Participation by different stakeholders in participatory evaluation of health promotion: A literature review

•There is no consensus about definitions and types of participatory evaluation.•Participatory (evaluation) research is mostly used in the context of community HP.•A framework for analyzing and planning participatory evaluations is presented.•Evaluators seem to be more involved in action processes than other stakeholders.•Evaluators must be aware that the program staff might undermine their professional standards.

Participatory evaluation has been increasingly used in health promotion (HP) and various forms of participatory evaluation have been put into practice. Simultaneously, the concept of participation has become more important for evaluation research in general, which is equally diverse and the subject of various discourses. This study addresses the issue of how the concept of participation has been established in HP evaluation practice. An analytical framework was developed, which served as a basis for a literature review, but can also be used as a general framework for analyzing and planning the scope of participation by various stakeholders within different phases of participatory evaluation. Three dimensions of participation, which refer to decision making (decision power, deliberation) and action processes are distinguished. The results show that only a few articles discussed participatory evaluation processes and participatory (evaluation) research was largely put forth by participatory (action) research in communities. The articles analyzed referred mostly to three stakeholder groups – evaluators, program staff and beneficiaries – and to participation processes in the initial evaluation phases. The application of the framework revealed that decision power seems to be held predominantly by program staff, evaluators seem to be more involved in action processes and beneficiaries in deliberation processes.