Prevention Webinar by Susan Backhouse & Laurie Patterson

Following iNADO’s AGM on November 16^th, we were pleased to welcome Prof. Susan Backhouse and Dr. Laurie Patterson from the Leeds Beckett University for the webinar “An introduction to program evaluation for anti-doping professionals”. Considering the upcoming International Standard for Education (ISE), an approach to evaluate prevention programmes was timely and we hope of benefit to our members.

The ISE becomes effective as of January 1^st 2021 and with it the implementation of mandatory standards in planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating the education programmes of Anti-Doping Organisations (ADOs). Notwithstanding whether an ADO has an existing education programme or not it is important to understand how to evaluate whether a program is effective. A systematic process can provide clarity on questions such as Does my prevention program meet the needs of the target group? How do I know if my program is as effective as I hoped?

Backhouse and Patterson guided us through a two-part presentation followed by an active Q&A session.

The first part of their presentation dealt mainly with the questions “What is ‘evaluation’ and why should you do it?” This led to the conclusion that although there is no right way to do it there is indeed a systematic way. This systematic approach to program evaluation was explained by the two researchers in detail: six steps - from engaging all stakeholders to ensuring the use of evaluation findings and sharing the lessons learned.

Those who are interested in the webinar can watch the recording including the Q&A session by visiting our GoTo channel.

iNADO members can also do so by registering/ logging in to the iNADO’s library.