Examination of the short-term impact of a disability awareness training on attitudes toward people with disabilities: A community-based participatory evaluation approach.

Background: Worldwide over a billion people live with a disability including 400,000 people in Ecuador. People with disabilities (PWD) face barriers to full participation in society. Barriers are generated by negative attitudes created through socio-cultural experiences. Awareness about disability can be facilitated through disability awareness training (DAT). Studies examining outcomes on DAT exist in high-resourced countries but are nonexistent in Ecuador. Study purposes:1) create a DAT using community input and conduct the training; 2) examine the impact of the DAT on attitudes toward and awareness of PWD; and 3) explore community perceptions regarding the impact of the DAT on action. Methods: Community-based participatory evaluation was employed to design and assess the impact of a DAT with 60 community members from Latacunga, Ecuador. The DAT incorporated a multi-modal approach (interactive discussion, problem-solving, hands-on activities) and was informed by the theory of planned behavior. Data sources were the Multidimensional Attitudes Scale (MAS) (Spanish version) administered pre- and post-DAT and interviews conducted with nine DAT participants. Results: Mann Whitney U revealed significant changes in two of four MAS constructs: emotion p = .005 and cognition p = .003. Five themes emerged from the interviews: 1) view of disability; 2) contact; 3) attitude; 4) training impact; and 5) action. Conclusion: In the short-term DAT may increase awareness of and decrease negative attitudes associated with disability. Effective strategies highlighted for raising awareness and improving attitudes were contact with PWD and education. Education leads to more positive perceptions of the barriers PWD face and their ability to participate in society.

Avaliação participativa de uma Universidade Aberta à Terceira Idade: perspectiva dos idosos / Participatory evaluation of an Open University for the Third Age: elderly' s perspective / Evaluación participativa de una Universidad Abierta para Adultos Mayores: perspectiva de las personas mayores

O objetivo deste artigo foi realizar uma avaliação participativa de uma Universidade Aberta à Terceira Idade na perspectiva dos idosos participantes. Dez pessoas com idade entre 62 e 74 anos, participaram de uma entrevista semiestruturada, cujos dados foram submetidos à análise de conteúdo temática. Três categorias foram discutidas: satisfação com o projeto, aprendizagens para o cotidiano e recursos didáticos e planejamento. A satisfação decorreu da possibilidade de interação e aquisição de conhecimentos. Discute-se a necessidade de avançar quanto à didática empregada por parte dos professores e do planejamento do projeto.

The objective of this article was to carry out a participatory evaluation of an Open University to the Third Age from the elderly's perspective. Ten people aged between 62 and 74 years participated in a semi-structured interview, whose data were submitted to the thematic content analysis. Three categories were discussed: satisfaction with the project, learning for daily life and didactic resources and planning. Satisfaction arose from the possibility of interaction and acquisition of knowledge. It discusses the need to advance the didactics used by teachers and project planning.

El objetivo de este artículo fue llevar a cabo una evaluación participativa de una Universidad Abierta para personas mayores desde la perspectiva de las mismas. Diez adultos mayores entre 62 y 74 anõs participaron en una entrevista semiestruturada, cuyos datos fueron sometidos a análisis de contenido temático. Se discutieron tres categorias: satisfación con el proyeto, aprendizaje diario y recursos didácticos y planificación. La satisfacción resultó en la posibilidad de interacción y adquisición de conocimiento. Se discute la necesidad de avanzar en términos de didáctica utilizada por los maestros y la planificación de proyectos.

The Fortune of the Commons: Participatory Evaluation of Small-Scale Fisheries in the Brazilian Amazon.

This paper applies a participatory approach in evaluating small-scale fisheries, focusing on the Arapaima gigas fishery in the Brazilian Amazon. The evaluation uses the social-ecological system (SES) framework, adopted to explain the conditions needed for sustainability and user cooperation in natural resources management, as a more suitable alternative to the 'blueprint' or 'panaceas' approaches, based only on property rights or governmental intervention. However, managers and users often do not have the necessary information compiled and available for a specific SES while some actions need to be taken immediately. Thus, consensus and negotiation among stakeholders about SES variables may be useful to evaluate system performance and indicate actions to promote sustainability. In the case study, using a consensus-building model, we found that arapaima SES leads to sustainability and is far from being a case of 'tragedy of the commons.' More investments in suitable monitoring and enforcement for adaptive management are recommended. Adopting an SES framework based on stakeholders' prospects may be useful until complete interdisciplinary studies become available so as to seek of sustainability in the long term.

