Abstract
Purpose : The purpose of the present study was to develop a qualitative evaluation index on the empowerment process of residents' organizations, from the perspective of public health professionals. This study examined the credibility, transferability, and usability of the index. Method : The index was developed based on the results of preliminary research. Following this, the author conducted self-report questionnaires twice ; these questionnaires were mailed to public health professionals who supported community development in health promotion. The respondents were required to evaluate each residents' organization with the index, score the state of the community empowerment process, and evaluate the development of the organizations' activity in five stages. They were also asked to consider the usability of the index. The data were analyzed statistically with the help of descriptive statistics, correlation coefficient, and t-test. Results : The index was comprised 3 areas and 14 items. The first survey had 129 respondents (response rate: 33.3%), and 125 valid responses were analyzed. A total of 46 responses were studied (response rate : 12.0%). The credibility of the evaluation index was confirmed by significant differences in all 14 items at the beginning and end of the health professionals' support. Further, the applicability of the index was confirmed because 97.8% of the respondents in this survey answered that the index was useful for their practice, and 91.3% replied that the index was of practical use in their activities. Conclusion : The result of this study suggests that this index has high applicability for evaluating the empowerment process of residents' organizations.
