Principles & Practice of Health Evangelism
Chapter 17
Evaluating Health Evangelism
Textbook pages 205-217
The Importance of Data
We live in a society where everything is driven by data. The more you know about anything, the better decisions you will make. Products have lengthy specification sheets that describe the product in great detail. Your doctor makes a diagnosis and recommendations based on your history, physical examination, lab tests, and X-rays. The effectiveness of any program is demonstrated by some type of evaluation.
The church measures the effectiveness of evangelistic efforts by the number of baptisms that follow a series of meetings. The church is also highly efficient in counting money. As previously discussed, there are several intermediate steps that usually take place before a person is baptized. These intermediate steps are not measured by the church at any level or in any detail.
Health evangelism is more involved with the several phases of candidate development prior to baptism. For this reason, baptism is not the best measure of the effectiveness of health evangelism.
Many measures of health status have been developed by the scientific community. There are literally thousands of tests which can confirm any one of hundreds of diseases. It is valuable to measure some of these variables on people who attend health evangelism programs. Improvements in blood chemistries, blood sugars, weight, and blood pressure are important markers that indicate improvement in physical health for your program participants.
Measures of progress on the evangelistic/spiritual side of health evangelism are different, poorly defined, and are not routinely collected. Until these important evangelistic variables are developed and measured, the full effectiveness of health evangelism will not be known or appreciated.
It is necessary to identify and measure the unique spiritual variables of health evangelism. One reason health evangelism has not advanced in the Seventh-day Adventist church is because no one has proven the effectiveness of health evangelism. What needs to be measured? What are health evangelism variables?
The most basic variable that needs to be measured is the number of non-Adventists who attend a program or “non-Adventist person visit” or NAPV. (Guest visit or GV would be a more euphemistic if not somewhat less specific designation for this variable.)
Non-Adventists may be identified on your registration form. You might include a question that asks for a person’s preferred religious affiliation. Have a short list that might include Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, Seventh-day Adventist, Assembly of God, Protestant, and “other.”
You count the non-Adventists every time they come through the church door to attend your program. If a non-Adventist comes to all 10 sessions of a program, that counts as 10 NAPV. If two people come five times, that totals 10 NAPV as well. If ten people come only once, that also counts as 10 NAPV.
The NAPV is a more valuable number than the total number of people who attend a program. You are trying to document the impact of a program on the non-Adventist community. You will never be able to isolate the impact on non-Adventists until you count them.
The NAPV should be determined for traditional evangelistic series as well as health evangelism programs. In order to compare the effectiveness of any two programs it is necessary to generate the NAPV from each type of meeting.
The NAPV may not seem as important as counting baptisms, but baptisms never occur unless there have been dozens of NAPV that preceded the baptism. Health evangelism generates NAPV, but the church counts baptisms. The effectiveness of health evangelism cannot be known unless the NAPV totals for a program are measured and recorded.
The church measures the effectiveness of evangelistic efforts by the number of baptisms that follow a series of meetings. The church is also highly efficient in counting money. As previously discussed, there are several intermediate steps that usually take place before a person is baptized. These intermediate steps are not measured by the church at any level or in any detail.
Health evangelism is more involved with the several phases of candidate development prior to baptism. For this reason, baptism is not the best measure of the effectiveness of health evangelism.
Many measures of health status have been developed by the scientific community. There are literally thousands of tests which can confirm any one of hundreds of diseases. It is valuable to measure some of these variables on people who attend health evangelism programs. Improvements in blood chemistries, blood sugars, weight, and blood pressure are important markers that indicate improvement in physical health for your program participants.
Measures of progress on the evangelistic/spiritual side of health evangelism are different, poorly defined, and are not routinely collected. Until these important evangelistic variables are developed and measured, the full effectiveness of health evangelism will not be known or appreciated.
