Spotlight on BRCA Support BC: Featured in Peer-Reviewed Evaluation Research
We're excited to share that the BRCA Support BC program was recently highlighted in a peer-reviewed academic journal article published in New Directions for Evaluation (August 2025). The study, authored by Demmer, Yessis, Skinner, and Cousins, explores how community organizations like BRCAinBC can both contribute to and benefit from research on evaluation (RoE).
What the Study Was About
The researchers set out to challenge a gap in the evaluation field: most formal research on evaluation focuses on the perspectives of academics and professional evaluators, while the voices of community organizations are rarely included. Their study examined three real-world cases where evaluators worked collaboratively with community partners, and our program was one of them.
BRCAinBC's Role
As part of the study, BRCAinBC worked with a student evaluator (supervised by Jennifer Yessis) to co-develop an evaluation framework for the pilot of BRCA Support BC, a program designed to support individuals with hereditary cancer risk, along with their families, friends, and healthcare providers. Rather than having an evaluation "done for us," we were active participants in shaping what and how we measured, which made the process genuinely useful for our team.
What the Research Found
The study identified three key themes across all three organizations involved.
One of the most meaningful findings was that the process of developing an evaluation plan itself has value for the organization, not just the final results. Being involved in designing an evaluation framework helped our team think more critically and systematically about the creation of our program.
The research also highlighted that community organizations regularly reflect on their evaluation work, often informally, and use those reflections to improve future efforts. At BRCAinBC, this showed up as an ongoing process of checking whether our data collection tools were actually capturing what mattered most.
Finally, the study noted that organizations want access to practical evaluation knowledge, but often face barriers like paywalls and overly academic language. This is a call to the evaluation field to make research more accessible and relevant to those doing on-the-ground work.
Why This Matters for Us
Being included in this research is a meaningful recognition that the evaluation work happening at BRCAinBC isn't just administrative. It's contributing to a broader conversation about how evaluation can better serve communities. The authors argue that more research on evaluation should happen in community settings, with community organizations, and we're proud to be part of making that case.
You can access the full open-access article here: https://doi.org/10.1002/ev.70009