Evaluation of Public Health Policies and Programmes

The main objective of our group is to advance in the research related to the evaluation of policies, programs, and other interventions in public health. We promote high-quality research, internationalization, and knowledge transfer to the scientific community, technicians, policymakers, and citizens. We generate evidence on the effectiveness and impact of public policies, plans, or interventions (tobacco control law, mental health plan, housing policies, urbanistic interventions) that may affect population health. Furthermore, we promote the development and application of innovative methodologies to evaluation with an equity and gender perspective.

Consolidated group of the Sant Pau Research Institute that belongs to:

Main Lines of Research

• Needs Assessment and Health Monitoring (Barcelona Health Survey, FRESC survey, and monitorization of second-hand smoke). (Lopez Medina, Maria Jose; Serral Cano, Gemma).
• Evaluation of public health policies and action plans (Tobacco Control Law, Barcelona Mental Health Action Plan, Barcelona Drug and Addictions Action Plan, housing with services, and urban interventions). (Lopez Medina, Maria Jose; Continente Garcia, Xavier).
• Evaluation of public health programs and services (school-based prevention programs, community-based interventions, breast cancer screening programs). (Continente Garcia, Xavier; Serral Cano, Gemma).

Scientific Challenges

• To promote research into the evaluation of policies and programs.
• To support the debate on conceptual and methodological aspects of the impact evaluation of interventions on population health.
• To consolidate the group’s research, fostering less developed aspects such as economic evaluation and evaluation of health protection interventions.
• To develop a theoretical corpus of concepts, principles, methods, and examples that contribute to filling the gap in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching regarding the design and evaluation of public policies, plans, and other interventions.
• To promote the impact evaluation of policies, plans, and other interventions with an equity and gender perspective.

Contact

Xavier Continente
xcontine@aspb.cat