Guidelines for Community Health Assessments (CHA’s) prepared by New York State’s (NYS) local (county) health departments (LHD’s) were revised to foster more meaningful CHA’s that formulate local priorities, benchmark progress, engage community partners, and focus on underlying causes of poor health. Evaluation of 56 CHA’s and implementation of the new guidelines, combined with results of a LHD training and information needs survey, will be discussed. The quality of the CHA’s was improved, and many model CHA’s and sections will be shared as part of technical assistance. Assessment capacity skills most in need of strengthening were identified. Most counties did compare local health indicators to state and Healthy People 2000 standards; however, it was difficult to determine if health status of the county was improving or depreciating. Documenting and monitoring progress toward reducing health disparities was also targeted. Setting priorities, developing measurable objectives and action plans, and effective presentation of CHA findings are other improvement areas. The evaluation report was used by LHD’s, community partners, and the NYS Health Department to improve and clarify the guidelines and formed the basis for multi-year training and technical assistance planning to build local CHA capacity. A basic epidemiology course based on a CDC curriculum: “Public Health Data: Our Silent Partner” was offered to public health staff and community partners in Spring 2000. This presentation will share results of efforts to improve assessment capacity using a variety of strategies, including workshops; training; web-based data dissemination and other resources; and improved CHA collaboration within communities.
Learning Objectives: 1. Identify common strengths and weaknesses of local community health assessments and effective and tested methods for improving the quality and usefulness of the assessments. 2. Learn about NYS's experience using a data training curriculum developed by the CDC to help local health department and partner agency professionals understand and use data in their jobs. 3. Learn how states can help build local assessment capacity so that communities can better monitor performance measures using benchmark indicators such as HP2010, focus on causes of poor health, and effectively engage partner agencies
Keywords: Community Health, Assessments
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: CDC
New York State Department of Health
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.