive or negative results [22, 89, 90]. It is important that your project/program “is being implemented without causing adverse consequences (eg. injuries during physical activity)” [90].

Impact evaluation measures changes in knowledge, attitudes and behaviour [29] such as:

  • the target groups' awareness, knowledge, skills and actions
  • public attitudes, norms and community participation
  • public policies, organisational policies and practices, legislation, standards and regulations
  • environmental aspects
  • social support structures
  • the provision of community services.

Use the impact evaluation tools you identified in your community action plan to measure the impact and adoption of your project/program.

Conduct another community stocktake
One of the best ways to measure the impact of your program is to conduct another community stocktake so you can compare the results post-project/program with your initial findings. This will enable you to measure any shifts in awareness, knowledge and behaviour in terms of falls prevention.

Who is involved with our program?
Adoption measures the number and proportion of settings, stakeholders and agencies involved with the project/program [89, 90]. This helps determine the level of involvement and types of resources that have been adopted by other organisations and communities [89, 90]. This is similar to reach; however, the focus is at a broader organisational level. By improving adoption, the project/program will reach more individuals [89]. You can collect the following information about adoption:

  • number of settings that have adopted the project/program [18] eg. community dwelling, acute care or residential aged care settings
  • number of organisations that have participated in the project/program [89]
  • proportion of stakeholders/organisations that have adopted services, strategies and resources promoted by the project/program [89]
  • number of organisations that have included falls prevention information in their staff orientation, training and professional development activities
  • number of organisations that have adopted any training/education packages that have been developed [89]
  • number of organisations that decline to be involved and why [90].

Tools and templatesImage of book used for tools and templates Sample community stocktake (post-project)
Image of book used for tools and templates Impact evaluation tools
Image of book used for tools and templates Evaluation tools

Falls prevention in actionRead case studies about how others evaluated the impact of their project
Ready for the next step?Go to Step 4C: Measure outcomes

Last updated: 10 October 2012