Management of Public Health Assessments, Research Paper Example

Assessment activities are an integral part of developing and sustaining successful health services (Brownson, Fielding, and Maylahn 175) and several factors are important influences on the proficiency of the process. Leadership is one of the most impactful variables, as all projects need some amount of supervision to remain at an optimal level of efficiency. Even tasks with individual autonomy must be guided by self-management, and thus require strong leadership. As a second factor, communication quality must be emphasized throughout the assessment process, and good management will help achieve this goal. If information is not consistently and accurately communicated throughout the various nodes in the assessment system then the process will break down and any results will be of questionable validity. A third important influence on the success of public health assessments is community involvement. The public cannot be forgotten as a foundational piece of community health services, and their participation in the assessment process is necessary to accurately gauge the success of ideas and implementations. Including the public in communication and leadership management is vital to ensuring an adequate amount of involvement. The assessment process is necessary to ensure that funding and human health are not being depleted by failed public policies. A policy needs to be altered or eliminated when it produces activities that do not achieve their assigned goals, and the only way to determine the efficacy of a policy is to assess the results (Leviton et al. 213). The factors above are only a few of those that are necessary for quality assessments.

Works Cited

Brownson, Ross C., Jonathan E. Fielding, and Christopher M. Maylahn. “Evidence-based public health: a fundamental concept for public health practice.” Annual review of public health 30 (2009): 175-201.

Leviton, Laura C., et al. “Evaluability Assessment to Improve Public Health Policies, Programs, and Practices.” Annual review of public health 31 (2010): 213-233.