It is necessary to identify and measure the unique spiritual variables of health evangelism. One reason health evangelism has not advanced in the Seventh-day Adventist church is because no one has proven the effectiveness of health evangelism. What needs to be measured? What are health evangelism variables?
The most basic variable that needs to be measured is the number of non-Adventists who attend a program or “non-Adventist person visit” or NAPV. (Guest visit or GV would be a more euphemistic if not somewhat less specific designation for this variable.)
Non-Adventists may be identified on your registration form. You might include a question that asks for a person’s preferred religious affiliation. Have a short list that might include Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, Seventh-day Adventist, Assembly of God, Protestant, and “other.”
You count the non-Adventists every time they come through the church door to attend your program. If a non-Adventist comes to all 10 sessions of a program, that counts as 10 NAPV. If two people come five times, that totals 10 NAPV as well. If ten people come only once, that also counts as 10 NAPV.
The NAPV is a more valuable number than the total number of people who attend a program. You are trying to document the impact of a program on the non-Adventist community. You will never be able to isolate the impact on non-Adventists until you count them.
The NAPV should be determined for traditional evangelistic series as well as health evangelism programs. In order to compare the effectiveness of any two programs it is necessary to generate the NAPV from each type of meeting.
The NAPV may not seem as important as counting baptisms, but baptisms never occur unless there have been dozens of NAPV that preceded the baptism. Health evangelism generates NAPV, but the church counts baptisms. The effectiveness of health evangelism cannot be known unless the NAPV totals for a program are measured and recorded.
Calculations using the NAPV
The NAPV is a number that has many other useful purposes -- particularly as related to cost or expense of a program. An important figure to generate is the cost required to produce a single NAPV. For example, if you had 50 people register for a program. After 10 sessions there were 400 NAPV (perfect attendance for 10 weeks would have generated 500 NAPV) and the cost of advertising was $300 and the cost of materials was $200. Expenses total $500 and you had 400 NAPV.
By simply dividing the dollars by the NAPV you generate the cost of each NAPV. In this example you would calculate the cost of a single NAPV by dividing the total cost of the program by the number of NAPV: $500/400 NAPV = $1.25/NAPV. If you charged more than $1.25 as a registration fee you would generate a profit for the program. Each NAPV actually created income for the program and your church.
It has been my experience that health evangelism programs generate actual income per NAPV. Traditional evangelism activities often cost hundreds of dollars per NAPV. Church administration will take notice of NAPV if we start generating them. NAPVs are a prerequisite to baptism. By knowing the NAPV values of a health evangelism program, you are beginning to show that health evangelism creates steps that lead to baptism.
By simply dividing the dollars by the NAPV you generate the cost of each NAPV. In this example you would calculate the cost of a single NAPV by dividing the total cost of the program by the number of NAPV: $500/400 NAPV = $1.25/NAPV. If you charged more than $1.25 as a registration fee you would generate a profit for the program. Each NAPV actually created income for the program and your church.
It has been my experience that health evangelism programs generate actual income per NAPV. Traditional evangelism activities often cost hundreds of dollars per NAPV. Church administration will take notice of NAPV if we start generating them. NAPVs are a prerequisite to baptism. By knowing the NAPV values of a health evangelism program, you are beginning to show that health evangelism creates steps that lead to baptism.
Measure Bible Reading
Another important pre-baptism health evangelism variable to measure is personal Bible study. All health reform principles are found in the Bible. True health evangelism programs will integrate Bible study into the curriculum of the program. I like to assign a Bible text for participants to look up and study each day. These Bible texts should be relevant to the problem with which the participant is struggling.
Bible study is documented by creating a progress card on which Bible study is documented day after day. If the Bible is studied, a participant gets a score for this. The progress cards are collected each week and new cards are distributed for the coming week. Measuring Bible study is an important marker that a person is on the path leading to baptism.
Future church members should be familiar with their Bibles and study them on a daily basis. If this habit is developed during a health evangelism program, the participant is moving along the path that leads to baptism. The church should also incorporate this level of documentation from traditional evangelistic meetings. Current evangelistic meetings do not document the amount of Bible study that is taking place during the program.
