Girls Deserve Dignity: Eliminating Barriers and Improving Access to Feminine Hygiene

Products among Female Students in Durham County Public Schools

Fall 2015 Evaluation Proposal

Devyn Shaw, Evan Gray, and Lindsay Dozier

HEA 625: Program Evaluation

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Department of Public Health Education
Master of Public Health Program

North Carolina Diaper Bank

Kelley Massengale & Michelle Old

Section 1: Conceptualization of Evaluation

1.

What purpose(s) will be served by the evaluation?

The purpose of the evaluation is to determine if the Girls Deserve Dignity pilot program was

successful in eliminating barriers (i.e. cost, transportation, and access), improving access to feminine
hygiene products, and increasing attendance rates for female students in Durham Public Schools through
the hygiene product pilot program. This will be determined through the use of staff interviews and
surveys about the Girls Deserve Dignity Program.
2.

What broad questions will be addressed by the evaluation?

Did students benefit from participation in the program?

Were the resources used effectively?

What factors suppress or encourage program success?

What changes should be recommended to better serve DPS and Girls Deserve Dignity?

3.

Who are the key stakeholders?

The key stakeholders of Girls Deserve Dignity include female students attending Durham Public
Schools, faculty and staff members including nurses, social workers, and guidance counselors who will
serve as female hygiene product distributors, and community members who are donating the feminine
hygiene products.
4.

What assumptions are being made? (most relevant if you are doing an impact

evaluation; formative evaluation)

One group will utilize the service/products more than the other group (i.e. race, ethnicity, income)

Female students participating in the pilot program will be ashamed or embarrassed to receive
hygiene products at school.

Students are missing school because of low access to feminine hygiene products.

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5.

What are the major contextual factors that need to be considered? Based on what we

know now

The location of the clinic, or area which houses products, within the school (i.e. front office, girls
locker room, nurse/social worker/counselor office, or a specific classroom in the school).

Hours that the clinic will be open to serve female students (i.e. morning vs. afternoon, or an allday event).

Demographic variables or characteristics about the girls taking advantage of services versus those
who are not. (i.e. low-income students vs. middle-class students, minority vs. majority, age).

Preference of sanitary products (pads vs tampons or both, heavy vs. light products or both)

School personnel who will be in charge of distributing products (i.e. teachers, social workers,
guidance counselors, nurses, female health teacher/health educator etc).

Process of distributing, receiving, and recording of number of sanitary products utilized. (i.e. log
used to record non-identifying factors to determine number of products used and process of how
the products will be distributed/received).

Section 2: Program Description

6.

What is the overall purpose of the program?

The advocacy work of the NC Diaper Bank to provide diapers for children brought another

significant need to their attention: the same guidelines that disallow purchasing diapers with governmentsupported programs such as SNAP also exclude the purchase of feminine hygiene products. As a result,
many girls and young women miss school, work, and social opportunities because they cannot afford
sanitary pads or tampons. Due to this alarming information the NC Diaper Bank requested funding from
the Triangle Community Foundation: The Art of Giving Grant. The Art of Giving Grant is a Triangle
womens collective, jointly administered by Triangle Community Foundation and North Carolina
Community Foundation. The mission of the Triangle Community Foundation is to fund issues that affect
women. If rewarded as a recipient of this grant it will fund a pilot project in middle and high schools
within the Durham Public School (DPS) system to ensure a supply of feminine hygiene products for
students in need. In addition to securing the grant the NC Diaper Bank accepts community donations of

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feminine hygiene products. The overall purpose of Girls Deserve Dignity is to provide feminine hygiene
products to middle and high school girls who need them.
7.

What are the program goals and objectives?

While the Girls Deserve Dignity pilot program does not appear to have any stated objectives the
following objectives have been developed but still must be confirmed with the NC Diaper Bank:

Importance of feminine hygiene

Types of feminine hygiene products

Proper usage and disposal of feminine hygiene products

Health risks associated in using various feminine hygiene products

The objectives listed above are essential in both building the foundation of the program and
providing background information that is pertinent for the target audiences understanding of the female
body and the changes that occur when puberty begins. Before distributing products to first time receivers,
distributors should provide a brief overview of the importance of feminine hygiene, types of feminine
hygiene products available, proper usage and disposal of feminine hygiene products, and health risk
associated with using various feminine hygiene products. Because a girls menstrual cycle can begin as
early as 8 and as late as 12, the pilot program wants to ensure that this information is provided or serves
as a refresher for most.

