CPH 514 - Planning & Evaluation

A practical course on designing, planning, and evaluating public health programs in real-world settings, grounded in systems thinking, evidence use, implementation planning, and sustainability.

Course Overview

What this course builds: a toolkit to move from a clearly defined public health problem and community need to a feasible intervention with a defensible plan for implementation, evaluation, and sustainability.

How it is approached: understand problems as part of complex systems, build logic models that connect activities to outcomes, use qualitative and quantitative evidence to prioritize, and design right-sized evaluations.

What This Supports

  • Public health program leadership and evaluation.
  • Needs assessment and evidence-informed planning.
  • Logic models, indicators, implementation quality, and sustainability.
  • Communication for program leaders, partners, and stakeholders.

Where This Applies

  • Local/state health departments: program planning, quality improvement, reporting.
  • Hospitals & health systems: CHNA-aligned strategies; implementation evaluation.
  • Community-based organizations: grant-funded program design, budgeting, outcomes tracking.
  • Policy & advocacy: multi-level strategies and evaluation of policy/system change.
  • Research/practice partnerships: stronger implementation plans and translation to action.

Signature Assignments & Deliverables

  • Needs Assessment Brief (2–3 pp.) - problem statement, affected population, priority drivers, feasible leverage points.
  • Program Logic Model (1 page) - inputs, activities, outputs, short/medium/long-term outcomes; key assumptions/risks.
  • Evaluation Plan (table or brief) - questions, indicators, data sources, timing, analysis; ties to reach/implementation/effectiveness/maintenance.
  • Budget & Staffing Worksheet - roles, effort, materials, timelines mapped to activities.
  • Stakeholder One-Pager - clear, audience-appropriate program summary and how results will be used.

This course supports my preparation for public health leadership roles that require planning, implementation, evaluation, communication, and sustainable program improvement.

Tools & Frameworks

  • Logic models, RE-AIM (reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, maintenance), PDSA cycles
  • Qualitative methods (interviews/focus groups), basic costing/budgeting, equity-aware indicator selection
  • Communication templates for proposals, briefs, and stakeholder updates

At a Glance

  • Course type: Planning, implementation, and evaluation
  • Setting: Real-world programs with measurable outcomes
  • Outputs: Logic model, evaluation plan, budget, stakeholder brief