It is also important to correlate an improvement in health behaviors with Bible study. In the programs I have conducted, I have found that those who have positive behavior change are about three times more likely to study their Bible daily compared with those who are less successful in changing their behavior.
Bible study is documented by creating a progress card on which Bible study is documented day after day. If the Bible is studied, a participant gets a score for this. The progress cards are collected each week and new cards are distributed for the coming week. Measuring Bible study is an important marker that a person is on the path leading to baptism.
Future church members should be familiar with their Bibles and study them on a daily basis. If this habit is developed during a health evangelism program, the participant is moving along the path that leads to baptism. The church should also incorporate this level of documentation from traditional evangelistic meetings. Current evangelistic meetings do not document the amount of Bible study that is taking place during the program.
It is also important to correlate an improvement in health behaviors with Bible study. In the programs I have conducted, I have found that those who have positive behavior change are about three times more likely to study their Bible daily compared with those who are less successful in changing their behavior.
Measure Prayer
Another important variable to measure in health evangelism programs is the frequency with which a person prays. Prayer is as essential to success in changing health behaviors just as prayer is necessary in maintaining a close walk with Jesus in the spiritual life.
It is not easy to measure the duration or intensity of prayer, but it is quite easy to measure the frequency of prayer -- the number of prayers offered each day. The progress card is useful to record these prayers. In the Best Weigh program, we recommend prayer at mealtimes and give one point for each prayer. Points are awarded for up to three prayers a day.
It is not uncommon for several thousand prayers to be offered to God during a 10-week program. Demonstrating that your health evangelism program is leading people to take prayer seriously and to pray regularly is an important sign of spiritual growth.
Spiritual growth in prayer should occur because of a well-designed health evangelism program. Prayer numbers should also be of interest to church officials and help foster administrative support for health evangelism. If a person is developing a consistent prayer life in a health evangelism program this marks progress along the path leading to baptism.
It is important in health evangelism programs to correlate the prayer life of participants with their success or failure in changing health behaviors. The most successful participants in my programs are about three times more likely to pray in contrast to less successful participants. Prayer changes things in terms of physical health as well as spiritual health.
It is not easy to measure the duration or intensity of prayer, but it is quite easy to measure the frequency of prayer -- the number of prayers offered each day. The progress card is useful to record these prayers. In the Best Weigh program, we recommend prayer at mealtimes and give one point for each prayer. Points are awarded for up to three prayers a day.
It is not uncommon for several thousand prayers to be offered to God during a 10-week program. Demonstrating that your health evangelism program is leading people to take prayer seriously and to pray regularly is an important sign of spiritual growth.
Spiritual growth in prayer should occur because of a well-designed health evangelism program. Prayer numbers should also be of interest to church officials and help foster administrative support for health evangelism. If a person is developing a consistent prayer life in a health evangelism program this marks progress along the path leading to baptism.
It is important in health evangelism programs to correlate the prayer life of participants with their success or failure in changing health behaviors. The most successful participants in my programs are about three times more likely to pray in contrast to less successful participants. Prayer changes things in terms of physical health as well as spiritual health.
Measure Each Contact Point with Church Members
Another important health evangelism variable is contact with Seventh-day Adventist helpers. Health evangelism programs should be designed to create an interface between church members and non-Adventist guests from the community. Too often, we are satisfied to have church members attend meetings to help swell the audience. Too often, members just sit there with nothing to do but “support” the program. This is an extremely limited use of talent and does little to create a spiritual or social interface with the public.
One evangelistic goal of the church is to create a fellowship among believers and to create fellowship with people from the public at large. Those who have come to the church for help with health problems need to become integrated with the body of believers. This can be accomplished during health evangelism programs. A good way to do this is to create something useful for church members to do with participants during your program.
