Building the capacity of community leaders to collect and use local health data for advocacy and planning: Evaluation of the Data & Democracy Statewide Training Initiative

The Data & Democracy Training Initiative's goal was to build the capacity of community-based organizations to obtain, understand and apply health data to local planning and advocacy. To achieve this goal, three-day courses were taught throughout California to community-based organizations serving local underserved communities. The course focused on how to plan and conduct a community assessment, and how to train others. Course participants (“trainers”) were given TA, materials, and 45 days to deliver a workshop to staff, collaborators, and/or community members (“end users”) on how to perform a community assessment. METHODS: The evaluation was designed to capture the impact of this train-the-trainer model, particularly: 1) changes in trainers' perceived self-efficacy and intention to use course knowledge and skills in their work; 2) trainers' successes and challenges delivering their workshop; and 3) end users' satisfaction and perceived relevancy of the workshop they attended. RESULTS: About half of the 110 trainers went on to train over 400 end users. Trainers who integrated their community workshop into current assessment and collaborative efforts were more successful recruiting participants and conducting workshops. Workshop components and course materials continue to be disseminated among participant organizations and their community partners. Of the skills taught in the course, trainers reported the largest increases in self-efficacy and intention to use among data-specific skills such as qualitative and quantitative data analysis and data collection methods. Long wait lists for the course and positive evaluations by trainers and end users indicate a need for data-specific capacity building on the community level.