Engaging Community Members in Evaluations of Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood Programs

This paper provides practical guidance to HMRF researchers on how to engage community members in designing and conducting evaluations of HMRF programs. The paper first reviews common frameworks for engaging community members in research. It then describes strategies that HMRF researchers can use to apply these frameworks to each stage of their program evaluations, from laying the groundwork and planning for the evaluation to interpreting and disseminating the evaluation findings. The paper concludes by highlighting challenges that could impact researchers’ ability to implement these engagement strategies, and some possible solutions to those challenges.

We describe two common frameworks for engaging community members in research that are applicable to HMRF program evaluations: (1) community-based participatory research (CBPR) and (2) culturally responsive evaluation (CRE). CBPR and CRE both emphasize the importance of empowering community members to participate in decision making about the evaluation and using the evaluation’s results to improve equity in the community. We also describe the concept of an engagement continuum, which illustrates that engagement can range from informing people about an evaluation to having them make decisions about the evaluation design and implementation.

To apply these frameworks, we identify strategies that HMRF researchers can use to engage community members in each step of the program evaluation process (Exhibit 1).

These strategies can ultimately help improve HMRF program evaluations, but implementing them can be challenging. Challenges that HMRF researchers might face include the following:

• Strict program evaluation timelines and budgets, which might prohibit researchers from being able to form strong partnerships with community members
• Grant requirements, which might limit researchers’ ability to change evaluation designs in response to community feedback
• Discomfort relinquishing control over evaluation decisions to community members
• Limited numbers of trained HMRF researchers from underserved communities and minority groups to participate on research teams

We offer potential solutions for addressing these challenges to ensure community voices are reflected in evaluation decisions.

To identify frameworks for engaging community members in research and practical strategies for applying those frameworks to HMRF program evaluations, we engaged HMRF researchers, community engagement experts, and HMRF program participants in focus group discussions and reviewed the theoretical and empirical literature. We began by working with community engagement experts to develop a list of common engagement frameworks, key concepts, and authors who have published books or articles on community engagement. We then searched the literature for articles and books by those key authors that describe frameworks and concepts for community engagement. We also searched the websites of organizations focused on community engagement for information to supplement what we found in the literature.

Next, to identify practical strategies HMRF researchers can use to engage community members in program evaluations, we conducted a literature review to find empirical studies that used community-engaged research methods in settings similar to HMRF programs or with populations that resembled HMRF program participants. We reviewed 63 articles that met our screening criteria. We also met with several researchers with expertise in community engagement methods and HMRF program evaluation to discuss promising approaches and potential barriers to engaging community members in the research process. Finally, we hosted three focus groups with people who had recently participated in a healthy marriage and relationship education program or a responsible fatherhood program, and who took part in the program’s evaluation. We aimed to understand their perspectives on being asked to share information for research purposes and on how evaluators could engage program participants in research.

Whicher, Danielle, Julia Alamillo, Lexi Ouellette, and Breyon Williams (2022). Engaging Community Members in Evaluations of Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood Programs, OPRE Report #2022-55, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.