Deliberately design activities for your church members. Ask church members to lead small group discussions during a program. Church members should be available to help participants 24/7. I like church members to be “on call” at all times during a program. I like to require participants from the community to contact church members in some fashion at least once a day between the weekly sessions of my program.
These frequent contacts between church members and participants can be documented on a progress card. Contacts do not just happen; they need to be designed into health evangelism programs. This type of contact should also be designed into traditional evangelistic meetings -- not just health evangelism activities.
In my experience, participants with the most success in overcoming bad habits are about four times as likely to have daily contact with church members compared with those who are having less success in behavior modification. Regular contact with church members is a strong determinant of success.
Church members will need some training for them to provide meaningful help to program participants. I find the best preparation is achieved by assigning church members reading assignments from scripture and Spirit of Prophecy. I like to start by assigning the chapter titled “In Contact with Others” in the Ministry of Healing. At training sessions, church members are encouraged to share with one another the instruction they receive from this chapter. When you add a season of prayer to the devotions, the result is a body of church members with soft hearts and loving attitudes. They are better prepared to interact with their non-Adventist friends from the community.
One evangelistic goal of the church is to create a fellowship among believers and to create fellowship with people from the public at large. Those who have come to the church for help with health problems need to become integrated with the body of believers. This can be accomplished during health evangelism programs. A good way to do this is to create something useful for church members to do with participants during your program.
Deliberately design activities for your church members. Ask church members to lead small group discussions during a program. Church members should be available to help participants 24/7. I like church members to be “on call” at all times during a program. I like to require participants from the community to contact church members in some fashion at least once a day between the weekly sessions of my program.
These frequent contacts between church members and participants can be documented on a progress card. Contacts do not just happen; they need to be designed into health evangelism programs. This type of contact should also be designed into traditional evangelistic meetings -- not just health evangelism activities.
In my experience, participants with the most success in overcoming bad habits are about four times as likely to have daily contact with church members compared with those who are having less success in behavior modification. Regular contact with church members is a strong determinant of success.
Church members will need some training for them to provide meaningful help to program participants. I find the best preparation is achieved by assigning church members reading assignments from scripture and Spirit of Prophecy. I like to start by assigning the chapter titled “In Contact with Others” in the Ministry of Healing. At training sessions, church members are encouraged to share with one another the instruction they receive from this chapter. When you add a season of prayer to the devotions, the result is a body of church members with soft hearts and loving attitudes. They are better prepared to interact with their non-Adventist friends from the community.
Lack of Evaluation Tools
Standardized questionnaires and software databases for evaluating health evangelism are not available in off-the-shelf computer programs at the present time. As you conduct health evangelism programs in your church, you will need to design questionnaires, create databases, collect, and keep track of data yourself. No one has done this for health evangelism.
The great benefits and cost-effectiveness of health evangelism have never been demonstrated.
The Health Ministries departments of the church, at various levels, do not collect these data. Tools for evaluation have not been forthcoming from our colleges or universities. Sadly, the church at large has no process of measuring the effectiveness of health evangelism. For the present, this task is going to be up to you.
The great benefits and cost-effectiveness of health evangelism have never been demonstrated.
The Health Ministries departments of the church, at various levels, do not collect these data. Tools for evaluation have not been forthcoming from our colleges or universities. Sadly, the church at large has no process of measuring the effectiveness of health evangelism. For the present, this task is going to be up to you.
Useless Numbers
Let me further illustrate the nature of this data collection problem. When I was the Medical Staff Director of the United States Office on Smoking and Health, the Five-day Plan to Stop Smoking was near its peak of popularity in the United States and around the world. The U.S. government was interested in preventing people from starting smoking and getting current smokers off cigarettes. We were very interested in the effectiveness of the 5-Day Plan to Stop Smoking.
