The MAPP training program evaluation.

This article reports on an evaluation of regional training programs designed to increase the knowledge and use of Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP). The objectives for the MAPP training program included teaching participants about MAPP resources on the Web, providing participants with instruction about what MAPP is, and why it is important for community health improvement. Participants were also instructed on how to implement MAPP through a series of concrete steps such as mobilizing community partnerships, creating an action plan, conducting a series of assessments, and identifying strategic issues. An on-site survey with pretraining and posttraining questions and a follow-up survey were developed and administered to participants to assess their readiness levels to access MAPP resources and actively use and promote MAPP in their communities. The findings indicate that participants' knowledge of MAPP and confidence to use it improved as a result of training. Six months after training, participants' readiness levels increased from pretraining levels in the areas of incorporating MAPP into their roles, presenting MAPP to community partners, and using MAPP for community health improvement projects. Making changes in their organizations and communities to implement MAPP did not change significantly from pretraining levels. Just under half of training participants were implementing MAPP 6 months posttraining.

Lessons from the MAPP demonstration sites.

This article describes one component of a three-part evaluation of a community health improvement model called MAPP (Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships). This component examined the use of MAPP by nine local public health agencies that acted as demonstration sites. Using qualitative data from telephone interviews, focus group data, and document reviews, the evaluators identified four themes associated with how MAPP was implemented and the factors that influenced implementation. A level of activity was assigned to each site for each of the four themes. Combining data from multiple demonstration sites, evaluators characterized common activities for each theme. Findings reveal that those sites with health director buy-in and full-time coordination for MAPP were associated with high levels of partnership development. The MAPP Web site, in its current state, does not appear to provide an advantage over using a printed copy of MAPP. Evaluation data from training programs and Web site users (the other two components of the evaluation) support key findings from the demonstration sites and reveal crosscutting themes for all components of the MAPP evaluation. Investigating other situational and contextual factors that influence the nature and success of MAPP implementation would be useful.