Strengths and weaknesses of maternal health program evaluation tools in Iranian primary health care system

Objective (s): The maternal health program is one of the main primary health care domains worldwide due to its momentous impact on community health. Considering the importance of this program’s quality and the role of evaluation systems in its promoting, this study was done to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of maternal health programs evaluation tools in Iran. This was a comparative study. The data was obtained by reviewing documents and was analyzed through the comparison matrix. Firstly, the number of nine evaluation checklist and one clinical information system were identified. Then the identified tools were compared regarding to the comprehensive evaluation model (CIPP) and their evaluation measures. Finally, the strengths and weaknesses of identified tools were recognized and discussed. The study results indicated that the evaluation tools have notable shortcomings. The main shortcomings are disregarding 50% of the main dimensions of the health program evaluation models and the lack of proper measures to assess the main components of care. Subjectivity and non-exclusiveness of evaluation measures with improper categorizing of measures were the other weaknesses of these tools. The findings showed that the current tools for evaluation of maternal health program in Iran could not improve either the quality or outcomes.