Evaluation Plan for the Education, Community Demonstration and Health Services Research Activities of the Multipurpose Arthritis Centers

摘要

The Multipurpose Arthritis Centers (MACs) of the National Institute of Arthritis, Diabetes, and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIADDK) were established to develop new knowledge and improve the dissemination of existing knowledge about arthritis and related musculoskeletal diseases. As part of its administrative responsibilities, NIADDK wishes to monitor and assess the non-biomedical research activities of the MACs. In this evalution plan, the activities of the MACs are divided into five general areas: (1) Professional Education; (2) Patient/Public Education; (3) Community Activities; (4) Core Units; (5) Health Services Research. For each of these areas, 'components' of an evaluation plan are established in the form of questions. Each Evaluation Plan component is a self-contained evaluation plan, containing a statement of evaluation questions, an overall approach, detailed instructions for implementation of the evaluation, and an estimate of the resources required to complete it. Each component may be implemented independently of the others.