Evaluation in health: participatory methodology and involvement of municipal managers / Avaliação em saúde: metodologia participativa e envolvimento de gestores municipais

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To analyze scopes and limits of the use of participatory methodology of evaluation with municipal health managers and administrators. METHODS Qualitative research with health policymakers and managers of the Comissão Intergestores Regional (CIR - Regional Interagency Commission) of a health region of the state of Sao Paulo in Brazil. Representatives from seven member cities participated in seven workshops facilitated by the researchers, with the aim of assessing a specific problem of the care line, which would be used as a tracer of the system integrality. The analysis of the collected empirical material was based on the hermeneutic-dialectic methodology and aimed at the evaluation of the applied participatory methodology, according to its capacity of promoting a process of assessment capable to be used as a support for municipal management. RESULTS With the participatory approach of evaluation, we were able to promote in-depth discussions with the group, especially related to the construction of integral care and to the inclusion of the user's perspective in decision-making, linked to the search for solution to concrete problems of managers. By joint exploration, the possibility of using data from electronic information systems was opened, as well as information coming directly from the users of the services, to enhance discussions and negotiations between partners. The participants were disbelievers of the replication potential of this type of evaluation without the direct monitoring of the academy, given the difficulty of organizing the process in everyday life, already taken by emergency and political issues. CONCLUSIONS Evaluations of programs and services carried out within the Regional Interagency Commission, starting from the local interest and facilitating the involvement of its members by the use of participatory methodologies, can contribute to the construction of integral care. To the extent that the act of evaluating stay invested with greater significance to the local actors, its involvement with the evaluations at the federal level can also be stimulated.

RESUMO OBJETIVO Analisar alcances e limites do uso de metodologia participativa de avaliação junto a gestores e gerentes municipais de saúde. MÉTODOS Pesquisa qualitativa com gestores e gerentes de saúde da Comissão Intergestores Regional de uma região de saúde do estado de São Paulo. Representantes de sete municípios membros participaram de sete oficinas facilitadas pelos pesquisadores, com o objetivo de avaliar um problema específico da linha de cuidados sob a perspectiva da integralidade. A análise do material empírico coletado baseou-se na metodologia hermenêutica-dialética e visou a avaliação da metodologia participativa aplicada, segundo sua capacidade de promover um processo de avaliação passível de ser utilizado como suporte à gestão municipal. RESULTADOS Com a abordagem participativa de avaliação, foi possível promover debates em profundidade com o grupo, principalmente relacionados à construção da integralidade da atenção e à inclusão da perspectiva do usuário na tomada de decisão, de forma vinculada à busca de solução para problemas concretos dos gestores. Mediante a exploração conjunta, foi aberta a possibilidade de utilização de dados advindos dos sistemas eletrônicos de informação, bem como de informações advindas diretamente dos usuários dos serviços, para enriquecer debates e negociações entre parceiros. Os participantes se mostraram descrentes do potencial de replicação deste tipo de avaliação sem o acompanhamento direto da academia, dada a dificuldade de organização do processo no cotidiano, já tomado por questões emergenciais e políticas. CONCLUSÕES Avaliações de programas e serviços realizadas no âmbito da Comissão Intergestores Regional, partindo do interesse local e facilitando o envolvimento de seus membros pelo uso de metodologias participativas, podem contribuir para a construção da integralidade do cuidado. Na medida em que o ato de avaliar fique investido de maior significado para os atores locais, seu envolvimento com as avaliações em nível federal poderá ser também estimulado.

Using a participatory evaluation design to create an online data collection and monitoring system for New Mexico's Community Health Councils.

We present the collaborative development of a web-based data collection and monitoring plan for thirty-two county councils within New Mexico's health council system. The monitoring plan, a key component in our multiyear participatory statewide evaluation process, was co-developed with the end users: representatives of the health councils. Guided by the Institute of Medicine's Community, Health Improvement Process framework, we first developed a logic model that delineated processes and intermediate systems-level outcomes in council development, planning, and community action. Through the online system, health councils reported data on intermediate outcomes, including policy changes and funds leveraged. The system captured data that were common across the health council system, yet was also flexible so that councils could report their unique accomplishments at the county level. A main benefit of the online system was that it provided the ability to assess intermediate, outcomes across the health council system. Developing the system was not without challenges, including creating processes to ensure participation across a large rural state; creating shared understanding of intermediate outcomes and indicators; and overcoming technological issues. Even through the challenges, however, the benefits of committing to using participatory processes far outweighed the challenges.

