Evaluating health promotion projects in primary care: recent experiences in Scotland

The evaluation of health promotion in primary health care has been brought to the forefront of debates in Scotland with the introduction of an evaluation component in every project funded under the Development of Health Care Fund scheme. The level of skills and empathy with evaluation approaches and research methods varies considerably between primary health care team members, and consequently academic researchers are increasingly being drawn into NHS debates on evaluation and health promotion in primary health care. In this article the authors draw upon their respective experiences as evaluators to highlight specific issues and concerns in the evaluation of health promotion in a primary health care setting.