I traveled the few miles from my federal government office to the Temperance Department of the General Conference, then located in Washington, D.C., (in 1980 the Temperance department was joined with the Health Department and is now known as the Health Ministries Department) and conferred with the leaders in charge of the Five-day Plan. I received only two pieces of information. One was that the program had been instrumental in helping 20 million people stop smoking. This statistic was derived from the number of Five-day Plan Control Booklets which had been sold over time.
This statistic is impressive because it is a big number. We would like to think that we have helped millions of people stop smoking. Of course, 20 million isn’t an accurate number. Many organizations stockpiled these control booklets to use in future programs. Many of these booklets were eventually used but many were not. The total number of booklets shipped is a very soft number that doesn’t reflect an actual count of people served. Hard numbers are needed to establish convincing statistics.
The second number I received from the Temperance Department of the General Conference was that the effectiveness of the program was very close to 100%. This statistic was derived by counting those who were present on the last session of the program and who had not had a cigarette during the previous 24-hours.
This is an overly optimistic number. To be more accurate it would have been better to compare those who were successful on the last night of the program against the number who registered. If 50% of those who registered for the Five-day plan dropped out during the program, you didn’t really help those people. They most likely dropped out because they went back to smoking. That would be a 50% success rate even if 100% of those who remained in the program didn’t smoke on the last night of the program.
The number of people who quit smoking on the last night of a program is not as important as the number of people who are still off cigarettes at three months, six months, or a year. Studies have shown that there are very few who relapse if they successfully stay off cigarettes for a whole year. For this reason, the true, long term, effectiveness of a stop smoking program should be measured at the end of a year. The denominator used in calculations should include all who initially registered for the program.
The United States Office on Smoking and Health was willing to financially support a scientifically accurate analysis of the long-term effectiveness of the 5-Day Plan. Dr. Daniel Horn, Ph.D. the Director of the Office on Smoking and Health considered church officials as being either incredibly naive at best, or at worst basely dishonest people. The Temperance Department had no understanding of, or respect for, scientifically accurate smoking cessation data from the 5-Day Plan.
The Five-day plan, in a very limited way, has been studied in a scientific manner. Sadly, this research was not done by the church and was not funded by the church. The church has not used these more accurate numbers in their advertisement of the Five-day Plan and do not usually discuss these numbers in public.
The success rate of the Five-day Plan at one year varies from 10% at the low end up to 35% at the high end at one year. It should be observed that of the “20,000,000" who supposedly have taken the Five-day Plan that less than 1000 of these smokers have ever been studied in a systematic way.
I have given you these details to make an earnest plea for you to design a strong evaluation component into your health evangelism program. You need truthful, reliable data to prove to yourself, the church, and others the effectiveness of your program. Programs that are shown to produce long term success will eventually receive the blessing of God, the church, and community.
I traveled the few miles from my federal government office to the Temperance Department of the General Conference, then located in Washington, D.C., (in 1980 the Temperance department was joined with the Health Department and is now known as the Health Ministries Department) and conferred with the leaders in charge of the Five-day Plan. I received only two pieces of information. One was that the program had been instrumental in helping 20 million people stop smoking. This statistic was derived from the number of Five-day Plan Control Booklets which had been sold over time.
This statistic is impressive because it is a big number. We would like to think that we have helped millions of people stop smoking. Of course, 20 million isn’t an accurate number. Many organizations stockpiled these control booklets to use in future programs. Many of these booklets were eventually used but many were not. The total number of booklets shipped is a very soft number that doesn’t reflect an actual count of people served. Hard numbers are needed to establish convincing statistics.
The second number I received from the Temperance Department of the General Conference was that the effectiveness of the program was very close to 100%. This statistic was derived by counting those who were present on the last session of the program and who had not had a cigarette during the previous 24-hours.
This is an overly optimistic number. To be more accurate it would have been better to compare those who were successful on the last night of the program against the number who registered. If 50% of those who registered for the Five-day plan dropped out during the program, you didn’t really help those people. They most likely dropped out because they went back to smoking. That would be a 50% success rate even if 100% of those who remained in the program didn’t smoke on the last night of the program.