A avaliação dos usuários sobre os centros de atenção psicossocial (CAPS)de Campinas, SP / Evaluation by users on psychosocial treatment centers (CAPS) in Campinas, SP, Brazil / Évaluation des centres de soins psychosociaux (CAPS) de Campinas (SP) par les utilisateurs / La evaluación de los usuarios de los centros de atención psico-social - CAPS Campinas San Pablo, Brasil

Este artigo trata da avaliação dos Centros de Atenção Psicossocial(CAPS) de Campinas, sob a perspectiva dos seus usuários por meio dodesenvolvimento de estudo hermenêutico-narrativo. Percebe-se que osCAPS são os únicos espaços reconhecidos com potência terapêutica pelos usuários, que relataram transformações efetivas em suas trajetórias, principalmente em sua relação com a doença e na construçãode sentidos para o tratamento. A participação de pacientes portadores de transtornos mentais graves em pesquisa avaliativa se mostrou viável,apesar de se tratar de exercício pouco explorado no Brasil.

This article discusses an evaluation of Psychosocial Treatment Centers (CAPs) inthe city of Campinas, State of São Paulo, Brazil, from the perspective of their users,through a narrative-hermeneutic study. It is seen that the CAPs are the only services with recognized therapeutic effectiveness in the lives of their users. The users report effective changes in their lives, especially in their relationships with their disorders andthe construction of meanings of treatment. The participation of patients with severe mental illness in an evaluative study proved feasible, although it is still rarely used in Brazil.

Cet article porte sur l’évaluation des Centres de soins psychosociaux (CAPS) deCampinas par leurs utilisateurs à l’aide du développement d’une étude herméneutiquenarrative.Nous observons que les CAPS sont les seuls lieux exerçant un impactthérapeutique reconnu sur la vie des utilisateurs. Ceux-ci signalent des changementsréels de leurs trajectoires, en particulier dans leurs rapports avec la maladie et laconstruction des significations du traitement. La participation de patients souffrantd’une maladie mentale grave à une étude d’évaluation s’est avérée possible, malgré lefait qu’il s’agisse d’une modalité rarement appliquée au Brésil.

Este artículo trata de la evaluación de los Centros de Atención Psico-social(CAPS) de Campinas, desde la perspectiva de sus usuarios a través del desarrollo deun estudio narrativo-hermenéutico. Se advierte que los CAPS son los únicos espaciosreconocidos con potencia terapéutica en la vida de los usuarios, que informan cambios efectivos en sus trayectorias, especialmente en su relación con la enfermedad y con la construcción de sentidos del tratamiento. La participación de pacientes con enfermedad mental grave en un estudio de evaluación demostró ser factible, a pesar de tratarse deun ejercicio poco explorado en el Brasil.

Evaluation of STD/HIV/AIDS peer-education and danger: a local perspective / Avaliação de educação das DST/HIV/aids pelos pares e perigo: suma perspectiva local

An evaluation of peer-education projects with sex workers, men who have sex with men and marginalized adolescents, was introduced in a remote region of Brazil. The context of varied limits of predictability made it difficult to conduct inquiry. To go beyond available epidemiological surveys and questionnaires on sexual behavior, a self-evaluation aimed at increasing pragmatic knowledge about prevention in a challenging socio-political context. During five-months, a participatory-action research explored participant observation; individual and collective exchanges with users, peer-educators, coordinators, administrators, politicians and regional health professionals. Collective understanding of peer-education in prostitution zones underlines the reality of unforeseen social repercussions and confluence/divergence of multiple actors' perspectives. It identifies meaningful dimensions at a community-level, such as the collective history and dangerous working conditions. Nurses face complex struggles and negotiations over multiple actors in their practice. This study suggests that nurses have a role to play in the conceptualization of participatory evaluation. It also underlines the threats to their physical and social safety, which they might share with peer-educators.

Uma avaliação dos projetos de educação por pares com trabalhadores do sexo, homens que fazem sexo com homens e adolescentes marginalizados foi implantada numa região do interior do Brasil. Os diversos limites postos à previsibilidade tornaram difícil conduzir a investigação. Indo além das pesquisas epidemiológicas e questionários evolutivos sobre os comportamentos sexuais, esta auto-avaliação enfatiza o desenvolvimento de conhecimento pragmático sobre prevenção em um contexto sociopolítico desafiante. Durante cinco meses, uma pesquisa-ação explorou observação participante, entrevistas individuais e coletivas junto com usuários, pares educadores, coordenadores, administradores, políticos e profissionais da saúde. A compreensão coletiva da educação por pares em áreas de prostituição sublinha a realidade de repercussões sociais imprevistas e a confluência/divergência das perspectivas de diversos atores locais. A pesquisa identifica dimensões coletivas significativas como a historia coletiva e as condições de trabalho perigosas. As enfermeiras enfrentam complexas lutas e negociações com múltiplos atores no âmbito da sua prática. Este estudo ressalta o papel importante delas na conceitualização de avaliação participativa. O estudo também destaca as ameaças para a segurança física e social que as enfermeiras compartilham com os pares educadores.