Program Goal: The overall program goal is to eliminate barriers (i.e. cost, access,
transportation) by improving access to feminine hygiene products to middle and high school girls in
Durham County Public Schools who are in need.

The program goal will be accomplished through the various activities, inputs, outputs, and
outcomes that will be visually displayed in the logic model below.
8.

Who is the target audience?

DBNC proposes initiating "Girls Deserve Dignity" in all DPS middle and high schools. The

program would serve girls in need from grades 6 through 12. With DPS 69% of middle school students
and 57% of high school students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch it is anticipated that these female
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students may be low socio-economic status and need increased access to hygiene products. Once
established with ongoing resources, the program could be expanded to schools in DBNC's other service
areas, including Orange and Chatham Counties. DBNC Executive Director, Michelle Old, has received
confirmation of DPS support in implementing this program from Superintendent Dr. Bert LHomme.
9. Where is the program intended to be implemented?

Girls Deserve Dignity is an initiative to remove barriers to feminine hygiene products for middle
and high school girls in Durham County. A pilot project would take place during the 2016-2017 school
year (August through June). Through a partnership with DPS, Diaper Bank of North Carolina would
provide a supply of sanitary pads and tampons to key personnel within schools, such as nurses, social
workers, and guidance counselors. These staff members would distribute supplies per piece on an
emergency basis, as well as provide packages of supplies to students identified with ongoing need. The
quantity of supplies would vary per school, based on numbers of students receiving free and reduced
lunch. Prior to the launch of Girls Deserve Dignity in August of 2016, Diaper Bank of North Carolina
would develop project support tools including presentation materials for DPS employees, publicity
materials such as flyers for staff offices and girls' restrooms, and staff surveys to be administered before
project initiation, at the midpoint of the school year, and at year-end. The surveys, administered by
researchers at University of North Carolina at Greensboro, would capture staff impressions of need,
student response to the initiative, and impact.
10. Has the program undergone previous evaluations? If so, what were the results?
Girls Deserve Dignity is an initiative that is still in the planning process therefore it has not
undergone any previous evaluations. The NC Diaper Bank is looking forward to reading the proposal and
is confident in opportunities for evaluation will be present once the program has begun.

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11. Walk the reader through the logic/conceptual model.

The logic model provides a snapshot of the program so the reader will know what a programs
goals are, how those goals are measured, what activities take place, and what resources are needed to
implement the program. On the far right of the logic model are long-term outcomes. The long-term
outcome of the Feminine Hygiene Pilot Program is to improve school attendance rates among female
Durham Public School students. We believe this long-term objective will be achieved if the program
succeeds in reaching its short-term goals. The first short-term goal will be achieved by increasing free
feminine hygiene product access within the schools. The second short-term goal will be achieved if
female students become more aware of the products presence in the schools, and where the products are
accessible. A third short-term outcome will be that more school personnel have increased their knowledge
about products and are better able to distribute them to students in need.

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Funding is a critical piece to the pilot projects implementation and sustainability. An activity that
will be necessary to the program is to obtain the Triangle Community Foundations funding for the Girls
Deserve Dignity program. This accomplishment will become evident when there are sufficient funds to
proceed with the program activities, which is the first measurable outcome. Transportation, as an input,
will lead to activities such as the delivery of products to and from the NC Diaper Bank, and to schools.
Therefore, an activity will be to establish a delivery system and hire staff to manage the logistics of
receiving, storing, and delivering goods to schools. Outputs that will measure the success of the
transportation related activities are the presence of staff with roles specific to product logistics. The diaper
bank will also need to secure donations of feminine hygiene products from outside sources to ensure
long-term sustainability. To measure this during the time of the evaluation, the number of donations
received by the diaper bank will be tracked.
Trained school personnel and project materials are also important to the success of the program.
School staff engagement includes being trained to disseminate products to students in need, and being
trained to educate students regarding the nature of the products. Students may need help deciding what
product to use, or how to use and dispose of it, and trained school staff will be a resource to them.
Whether or not staff are being trained correctly will be measured by the number of school staff that are
trained, and also that products that are in demand are being distributed to students. Product demand will
be tracked by following what is being ordered. Project materials, such as flyers, posters, and other training
materials, will be needed as well. These materials will need to be developed by program staff. The
availability, dissemination, and quality of these materials will be measured.
Section 3: Evaluation Plan

Identify specific evaluation questions

How many staff have been trained?

