Projects

127171 - Michigan Medicine OHEI Evaluation

No abstract found

2021 National Food Hub Survey

Survey design: PEG will work with project team members from CRFS and the Wallace Center to design the survey instrument. This will include collaborating to apply a racial-equity lens by articulating how the survey can adopt a critical race analysis as well as advance equity through its design and dissemination. We will also work with the project team to apply a utilization-focused lens by ensuring the survey is designed with the intended use of the findings in mind and the team has a shared understanding of the key research questions. The design phase will include participating in meetings with an advisory committee of food hub stakeholders and people of color. This phase will also include developing a list of contacts and a recruitment plan. Survey dissemination: PEG will be responsible for inputting the survey into Qualtrics, testing the instrument, and disseminating it to identified food hub owners and managers based on the established recruitment plan. This phase will include monitoring incoming responses and respondent characteristics to identify if additional recruitment is needed either broadly or targeted to specific groups. Data cleaning and analysis: PEG will be responsible for all data cleaning. PEG will conduct initial descriptive analyses based on the key research questions identified in the design phase. This will include univariate analyses of all survey variables, cross-sectional analyses of the 2021 data, and longitudinal analyses of prior data sets from 2013-2019. Data interpretation and report development: Following the completion of initial analyses, PEG will work closely with the project team and advisory committee to interpret the data, including both identifying other relevant analyses and articulating the implications of the findings. If resources and safety protocols allow, this phase could include an in-person data interpretation meeting. PEG will lead the creation of the survey report, continuing to work in collaboration with the project team and other stakeholders to ensure findings and recommendations are useful and actionable. Deliverables: The primary deliverables will be the survey instrument in Qualtrics and a report on survey findings. If warranted, PEG could also develop additional data briefs or infographics to highlight particular findings from the full report for specific audiences. Final deliverables will be produced in Microsoft Word without graphic design. The lead evaluator will work with the graphic designer as needed and will review design drafts.

2021 National Food Hub Survey - Supplement

Following the completion of the 2021 National Food Hub Survey report, PEG will work closely with staff from the Center for Regional Food Systems (CRFS) to identify additional areas of interest in the data collected for the 2021 National Food Hub Survey. PEG and CRFS will develop two supplemental research publications (2-5 pages each) based on the identified themes of interest. PEG's work may include additional data analysis and interpretation, as well as articulation of those findings. PEG will work closely with CRFS in the writing and review process and provide input and review on the design. PEG may be involved in the dissemination of these research briefs through presentations or webinars.

Evaluation of 2020 Nutrition and Healthy Lifestyles Grant Portfolio - Supplement

We would begin the evaluation by taking time to deepen our collective understanding of the NHL program, through examining existing grant data and initiative frameworks as well as through investigating comparable initiatives in other states to identify best and promising practices related to the seven facets of NHL work: integrating school and community work related to nutrition and physical activity interventions, behavior change, health status change, intended vs. actual reach, sustainability, systems change impact, and community engagement. This research would be summarized in a phase one report and provide the basis for a more detailed phase two evaluation plan. Phase two would involve new data collection, including working with grantees to identify common measures on reach, health indicators, and behavioral change, conducting interviews to learn more about grantees’ and beneficiaries’ experiences with the grant projects, and capturing broader system-level impacts. Findings, including portfolio outputs, best and promising practices, and strategies for grantee community engagement, would be presented in multiple formats in order to ensure the information is available to multiple audiences.

