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Narrative review
Integrating empowerment evaluation and quality improvement to achieve healthcare improvement outcomes
  1. Abraham Wandersman1,
  2. Kassandra Ann Alia1,
  3. Brittany Cook2,
  4. Rohit Ramaswamy2
  1. 1Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA
  2. 2Public Health Leadership, UNC Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Abraham Wandersman, Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Barnwell College Columbia, SC 29208, USA; wandersman{at}sc.edu

Abstract

While the body of evidence-based healthcare interventions grows, the ability of health systems to deliver these interventions effectively and efficiently lags behind. Quality improvement approaches, such as the model for improvement, have demonstrated some success in healthcare but their impact has been lessened by implementation challenges. To help address these challenges, we describe the empowerment evaluation approach that has been developed by programme evaluators and a method for its application (Getting To Outcomes (GTO)). We then describe how GTO can be used to implement healthcare interventions. An illustrative healthcare quality improvement example that compares the model for improvement and the GTO method for reducing hospital admissions through improved diabetes care is described. We conclude with suggestions for integrating GTO and the model for improvement.

  • Quality improvement
  • Evaluation methodology
  • Evidence-based medicine
  • Healthcare quality improvement
  • Implementation science

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2014-003525

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