School of Health Sciences, FI-33014 University of Tampere, Finland.
Scand J Public Health. 2011 May;39(3):255-61. doi: 10.1177/1403494811401473. Epub 2011 Mar 15.
In order to develop policymaking, evaluation is required. The research project studied national health promotion policies concentrating on mental health promotion policy. In this paper the focus is on the position of evaluation.
To explore the position of evaluation in the development of the national public health strategies of England and Finland and particularly with regard to mental health promotion policies. The evaluation phase of the policymaking process is also scrutinised through multiple streams of policy change.
Meta-evaluative approach applying a conceptual framework of policy analysis.
Evaluations of national health strategies were executed in both countries. These evaluations entailed multiple tasks; not only to monitor the progress of the targets but to learn for the future in a wider perspective. Aims of mental health policy are not easily turned into quantitative targets and therefore outcome evaluation was not felt to be satisfactory as it lacks focus on process as well as null, perverse, and unintended consequences.
While the position of evaluation is almost always more complicated than is assumed in so-called rational policymaking theory, mental health appears to be even more challenging in this respect. Possibilities for alternative evaluation strategies should be studied further.
为了制定政策，需要进行评估。本研究项目专注于心理健康促进政策，研究了国家健康促进政策。本文重点关注评估的地位。
探索评估在制定英格兰和芬兰国家公共卫生战略中的地位，特别是在心理健康促进政策方面。通过政策变化的多种流，还审查了决策过程的评估阶段。
应用政策分析的概念框架进行元评估方法。
两国都对国家卫生战略进行了评估。这些评估涉及多项任务；不仅要监测目标的进展情况，还要从更广泛的角度为未来学习。心理健康政策的目标不容易转化为定量目标，因此，结果评估并不令人满意，因为它缺乏对过程以及无效、反常和意外后果的关注。
虽然评估的地位通常比所谓的理性决策理论所假设的更为复杂，但在这方面，心理健康似乎更具挑战性。应该进一步研究替代评估策略的可能性。
