Measuring outcomes has become a buzzword in community health partnerships, but experience shows that it is harder than it may sound. This presentation will describe partnerships in two on-going demonstration programs-Community Care Networks and Accelerating Community Transformation. Participating sites in these programs are cross-sectoral partnerships that involve health care providers, public health, social service agencies, educational institutions, and/or other community institutions. CCN and ACT partnerships have evolved from a focus on immediate programming to embrace the need for definable outcomes. Because these partnerships have broad long-term goals, there is an immediate need to identify achievable, measurable intermediate outcomes that will help them assess whether they are on track to achieve their larger goals. Outcomes are also seen as a necessary tool for demonstrating to community stakeholders the value of their investment in the partnerships and their activities. The presentation will present real case examples illustrating practical lessons on when partnerships are ready to begin measuring outcomes, how to demonstrate the value of measurement, how to choose significant outcomes to measure, and how to find or develop baseline and repeated measures with limited resources. In recognition of the difficulties of measuring long-term change in the root causes of persistent health and social problems, the need for both quantitative and qualitative measures in community settings will be discussed. For while the challenges of measurement in community health partnerships are great, the benefits are greater, in both improved processes and improved community health.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to: 1. Describe Community Care Network (CCN) and Accelerating Community Transformation (ACT) programs. 2. Articulate two major uses for outcomes measurement in community health partnerships. 3. Identify when to use quantitative measures and when to use qualitative measures in assessing effectiveness of community health partnerships
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
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.