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Collaborative, Participatory & Empowerment Evaluation

Talk Saves Lives: The Power of Voice and Story in Community-Engaged and Culturally Responsive Evaluation

Thursday, October 12, 2023
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM ET
Location: White River Ballroom F

Location: White River Ballroom F

Abstract Information: Suicide is a significant public health issue impacting millions of people worldwide. Globally, nearly 800,000 people who die by suicide every year leave behind family, friends, colleagues, and communities with a story to tell—stories of grief, resilience, and a desire to create change. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) honors their stories and provides education programs in an effort to save lives and bring hope to those affected by suicide. In this session, presenters will highlight AFSP’s signature suicide prevention education program—Talk Saves Lives—and the power of story, community voice, and cultural humility in its robust evaluation. In the first presentation, authors will discuss using community-engaged partnerships to design and implement culturally appropriate and adapted evaluations for Latinx communities and for corrections staff. In the second, presenters will highlight engaging with individuals with lived experience and leveraging the feedback of program presenters to improve program design and delivery. In the third, presenters will highlight our robust approach to continuous quality improvement (CQI) through mixed-methods evaluation and pilot testing. Presenters will also discuss examples from mixed-methods evaluation, including survey analyses and focus groups, and how these approaches to community-engaged evaluation contribute to content, face, and ecological validity.

Relevance Statement: At the core of the American Evaluation Association’s values is a desire to foster culturally responsive evaluation (CRE) practices that contribute to program improvement and enhance the public good (AEA, n.d.). Operationalizing these values can be challenging in community-engaged work. This multi-paper session will highlight the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s (AFSP) approach to operationalizing CRE in evaluating its programs through the power of story and voice. The authors build on conversations in the field around the utility of mixed-methods research for evaluation and implementation (Baynard et al., 2022; Campbell et al., 2017; Fetters & Molina-Azorin, 2020). In addition, the authors foreground key principles of CRE including (1) attending to language and cultural nuance, (2) considering cultural context and environment, (3) elevating and valuing lived-experience expertise, and (4) power sharing and collaboration (Askew et al., 2012; Hood et al., 2015). In discussing this approach, the authors will highlight key examples of how these principles can be applied in community-engaged evaluation work with diverse partners. In particular, the authors will present processes used to engage with communities and agencies to co-create culturally-responsive evaluations and will discuss evaluation findings that have been used to support the continuous quality improvement of programs and the adaptation of evaluation surveys and approaches. Attendees will learn practical tips for applying a CRE framework and hear valuable lessons learned along the way. American Evaluation Association (n.d.). AEA Mission, Vision, and Values. Retrieved from https://www.eval.org/About/About-AEA/Mission-Vision-Values Askew, K., Beverly, M. G., & Jay, M. L. (2012). Aligning collaborative and culturally responsive evaluation approaches. Evaluation and Program Planning, 35(4), 552–557. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2011.12.011 Banyard, V. L., Edwards, K. M., Rizzo, A. J., Segura-Montagut, A., Greenberg, P., & Kearns, M. C. (2022). Mixed Methods Community-Engaged Evaluation: Integrating Interventionist and Action Research Frameworks to Understand a Community-Building Violence Prevention Program. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 15586898221108012. https://doi.org/10.1177/15586898221108013 Campbell, R., Shaw, J., & Gregory, K. A. (2017). Giving voice—And the numbers, too: Mixed methods research in community psychology. In APA handbook of community psychology: Methods for community research and action for diverse groups and issues, Vol. 2 (pp. 139–153). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/14954-009 Fetters, M. D., & Molina-Azorin, J. F. (2020). Utilizing a Mixed Methods Approach for Conducting Interventional Evaluations. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 14(2), 131–144. https://doi.org/10.1177/1558689820912856 Hood, S., Hopson, R. K., & Kirkhart, K. E. (2015). Culturally Responsive Evaluation. In Handbook of Practical Program Evaluation (pp. 281–317). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119171386.ch12

Presentations:

  • 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM ET
    Improving Timeliness and Robustness of Continuous Quality Improvement as a Driver of Storytelling

    Presenter: Valerie Ratner-Smith, MA (she/her/hers) – American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

    Presenter: Radhika Sood, PhD, MPH – American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

    Presenter: Heather Mavronicolas, PhD, MPH – American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

    Presenter: Corbin Standley, PhD (he/him/his) – American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

    Presenter: Alexis Lucero, MPH, CHES (she/her/hers) – American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

  • 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM ET
    Leveraging Voices from Suicide Prevention Education Experts, Program Presenters, and People with Lived Experience

    Presenter: Alexis Lucero, MPH, CHES (she/her/hers) – American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

    Presenter: Heather Mavronicolas, PhD, MPH – American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

    Presenter: Radhika Sood, PhD, MPH – American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

    Presenter: Valerie Ratner-Smith, MA (she/her/hers) – American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

    Presenter: Corbin Standley, PhD (he/him/his) – American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

  • 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM ET
    Meeting Communities Where They Are: Adapting Evaluation to Contextual Needs

    Presenter: Corbin Standley, PhD (he/him/his) – American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

    Presenter: Alexis Lucero, MPH, CHES (she/her/hers) – American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

    Presenter: Radhika Sood, PhD, MPH – American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

    Presenter: Valerie Ratner-Smith, MA (she/her/hers) – American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

    Presenter: Heather Mavronicolas, PhD, MPH – American Foundation for Suicide Prevention