It is widely recognised that increasing community participation, intersectoral collaboration and equity are key values in comprehensive primary health care. However, the SACHRU report What works? A systematic review of the evidence for the effectiveness of community health in Adelaide (Jolley, Baum et al. 2004) suggests that the achievement of these three principles is not generally well-evaluated.

We recognise that programs and their evaluations may not need, or be able, to focus on all three of these PHC principles and that sometimes it is appropriate to concentrate on one or two. For this reason, and to keep the tools to a manageable size, the themes are presented separately. However, there are often overlaps and linkages, for example, one of the outcomes from community participation may be increased equity of access to services.

Evaluation can occur at system, organisation or program level. This toolkit is intended as a practical aid to assist practitioners working in community based health services to assess the effectiveness of programs and projects in achieving community participation, intersectoral collaboration and equity. A case study for each tool is also provided to give a feel for how the tool might be used.

Each of the tools remains a work in progress. The decision to disseminate the tools at this stage of development came about as result of a workshop at the Australian Health Promotion Association conference in Adelaide in May 2007, view powerpoint. A clear message regarding the need for these tools was given by practitioners at that workshop. The authors recognise that further refinement of the tools is required and welcome comments and feedback at any time.

Email feedback/questions to sachru@flinders.edu.au

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