The number of people who quit smoking on the last night of a program is not as important as the number of people who are still off cigarettes at three months, six months, or a year. Studies have shown that there are very few who relapse if they successfully stay off cigarettes for a whole year. For this reason, the true, long term, effectiveness of a stop smoking program should be measured at the end of a year. The denominator used in calculations should include all who initially registered for the program.
The United States Office on Smoking and Health was willing to financially support a scientifically accurate analysis of the long-term effectiveness of the 5-Day Plan. Dr. Daniel Horn, Ph.D. the Director of the Office on Smoking and Health considered church officials as being either incredibly naive at best, or at worst basely dishonest people. The Temperance Department had no understanding of, or respect for, scientifically accurate smoking cessation data from the 5-Day Plan.
The Five-day plan, in a very limited way, has been studied in a scientific manner. Sadly, this research was not done by the church and was not funded by the church. The church has not used these more accurate numbers in their advertisement of the Five-day Plan and do not usually discuss these numbers in public.
The success rate of the Five-day Plan at one year varies from 10% at the low end up to 35% at the high end at one year. It should be observed that of the “20,000,000" who supposedly have taken the Five-day Plan that less than 1000 of these smokers have ever been studied in a systematic way.
I have given you these details to make an earnest plea for you to design a strong evaluation component into your health evangelism program. You need truthful, reliable data to prove to yourself, the church, and others the effectiveness of your program. Programs that are shown to produce long term success will eventually receive the blessing of God, the church, and community.
Basic Data Collection for Health Evangelism
Do not be discouraged by the prospect of having to collect and maintain data. Start with a simple computer spreadsheet or database.
Data Points
You need to collect data at several points during every program.
Most of the data you collect the first night you will want to re-collect the last night. This will document the kinds of changes that have occurred during the program. So, most of the questions asked at registration need to be asked again at the last session.
Each of the follow-up questionnaires should be the same as well. The 1, 3, 6, and 12 month questionnaires are all the same.
- 1. Registration - documents initial behaviors, knowledge, and attitudes.
- 2. Intervals during the program - documents progress during the program.
- 3. The last session - summarizes changes during the program.
- 4. One-month follow-up - documents short term adherence to the program.
- 5. Three-month follow-up - creates an opportunity to contact new friends.
- 6. Six-month follow-up - measures intermediate success.
- 7. One-year follow-up - measures long-term success.
Most of the data you collect the first night you will want to re-collect the last night. This will document the kinds of changes that have occurred during the program. So, most of the questions asked at registration need to be asked again at the last session.
Each of the follow-up questionnaires should be the same as well. The 1, 3, 6, and 12 month questionnaires are all the same.
Demographic Data
This is basic information about a person. For every kind of program, you will need these data. I suggest you collect the following.
- 1. Last name
- 2. First name
- 3. Gender (Male or Female)
- 4. Date of Birth (calculate Age from this)
- 5. E-mail address
- 6. Phone number
- 7. Address (You prefer the home address)
- 8. Education Level (People with more education tend to do better.)
- 9. Occupation (Blue collar workers may not do as well as white collar workers.)
- 10. Marital Status (May affect outcomes. Divorced people do not do as well.)
- 11. Number of Children (May indicate a need for childcare)
- 12. Religious preference (Used to identify non-church members who attend)
First and Last Session Behavioral Data
The behavior data you should collect depend on the nature of your program. If you are going to conduct a stop smoking program, you should ask questions about smoking. If you are planning a weight management program, you need to ask questions about eating habits. If you are going to conduct an exercise program, you need to ask questions about physical activity.
The questions you ask should probe a person’s knowledge and attitudes about the behavior that needs to be changed. You should ask about a person’s health practices. What has a person tried in the past? What does he or she plan to do at the present? As an example, I would ask the following questions of those who registered for a weight control program.
