Using bottom-up evaluation to build community practice-based evidence and strengthen community-engaged research

ABSTRACT

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) play a critical role in mitigating social problems by creating innovative interventions to address unmet community needs, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. These community-generated interventions are rarely evaluated or recognized within the prevention science lexicon that informs evidence-based practice, but bottom-up evaluation (BUE) offers researchers an approach to help reverse this trend. This paper illustrates BUE processes using evaluation of an NGO-created intervention for HIV-positive single mothers in Kenya as a case example. The participatory BUE study involved three phases: (1) viability assessment via qualitative participant interviews; (2) evaluation preparation and NGO capacity-building; and (3) effectiveness evaluation. Qualitative interview data revealed 24 intervention outcomes most impactful to participants’ lives and confirmed intervention viability. Participatory mapping identified key program outcomes for inclusion in the evaluation instrument, which was developed collaboratively with program staff. Effectiveness evaluation findings suggest that the intervention improved the health, psychosocial wellbeing, and economic security of single mothers facing the dual challenges of HIV/AIDS and extreme poverty. As illustrated in this study, bottom-up evaluation offers social work researchers an approach that can center voices of intervention participants, build community practice-based evidence, and strengthen community-engaged research in alignment with social work priorities and values.

KEYWORDS:

• Community-engaged research
• intervention
• evaluation
• global social work
• participatory research

Acknowledgments

Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the American Public Health Association’s 2021 Annual Meeting and Expo and the 2023 Global Awareness Society International conference.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Digital story available at https://express.adobe.com/page/QLaQyHJ3c4ZZf/