Increasing community capacity to respond to dementing illnesses: Process evaluation of the Community Outreach Education Program

The goal of the Community Outreach Education Program (COEP) is to disseminate information about the diagnosis, assessment, management, and treatment of dementia to health care professionals, service providers, staff of community organizations and voluntary agencies, and family caregivers in four rural and two urban sires in Michigan. To accomplish this, outreach educational interventions based on a community-development model were developed in the Thumb Area, Upper Peninsula, Northeast Michigan, Mid-Michigan, Detroit, and Flint. The present study describes a process evaluation of the COEP in these six sites, using a multiple case study approach Shared themes in the successful implementation of the on-site interventions and in creating community capacity across the varied sites are discussed.