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PROGRAM PLANNING TOOLS AND MODELS

A variety of tools are available to support planning a health program. All of the planning tools involve working through a series of steps in a logical way, whilst still providing room for modifications throughout the process. The planning tools may need to be adapted to suit your program. Using a planning tool or model will assist in identifying key factors of your intervention that will shape your goal, objectives and strategies. Three planning tools are described in detail. 

PABCAR MODEL

The PABCAR model is a decision-making tool for health program planning and is useful for the needs assessment process. PABCAR is an acronym for five key questions support program development.  

  1. What is the Problem and is it significant?
  2. Is it Amenable to change?
  3. Are the intervention Benefits greater than costs?
  4. Is there Acceptance for the interventions?
  5. What actions are Recommended?

Further information on the PABCAR model and how to use it to plan your program is available in section two of the SiREN SHBBV Program Planning Toolkit and in an article describing how the model can be applied.

 

PRECEDE-PROCEED MODEL

The PRECEDE-PROCEED model is one of the more comprehensive models used for health promotion program planning. It provides a useful format for assessing priority health issues and identifying factors that should be focused on during an intervention.

PRECEDE is an acronym that describes the planning and developmental stages of the model: Predisposing, Reinforcing, and Enabling Constructs in Ecological Diagnosis and Evaluation.

PROCEED is an acronym that applies to the implementation of strategies and evaluation stages: Policy, Regulatory and Organisational Constructs and Education and Environmental Development

The PRECEDE-PROCEED model emphasises that:

“The determinants of health must be diagnosed before the intervention is designed; if they are not, the intervention will be based on guesswork and will run a greater risk of being misdirected and ineffective.” Green and Kreuter 1999.

Further information on what the PRECEDE-PROCEED model is and how to use it is available in section two of the SiREN SHBBV Program Planning Toolkit, in the Community Toolbox website or the developer Lawrence Green’s website.  

 

LOGIC MODEL

The logic model is used during the developmental stages of program planning to demonstrate the logical flow of program elements. It provides a visual map of the activities and outputs of a health based program.

The logic model elements are defined below:

Inputs: the resources, contributions and investments that go into the program.

Outputs: the activities, services, events and products that reach the target audience.

Outcomes: the results or changes for individuals, groups, communities, organisations or systems.

Assumptions: the beliefs we have about the program, the people involved, the context and the way we think the program will work.

External Factors: the environment in which the program exists that includes a variety of external factors that interact with and influence the program.

Further information on what a logic model is and how to use it is available in section two of the SiREN SHBBV Program Planning Toolkit, in the Community Toolbox website, or provided by the University of Idaho.