How often is the diaper bank receiving donations?

How are donations being solicited?

Have staff noticed a student product preference?

How do staff perceive program implementation?

Are products delivered to schools on time?

What are staffs perceptions of the program?

How often do schools reorder product?

Have order numbers changed over time?

Are products of different types and brand supplied to schools?

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Has female student attendance improved?

How do staff perceive the effectiveness of the program?

Thoroughly identify your experimental/quasi-experimental design for the evaluation

The Girls Deserve Dignity pilot program will be evaluated using a mixed-methods, quasiexperimental design. Gathered data will be both quantitative and qualitative, and will be obtained through
paper surveys and face-to-face interviews. Staff perceptions, opinions, and comments regarding program
implementation and effectiveness gathered during the interview or survey process will be recorded. The
evaluation will study student access to feminine hygiene products by measuring how often schools need
to reorder product, as reordering product implies student use. A pre-test/post-test design will be used to
measure program effectiveness. The evaluation will compare female attendance rates at two points, before
the program implementation (low access), and after implementation (high access). If female attendance
rates improved after program implementation, it can be argued that the Girls Deserve Dignity pilot
program was effective.

Clearly Identify all variables you will measure as part of this evaluation

The following variables will be measured from the Girls Deserve Dignity pilot program:

Label: During school was the clinic accessible 5 days a week? Variable: Product Availability

Label: Has female students attendance approved ? Variable: Dose

Label: How often do schools reorder products? Variable: Product Availability

Label: Are products of different types and brands supplied to the schools (preference)?
Variable: Product Availability

Label: Were key stakeholders able to demonstrate the key components of the distribution
process from the staff training? Variable: Competency

Label: What are staffs perceptions of the program? Variable: Perceived Values

Label: Have order numbers changed over time? Variable: Demand

Label: Have staff noticed student product preference? Variable: Demand

Label: How do staff perceive program implementation? Variable: Progress

Label: Does the pilot program meet the needs of the female students? Variable: Delivery

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Describe the instrumentation you will use to collect the data necessary to measure the
variables you have identified.
While various sources will be utilized to collect data (i.e. staff training data, supply shipment

requests, staff interviews school attendance reports) the primary instruments to be used to collect data will
be staff interviews and paper surveys. The surveys and staff interviews will be comprised of close and
open-ended questions, and questions that will be ranked on a Likert scale. These instrumentation tools
will collect the necessary qualitative and quantitative data that the evaluators will need to analyze the
implementation, outcome, and impact evaluation questions.

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Describe in detail your plan for preparing final report materials, who they will be
delivered to, plans for publishing, plans for popular press, etc.

Upon completion of the data collection process, a key findings report will be developed and
distributed to middle and high schools in Orange and Chatham county where DBNCs other service areas
reside. The key findings report will consist of the survey results, as well as the programs impact.
Information that will be included in this report includes number of female students who were reached as a
result of the pilot program, improved attendance rates record, schools who participated in the pilot
program, the distribution process, marketing materials used to promote pilot program, and common
themes that were analyzed among the staff interviews and surveys about the programs impact from the
staffs perspective. The final presentation of the findings will be revealed in November to key
stakeholders who participated in the Girls Deserve Dignity pilot program in Durham, NC. Key
stakeholders who will be present include Michelle Old and Kelley Massengale of the Girls Deserve
Dignity Pilot Program, community members who have donated and supported the pilot program, and
faculty and staff members who were identified as trained distributors (counselors, nurses, social workers,
teachers).

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Section 5: Detailed Budget

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Section 6: Detailed Timeline

Activities

July

August

September

October

November

Develop and pilot test

instruments/surveys

Conduct
Evaluation Training

Collect Data

Analyze Data

Write final evaluation report

Distribute Final
Evaluation report

Final presentation to key

stakeholders

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