Health promotion practice
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Health promotion practice · Oct 2008
Development of a planning and evaluation methodology for assessing the contribution of theory to a diabetes prevention lifestyle intervention.
The benefits of utilizing and measuring application of theory for behavior change programs are numerous, including the emergence of new theories and theoretically bound strategies. Despite recent attempts to make theory use more salient, there remains a dearth of practical frameworks for the development and evaluation of theory-based programs. ⋯ Using a case study example of a diabetes prevention program, this article describes how theory was used for the program design and the evaluation and provides a framework for using theory in other programs. Issues discussed include: the challenges in successfully utilizing theory for intervention development and the processes of developing theoretically based instruments.