Does the elimination of the transportation barrier improve use of preventive health care among underserved populations in Alabama? A community-academic partnership is helping one non-profit organization answer that question


Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

3180.0: Monday, December 12, 2005 - 12:50 PM

Abstract #110191

Does the elimination of the transportation barrier improve use of preventive health care among underserved populations in Alabama? A community-academic partnership is helping one non-profit organization answer that question

Amy L. Boore, MPH¹, Kathleen Cleveland, BS², Tracy B. Smith, BS², Marsha Hinkle², Russell Jackson², and Fannie Fonseca-Becker, DrPH³. (1) Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 North Wolfe Street, E7003, Baltimore, MD 21205, 443-527-7579, aboore@jhsph.edu, (2) Kid One, 3605 Lorna Ridge Drive, Suite 200, Hoover, AL 35216, (3) Director, J&J Community HealthCare Scholars Program, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, MD 21202

Background: Lack of transportation to health care has been cited as a major contributor to health disparities in the US, as it disproportionately affects poor, rural and disabled populations. Kid One Transport, an innovative community-based organization (CBO) in Alabama, is working to alleviate this barrier to care by providing underserved Alabamians with free transportation to non-emergency medical and preventive care. As the organization grows, there is an increasing need for evidence of the impact the program has on the use of preventive care by the population served. A community-academic partnership has been created to build the organization's in-house capacity in program evaluation.

Methods: The CBO and the academic partner used input from various stakeholders to identify desired health outcomes of the program. Over a period of two years, the academic partner will train key program staff in evaluation methodology to measure those outcomes. Tools to be introduced include the use of conceptual frameworks, survey design and implementation, data base creation and basic statistical analysis.

Results: At the end of the two year collaborative program, the non-profit will have developed its in-house capacity to design and implement sound program evaluation.

Conclusion: The growth and sustainability of programs such as Kid One depend on the ability of the organization to provide evidence of increased use of preventive health care services. A community-academic partnership is a mutually beneficial solution, providing experience to the academic partner while empowering the CBO to conduct program evaluation that is adaptive and responsive to the needs of its stakeholders.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of this session, the participant (learner) will be able to

3. Identify the steps necessary for successful in-house capacity building for monitoring and evaluation.
7. Describe the importance of stakeholder input in program evaluations.
11. List the benefits of community-academic partnerships to both the community-based organizations and the academic partners.

Keywords: Access to Health Care, Participatory Research

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commertial supporters WITH THE EXCEPTION OF the Johnson & Johnson Corporation Community Health Care Program. The submitted work is part of the Johnson & Johnson and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Community Health Scholars Program..

Recorded presentation

Increasing Long-term Sustainability by Building in-house Capacity in Evaluation: Community/Academic Partnerships

The 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition (December 10-14, 2005) of APHA