Process Evaluation Plan

In order to retain a level of high integrity the program should be conducted under similar measures and follow the program directly. There is a high level of education as part of the program because describing the benefits of intuitive eating and gentle nutrition must be explained at large. The program has been created to lessen health risk related to eating disorders and disordered eating patterns in dancers, while also increasing self-efficacy in the young adolescent dancers. The program is mapped out in a way that eating disorders, disordered eating patterns, cultural expectations for adolescents, and nutrition needs for dancers must all be explored. The interventionist will utilize instructional strategies such as demonstration, discussion and exercises to educate and encourage the target audience over the period of eight weeks. Each meeting will last one hour once a week and exercises with be explained for the dancers to practice during the week.

After proper education about disordered eating, concepts of both intuitive eating and gentle nutrition can be incorporated. Social support from dance educators/teachers as well as parents of the dancers need to be present for optimal success. The individuals explaining and conducting the program will need to have appropriate knowledge and training around disordered eating, intuitive eating and gentle nutrition, and preferably experience in the field of dance. If someone does not fall under these criteria, training implementation would be even more necessary.

As for dose delivery, implementers will be conveying all information provided as part of the program and will need to take reign of all activities onward throughout the program. Because the program will follow adolescent dancers over an extended period of time, it is important to follow up with each participant to see just how the intuitive eating and gentle nutrition is going and make sure the implementer is providing proper support. Tracking whether or not they ate intuitively that week, how often they were able to eat in a social setting, and how many times they spoke with their support system (friends, parents, dance instructors) are all part of the program that should be monitored. Not only will the young dancers receive this training to self-monitor, but it will also be important to explain this information and the weekly activities and expectations carefully, so that the implementer can measure audience participation.

Questions to Measure Targets:

Recruitment – how many students or studios have you been able to target for the program?

• This can best be measured by understanding the area and what dance studios will be able to participate – diversity in studios is important in creating a difference. Including multiple studios, if possible, is best.

Reach – how many participants have you been able to follow up with in regard to tracking weekly activities?

• This would be measured through the number of participants that followed up appropriately and would require the implementor to keep track of how many and who followed up.

Fidelity – are the implementors of the program trained/have a good understanding of intuitive eating, gentle nutrition, disordered eating patterns, and have knowledge or worked in the field of dance?

• This would be evaluated through training to make sure they have education on nutrition or specialize in disordered eating and have experience in the field of dance. Resources would need to be created and provided if an individual is not trained on these topics.

Context – how did the adolescent dancers seem to react to the information and education provided?

• This would be best evaluated by an evaluation form after conducting the program to gain understanding of the effectiveness. An evaluation form to specify what has been learned and how the girls found this to be effective or not will help.

Dose Delivered – was the implementer able to cover the necessary material, teach activities, and follow up with each participant to measure visibility of the program?

• Measuring the information covered and how many participants were followed up with would be the most effective and utilizing the evaluation forms mentioned previously would be a good resource here as well.

Dose Received – how were participants in their follow up meetings and did they complete the necessary weekly activities?

• Measuring weekly activities whether completed or not are useful in understanding how easy the plan is, to actually stick to. Participants should be recording and communicating through weekly meetings about these topics.

References:

McKenzie, J.F., Neiger, B.L., & Thackeray, R. (2017). Planning, Implementing, and Evaluating Health Promotion Programs: A Primer. (7th ed). USA: Pearson Education, Inc.