Measuring the Tail of the dog That Doesn’t Bark in the Night: the Case of the National Evaluation of Choose Life (the National Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent Suicide in Scotland)

Learning about the impact of public health policy presents significant challenges for evaluators. This paper discusses how these challenges were made manifest within the Choose Life programme. After a brief summary of the approach taken to evaluate the first phase of Choose Life, this paper then offers recommendations for policymakers & evaluators on how learning from a second phase might be augmented. The recommendations are likely to have general resonance across a range of policy evaluations as they move from early planning & implementation to more mature phases. (37 refs.)