The county of Marin’s Health and Human Services Department contracted with Gibson & Associates (G&A) from 2002 to the present to conduct a longitudinal evaluation of their efforts for a “smoke-free” Marin, which are funded by Master Settlement Agreement dollars for five years at $5 million total. The county commissioned G&A to provide direction and insight into the replication of successful interventions in Marin County and to provide feedback on the progress and impact of these interventions on an annual basis and mid-year to allow for mid-course corrections.
Beginning by developing a conceptual picture of how the program interventions are intended to work, G&A developed logic models for each of the five program elements. Based on the latest research in the field of tobacco prevention G&A engaged each provider in a systematic assessment of what needed to happen to achieve the desired outcomes.
The G&A evaluation researcher then worked with five tobacco prevention service contractors to set up systems of measuring impacts and outcomes.
As part of this process, G&A provided technical assistance on data collection and performed independent inquiries ourselves (e.g., calling all the people enrolled in the smoking cessation services six months afterwards to determine their relapse or quit patterns). G&A analyzed the evaluation data and summarized the results in annual reports which documented the effects of the services delivered and offered realistic recommendation for improvement.
G&A also conducted annual symposia with the program staff all together to review the findings and discuss the implications for program change. This is an example of how G&A uses evaluation to help a department become a “learning community.” Several programs reorganized their services into a different model based on these discussions and the overall result of examining this information at strategic points was that over the course of the first three years: Marin youth cigarette and marijuana smoking decreased at a much greater rate than for the state or nation; smoking prevalence of adults in Marin was reduced (e.g., forty percent of the 435 adults in cessation maintaining their quit status long term); the capacity of twenty-four major social service agencies in Marin to address tobacco issues was increased; and illegal sales rates of tobacco to minors in Marin County dropped substantially as compliance checks were effectively conducted on a wide scale.
G&A presented these findings and their supporting documentation to the county Board of Supervisors who then voted to maintain funding for the programs and held up the tobacco programs as a model for effectiveness within the county’s drug and alcohol division.
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