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

Abstract #114153

Christopher M. Kippes, MS¹, Katie Fox, MS¹, Joan M. Hinkelman, LSW, MSSA², and Claire L. Boettler, RN, BSN². (1) Epidemiology and Surveillance, Cuyahoga County Board of Health, 5550 Venture Drive, Parma, OH 44130, 216-201-2001x1600, ckippes@ccbh.net, (2) Community Health Services, Cuyahoga County Board of Health, 5550 Venture Drive, Parma, OH 44130

Background: The Child and Family Health Services program in Cuyahoga County (Cleveland, Ohio) recently completed a community assessment project addressing 27 maternal and child health indicators. Because of the diversity throughout the county (59 municipalities including the City of Cleveland and 36 neighborhoods within the city proper), attempts were made to analyze data at the municipality/neighborhood level.

Objective: To create municipality/neighborhood level “At-A-Glance” profiles portraying maternal and child health information that enables peer municipality/neighborhood comparisons as well as comparisons to the Healthy People benchmarks.

Methods: Data from 1995-2000 were obtained through primary data collection as well as from the state's Bureau of Vital Statistics and the U.S. Census. Data were geocoded to the municipality/neighborhood level. Municipalities/neighborhoods were divided into eight peer groups based on median income, poverty rate, percentage of population that is black, and percentage of population that is less than 18 years old using a two step cluster analysis. To standardize ranks between groups, the municipalities/neighborhoods were given a peer group rank from 1 to 4 to correspond to the quartile for a given indicator.

Results: Among the 27 indicators, 12 were analyzed at the municipality/neighborhood level to produce the “At-A-Glance” profiles for all 59 municipality and 36 City of Cleveland neighborhoods.

Conclusions: At-A-Glance profiles provide a means to chart progress against state and national standards as well as comparisons with local peer communities. This information can aid policy makers, public health and human service agencies and advocates make data driven programming decisions.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, the participant will be able to

• Describe a method to conduct community assessments that allows for charting progress against state and national standards;
• Understand a method for creating local peer community comparisons within a diverse geographic region.

Keywords: Community Assets, Maternal and Child Health

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 commercial supporters.