Meta-evaluation of a participantory evaluation conducted by municipal health administrators with a focus on "utility"

Abstract: This article aims to analyze the utility of a local evaluation process developed by administrators and managers of a regional health office in São Paulo, Brazil, and to discuss the need for a well-based choice of theoretical reference to judge this item in participatory approaches. To analyze the organization of the process, the study used the Patton reference, focused on facilitating participants' use of the evaluation. To analyze the evaluation's influence, the dimensions proposed by Weiss, Greene, and Kirkhart were followed. Various types of influence were identified in the field, based on the selected reference. In conclusion, an evaluation model that seeks to promote, together with the stakeholders, the identification of new possibilities of power negotiation requires methodological choices for quality analysis that are not limited to technical or instrumental values, but which expand with the recognition of influence in multiple directions: short and long-term scope and intentions, stages in the evaluation process, and various audiences. (AU)