Questions for a weight management program questionnaire.
You can add or subtract questions from this list. Do not make the questionnaire too long. It shouldn’t take more than 5-10 minutes to complete. You do not want excessive delays in the registration area on the first night.
You should ask most of the same questions on the last session. By comparing answers given on the last session with the answers given to the identical questions at registration, you can measure the changes in attitude, beliefs, and practices that resulted from your program. If smokers said they didn’t believe that God helped smokers quit on the first night, but on the last night had changed their minds, you can see that these people are closer to the kingdom.
The questions you ask should probe a person’s knowledge and attitudes about the behavior that needs to be changed. You should ask about a person’s health practices. What has a person tried in the past? What does he or she plan to do at the present? As an example, I would ask the following questions of those who registered for a weight control program.
Questions for a weight management program questionnaire.
- 1. How much do you weigh today? (Compare with actual weight)
- 2. What is the most you have ever weighed?
- 3. How many times have you made a serious attempt to lose weight?
- 4. How much weight would you like to lose in this 10-week program?
- 5. What are foods you snack on the most? List three.
- 6. What is the most weight you have lost following a diet?
- 7. How many others in your immediate family would you say are overweight?
- 8. Do you believe that God helps a person lose weight?
- 9. At what age would you say you were first overweight?
- 10. Do you have high cholesterol?
- 11. Do you have diabetes?
- 12. Do you have high blood pressure?
- 13. Has your doctor advised you to lose weight for health reasons?
- 14. Do you have a regular exercise program?
You can add or subtract questions from this list. Do not make the questionnaire too long. It shouldn’t take more than 5-10 minutes to complete. You do not want excessive delays in the registration area on the first night.
You should ask most of the same questions on the last session. By comparing answers given on the last session with the answers given to the identical questions at registration, you can measure the changes in attitude, beliefs, and practices that resulted from your program. If smokers said they didn’t believe that God helped smokers quit on the first night, but on the last night had changed their minds, you can see that these people are closer to the kingdom.
Data Collection During the Program
To document behavior change from week-to-week I like to use a “Progress Card.” This card is given out at every session of the program and is collected for data entry when a participant returns the following week. New cards are distributed when last week’s cards are picked up. Designate one or more persons to collect and hold the data you generate.
Data Entry
Data should be entered onto a spreadsheet or into a database from week to week throughout the program. Your registration questionnaire, the progress cards, your last session questionnaire, and all follow-up questionnaires are entered. Before your program begins, identify the individuals who have the computer equipment, knowledge of spreadsheets or databases, and who will do the data entry for you.
The Best Weigh program has this software online and your data is kept in the cloud. If your program is registered well before it begins potential participants can register online. Some basic reports are generated continuously as your data is entered throughout the program.
The Best Weigh program has this software online and your data is kept in the cloud. If your program is registered well before it begins potential participants can register online. Some basic reports are generated continuously as your data is entered throughout the program.
Data Analysis
The purpose of data analysis is to answer questions about the impact of your program on individuals and the group that attended. The simplest information you should extract has to do with attendance and attrition.
Next analyze the changes that occurred in the health variables you were tracking. What kind of changes to weight, cholesterol levels, blood sugars, blood pressure, or indicators of depression resulted from your program? What were the elements of your program that contributed the most to these changes?
Most important to document are the changes in the spiritual variables you were tracking. How did belief in God change? Measure how people applied prayer, Bible study, and interaction with church members. How many non-Seventh-day Adventist visits resulted from this effort?
Next analyze the changes that occurred in the health variables you were tracking. What kind of changes to weight, cholesterol levels, blood sugars, blood pressure, or indicators of depression resulted from your program? What were the elements of your program that contributed the most to these changes?
Most important to document are the changes in the spiritual variables you were tracking. How did belief in God change? Measure how people applied prayer, Bible study, and interaction with church members. How many non-Seventh-day Adventist visits resulted from this effort?