Using Logic Models in a Community-Based Agricultural Injury Prevention Project

Helitzer, Deborah ScD
Willging, Cathleen PhD
Hathorn, Gary MS
Benally, Jeannie MS

^aUniversity of New Mexico, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Albuquerque, NM
^bBehavioral Health Research Center of the Southwest, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, Albuquerque, NM
^cSan Juan County Extension Office, New Mexico State University, Aztec, NM
^dShiprock Cooperative Extension, University of Arizona, Shiprock, NM

Address correspondence to: Deborah Helitzer, ScD, Family and Community Medicine, MSC09 5040, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001; tel. 505-272-1601; fax 505-272-8045; e-mail <[email protected]>.

The work described in this article was supported through a grant from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Cooperative Agreement #U50 OH 07541-05.

The authors thank the stakeholders of the community collaborative, without whom this work would not have been possible. The Navajo Nation Human Research Review Board (NNHRRB) and the University of New Mexico Human Research Review Committee approved the procedures used in this project, and both institutional review boards continued to oversee and approve this work annually. This article has been approved for publication by the NNHRRB.

Public Health Reports 124:p 63-73, January-February 2009.

SYNOPSIS

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has long promoted the logic model as a useful tool in an evaluator's portfolio. Because a logic model supports a systematic approach to designing interventions, it is equally useful for program planners. Undertaken with community stakeholders, a logic model process articulates the underlying foundations of a particular programmatic effort and enhances program design and evaluation. Most often presented as sequenced diagrams or flow charts, logic models demonstrate relationships among the following components: statement of a problem, various causal and mitigating factors related to that problem, available resources to address the problem, theoretical foundations of the selected intervention, intervention goals and planned activities, and anticipated short- and long-term outcomes. This article describes a case example of how a logic model process was used to help community stakeholders on the Navajo Nation conceive, design, implement, and evaluate agricultural injury prevention projects.