Evaluation of Seed Change in Native Communities Project

Our approach to this process and outcome evaluation project will be to bring together the principles of equitable evaluation, as articulated in the Equitable Evaluation Framework, shared farm to school metrics, based on Evaluation for Transformation: Cross Sectoral Evaluation Framework for Farm to School and NFSN’s Programs and Policy Racial and Social Equity Assessment Tool, and the goals and priorities of each of the three focus communities. We will concentrate attention and resources on areas with the greatest overlap between these three framing elements while simultaneously ensuring that all three framing elements are represented in the evaluation design. We anticipate that the evaluation plan will include two components - one that is shared across all three communities and one that is specific to each community. We will execute this project in four phases as follows. The first phase of the evaluation will involve learning more about the program and listening to the goals and needs of each of the focus communities in order to develop a more detailed evaluation plan. As part of program discovery, we will review documents related to FASLP, the Seed Change projects in Montana, Maine and Hawai’i, and the Native Communities Program team to build our depth of understanding. We will also convene listening and planning meetings with each community to learn more about their projects and priorities and to engage them in setting the direction and design of the evaluation. The second phase of the evaluation will focus on data collection. We will meet again with stakeholders in each of the three communities to refine data collection methodologies. At minimum, data collection will include surveys and semi-structured interviews. Depending on the priorities identified, this phase may also include focus groups, Most Significant Change, Ripple Effect Mapping, or other participatory methodologies. Wherever possible, we will partner with farm to school practitioners in the focus communities to collect the data as a way to build evaluation capacity, ensure cultural relevance, and foster participant ownership. The third phase of the evaluation will consist of analyzing the data, collaboratively interpreting findings, and developing the final evaluation report. We will conduct univariate descriptive analyses of survey findings as well as inferential analyses if warranted. We will conduct inductive qualitative analysis of interview data to elicit key themes and rich descriptions. In this phase, we will convene a third meeting with practitioners and stakeholders in each of the focus communities in order to co-interpret the data and co-develop recommendations or actionable strategies. The final evaluation report will describe the evaluation process, summarize all results, and synthesize findings to offer a narrative assessment of the Seed Change project. In the fourth and final phase, we will work to support the use and application of the evaluation findings among a broad range of stakeholders, including, first and foremost, the stakeholders in the three focus communities. This dissemination phase could include, for example, developing infographics, hosting webinars, or convening storytelling events.

Evaluation of the Michigan Double Up Food Bucks Program

The University of Michigan School of Social Work Program Evaluation Group (PEG) will conduct a process and impact evaluation of Michigan’s Double Up Food Bucks (DUFB) program operated by the Fair Food Network (FFN). The evaluation will answer five primary evaluation questions: 1. To what extent does program participation lead to greater fruit and vegetable consumption among SNAP shoppers? 2. What is the economic benefit of Double Up Food Bucks to farmers? 3. How do DUFB participants compare to the population of SNAP users in Michigan? 4. What are the processes, challenges, and factors contributing to successful program implementation? 5. What are the core program metrics, as defined by the Nutrition Incentive Hub? A rigorous design will be used to explore the causal l ink between the program and the expected outcomes. The evaluation will make use of FFN’s existing implementation and core program outcome indicators as well as FFN’s current data collection methodology. In collaboration with FFN, PEG evaluators will plan and collect new information from grocers, farmers, and program participants to answer the key evaluation questions. The evaluation findings will integrate and synthesize quantitative and qualitative data across sources, and outline recommendations for improvement.

Evaluation of the Michigan Double Up Food Bucks Program - Supplement

The University of Michigan School of Social Work Program Evaluation Group (PEG) will expand the scope of the Double Up Food Bucks participant survey as part of its evaluation of Michigan’s Double Up Food Bucks (DUFB) program operated by the Fair Food Network (FFN). This expansion in scope is needed in order to accommodate the new sites added to the program in 2021 and the anticipated new sites in 2022 under the GUS-CRR grant awarded to the Fair Food Network.

Human Services Grant Program Evaluation

In response to RFP #8299 Human Services Grant Program Evaluation for Washtenaw County Community and Economic Development, the University of Michigan School of Social Work (UM-SSW) Program Evaluation Group (PEG) will develop an evaluation framework for new Human Services Partnership grantees. This evaluation framework will encompass: (1) development of metrics, evaluation, and system impacts and (2) equity review of Human Services Partnership (HSP) grantees. Our framework will identify evaluation metrics and equity review processes across the three funding programs: existing safety net program grants, annual one-year mini grants, and high impact grants. Our proposal outlines capacity-building activities designed to provide technical assistance and training on a variety of evaluation procedures.

