Growing the evaluation workforce for more than two decades: stories from graduate students trained in a public health evaluation team

Background: The Healthy Hawai‘i Evaluation Team (HHET) conducts external evaluation of statewide chronic disease prevention and health promotion initiatives. Through a partnership between the University of Hawai‘i and State Department of Health, HHET has hired graduate research assistants (GRAs) to meet its workforce development aim since HHET’s inception in 2000. Study: Two team members conducted semi-structured interviews with 17 former GRAs, asking participants how their time with HHET influenced their academic and professional careers and about the most valuable things they learned about program evaluation and public health.

Results: GRAs shared stories of how practical skills and “real-world” experiences with HHET were pivotal to their professional and academic success. Stories enabled a rich understanding of student perspectives on the most beneficial aspects of the HHET training experience. GRAs valued being engaged in evaluations from start to finish and feeling empowered to work independently, applying concepts learned in school under the mentorship of HHET’s lead evaluators. GRAs gained many core evaluator competencies including learning qualitative and quantitative methodologies, the importance of engaging stakeholders throughout the evaluation process, and how to communicate findings appropriately for diverse audiences. GRA positions helped participants finance and complete their degrees, while expanding their networks, and gaining invaluable experience they have used in their subsequent public health and evaluation careers.

Discussion: This study highlights how university-based evaluation teams can train graduate students to bolster their understanding of public health and evaluation and prepare them for the public health and evaluation workforce.