Question

Explain what is wrong with the following objectives and revise them so that each reflects objectives that are SMART approach (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time based).

• Decrease death due to automobile accidents caused by texting.
• Encourage physical activity among women who are pregnant.

Answer 1

As per SMART criteria the objectives must be :

Specific: means the objective must answer to the questions like 'What is to be done?' 'How to know if it's done or not? ' and 'What is the final outcome of the work?'. The outcomes of objective should be observable.

Measurable: It answers the question 'How will you know a specific intervention meets the expectations?'. The objective must be stated in a quantifiable form so that one can know what criteria are to be assessed to know the quality standards of a specific measure.

Achievable: It answers to the question 'Is it possible for the person to perform the task' or 'Can the task be performed in the given time frame with the available resources'.

Relevant : This criteria in objective making answers to the question 'What is the importance of performing the particular task?', 'What will be the impact?'.

Time oriented : The objectives must be time bound and must answer the questions like 'When to do the task?', When it will be done?'.

1. The first objective given: Decrease death due to automobile accidents caused by texting.

It is not specific. It doesn't answers to the question what is to be done in order to decrease the deaths due to automobile accidents caused by texting.

It is not measurable as the outcomes are not mentioned in quantifiable terms or it doesn't answer how to understand if a particular intervention was successful in reducing the deaths due to automobile accidents caused by texting.

It's not time bound as a time frame is not specified for implementation of an intervention.

It is relevant as the importance of the task is to decrease the death rates and we could identify if it's achievable or not only after mentioning the time frame and resources.

The objective can be rewritten as : 'To decrease the death rates due to automobile accidents caused by texting to less than 50% in 3 months by conducting awareness campaigns through mass media'.

This objective is specific : as it mentions what is to be done - conduct awareness campaigns, is measurable - death rates due to automobile accidents caused by texting will decrease to less than 50%, achievable : as its possible to reach out a huge population through mass media awareness campaigns in 3 months, it is relevant as use of mobile phones while driving is one major cause of automobile accidents and is time bound too - objective states that the interventions will continue for 3 months and the expected outcome can be measured by the end of the 3rd month.

2. Encourage physical activity among women who are pregnant

This objective doesn't state what intervention can be used to encourage physical activity among pregnant women (specificity), how to identify if the intervention met the expectations or did all antenatal mothers got the specific intervention (measurable), Is the specific measure applicable (achievable) among pregnant women or not, what is the relevance of physical activity and pregnancy and when to perform or complete the task and do final evaluation.

It can be rewritten as 'To educate 90% of pregnant women attending the antenatal clinics at XYZ state / province / hospitals about the importance of moderate intensity aerobic physical activities to reduce the pregnancy related complications by the end of November 2020'.

This objective is specific - it answers the question what is to be done - to educate about the importance of moderate intensity aerobic physical activities

Is measurable : 90% of pregnant women attending the antenatal clinics at a particular location will be educated

The task of educating during their visit to antenatal clinic is achievable too. The objective is relevant as physical activities can prevent certain discomforts like back ache, constipation, swelling, mood swings etc. and also can prevent the risk of GDM and Caesarian section.

The objective gives a time frame too - Interventions will be completed and evaluated by end of November 2020.