Assessing and Developing the Evidence Base of Macro Practice Interventions with a Community and Neighborhood Focus

ABSTRACT

Assessing and developing the evidence base of macro practice with a community and neighborhood focus is challenging because of the lack of rigorous studies, difficulties posed by conducting research at the community level, and lack of evaluation capacity at multiple levels of practice. Current evidence on community interventions is summarized. Resources for assessing community interventions are presented, along with strategies for searching, appraising, and synthesizing the evidence. Challenges and potential solutions to developing the evidence base of community interventions are discussed, including defining and analyzing complex community interventions, developing rigorous research designs, and building the evaluation capacity of community-based organizations.

KEYWORDS:

• Evidence-based practice
• macro practice
• community practice
• community interventions
• community intervention research
• evaluation capacity