Program Evaluation for the U.S. Army Force Health Protection Program

Battelle provided technical assistance, training, and program and policy evaluation expertise to help APHC evaluate and improve their readiness programs related to behavioral health outcomes resulting from CBRN and hazardous material exposure. The project included:

• Support for Portfolio Capabilities Assessment. Battelle planned, developed and conducted capabilities assessments and provided support for the development of tools and capacity within PHC for these assessments.
• Support for Focus Groups to Assess Performance Triad (P3) Implementation. Researchers conducted a series of 108 focus groups segmented by soldiers’ rank to assess soldiers’ attitudes about and adoption of the P3 Program, which is focused on improving soldiers’ sleep, nutrition and physical activity regimens.
• Evaluation of Army G-1 Programs. The Battelle team reviewed documents describing selected APHC programs to assess the “readiness for evaluation” of these programs. They then worked with APHC to develop evaluation plans to assess program impact.
• Development of Guidebook on Cost-Relevant Program Evaluation. APHC is responsible for developing a program evaluation guidebook that adopts cost effectiveness analysis for the evaluation of the PHC Health and Wellness program areas. Battelle developed the guidebook using general and program-specific approaches to conduct cost-relevant program evaluation.

Battelle’s work allowed APHC to better understand the effectiveness of their current programs and develop internal capacity for program evaluation. Specifically, the project allowed APHC to:

• Improve program implementation and identify best practices
• Improve their dissemination and implementation efforts for P3
• Plan and implement cost-relevant program evaluations that will assist army decision makers in allocating limited resources to various initiatives and programs