The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #63088

Abigail R. Averbach, MS¹, Jennifer A. Logan, MS¹, and Kevin Cranston, MDiv². (1) HIV/AIDS Bureau, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 250 Washington Street, 3rd Floor, Boston, MA 02108, (2) AIDS Bureau, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 250 Washington St., 3rd Floor, Boston, MA 02108-4619

ISSUE: The Massachusetts Department of Public Health seeks to increase the use of data to make HIV community planning decisions.

RESULTS: Despite widely varying capacities to interpret and utilize epidemiologic data, CPG members were able to meaningfully utilize city/town level epidemiologic data to assess the HIV/AIDS prevention & education (P&E) and counseling & testing (C&T) unmet service needs. CPG members rated the technical content and level of understandability of the epidemiologic orientation to this process as a 4.44 on a 5-point scale (1= poor, 3 = average, 5 = excellent). The product of this process was a ranking of P&E and C&T service needs for the 26 cities with the highest rates of HIV/AIDS prevalence within Massachusetts. This product provided community input into the review of programmatic funding solicitations. As an indicator of a need for HIV prevention services, the CPG reviewed univariate and bivariate HIV/AIDS epidemiologic information at the city/town level for each of their prioritized population groups. This data was then compared with the current programmatic service data for each population to signal unmet service needs. The needs were then ranked by degree of disparity between the need and current service provision.

LESSONS LEARNED: The increased use of data by CPG may lead to decreased group conflict, higher quality planning decisions, and better data collection by providers. In order to increase the use of data in the planning process, State Health Department technical assistance to Community Planning Groups should focus on creating user-friendly data templates, clear step-by-step instructions, and participatory processes to identify appropriate data sources and formats for the specific decision-making task.

Learning Objectives:

• Learning Objective 1
• Select appropriate data variables to support evidence-based decision-making by local health planning groups, coalitions, and other community-based entities.
• Time Frame:
• 20 minutes
• Teaching Strategies:
• Single Oral Session
• Learning Objective 2
• Format scientific data points in a user-friendly format for useful for varying levels of technical expertise to increase dialogue between community health groups and governmental health policy makers. .
• Time Frame:
• 20 minutes
• Teaching Strategies:
• Single Oral Session
• Learning Objective 3
• Provide technical assistance to community-based health planning groups to increase confidence in, and utilization of, scientific data to make health planning and policy decisions.
• Time Frame:
• 20 minutes
• Teaching Strategies:
• Single Oral Session

Keywords: Community Planning, Epidemiology

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Massachusetts Department of Public Health Massachusetts HIV Prevention Community Planning Group
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.