MiCHWA PEG Funding

Funds transferred to PEG via Edie Kieffer's MiCHWA Discretionary account for PEG to complete evaluation work on sponsored project.

Program Evaluator for Title II Contracts

Altarum will guide Title II grantees through the process of developing their evaluation plans, with full plans ready for submission to MDHHS within 14 days of their grant start date. Documenting and operationally defining the program and evaluation goals, specific activities, and their timing and hypothesized outcomes are of paramount importance. The well-crafted evaluations will yield data relevant and necessary to document accomplishments, identify areas for improvement, and enhance sustainability and scalability moving forward. If possible, given Covid-19 realities, Altarum’s Project Manager (PM), Rachelle May-Gentile, Evaluation Lead, Dr. Christine Stanik; and Juvenile Justice Subject Matter Expert, Lisa Greco will meet with each grantee in person at the time of their start dates. If in-person visits are not advisable, they will host video meetings using Microsoft Teams or Zoom to interact face-to-face with grantee staff. Dr. Stanik is currently hosting remote discussions for a similar project with six grantees, and the protocol has been highly successful. During initial meetings, Dr. Stanik and Ms. Greco will facilitate information gathering discussions with grantee staff to acclimate to the grantee programs, including program background and context, goals and objectives, target audience, key activities, and desired short-, medium-, and long-term outcomes. They will walk grantee staff through each component of the evaluation plan, designing and assist grantees as they begin to develop their plans. Altarum will document these planning meetings and provide detailed notes to the grantees capturing all decision points and action items. Through these meetings, the Altarum Team will develop the following specific evaluation plan components: Logic Model, Evaluation Goals and Objectives, Evaluation Research Questions, Evaluation Design, Process and Outcome Performance Measures, Data Collection Sources, Tools, and Methods, Data Reporting, Data Analysis, and Evaluation Report and Other Products.

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH EDUCATION AND RESEARCH CENTERS (T42)

October 2018 - June 2023

The University of Michigan Center for Occupational Health and Safety Engineering (COHSE), a NIOSH Education and Research Center (ERC), has been continuously funded by NIOSH since its establishment in 1982. Our Center has a distinguished legacy, building on NIOSH Trainee Program grants in the early 1970s, the Institute of Industrial Health founded in 1951, and may other milestones dating back to the establishment of the Laboratory of Hygiene in 1888. The mission of the Center is to serve the region, nation and world as a center of excellence for graduate education and research in occupational health and safety. We maintain outstanding Master’s, doctoral and research programs in Industrial Hygiene, Occupational Health Nursing, Occupational Safety Engineering and Ergonomics, and Occupational Epidemiology. Our academic and research programs provide broad-based interdisciplinary academic training to ensure that graduates are qualified to pursue careers and assume leadership roles in the practice of occupational health and safety, and to help ensure an adequate supply of well-trained researchers. Complementing the academic programs, our suite of Research-to-Practice projects, Continuing Education programs, and Outreach activities are aimed at transferring state-of-the-art knowledge to professionals and practitioners in occupational health and safety and allied disciplines. As a NIOSH Education and Research Center, we serve a number of constituencies, including: (1) NIOSH; (2) industry, labor and professional interests in our region and beyond; (3) academic units within the University of Michigan that provide critical teaching and research resources necessary for Center success; and (4) our students. The broad goals of the Center are to: • Promote excellence in our professional training and research training programs in each core program; • Increase the financial resources needed to improve the number, quality and diversity of graduate students in each core area; • Enhance the quality of our continuing education courses and other service and outreach activities; • Increase external research funding to improve our research infrastructure, expand opportunities for research training, and promote interdisciplinary research related to occupational health and safety; • Provide an organizational structure to coordinate and promote interdisciplinary educational activities for all core programs; • Promote awareness and education of occupational health and safety in undergraduate and graduate courses in other departments and schools; • Utilize a variety of research-to-practice (R2P) mechanisms, including our Visiting Partners Program, to develop skills and capabilities of mid-career occupational health and safety professionals; and • Assist Center programs and affiliated academic units in recruiting, promoting and retaining faculty