Evaluating comprehensive tobacco control interventions: challenges and recommendations for future action

Abstract

This report summarises a workshop on evaluation of tobacco control interventions convened in Santa Fe, New Mexico in June 2001 by the Institute for Global Tobacco Control at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The evaluation of such interventions is filled with complexities which intensify as the scope of tobacco control programmes increase. Evaluators are charged with the task of determining the effect of interventions in terms of magnitude of change, the relative contribution of programme components, and the relative impact for different populations. The report explores the theoretical foundations of tobacco control evaluation and provides a conceptual framework for capturing elements necessary for evaluating interventions. It then provides two case studies of challenges encountered when evaluating large scale tobacco control initiatives. The report summarises the discussions and recommendations of the workshop's three working groups. Participants were certain and unanimous that the current state of evaluation research must be improved to evaluate accurately the dynamic nature of comprehensive tobacco control programmes. Hierarchical or multilevel modelling approaches were seen as promising for further research. Coordinated evaluation will provide a better understanding of local, state, and national tobacco control efforts.