185492 Putting Survey Data and Information into the Hands of those Who Can Use It: Translation, Dissemination and Impact of the California Health Interview Survey

Tuesday, October 28, 2008: 1:30 PM

E. Richard Brown, PhD , UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
     
Research Objective: This study was conducted to better understand California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) dissemination strategy effects on access to, use of, and impact of the CHIS data in organizations. Study Design: The CHIS Impact Study was designed to highlight how users access CHIS data and evaluate the impact of CHIS data applications, thus providing insight into processes leading to successful application of population health surveillance data. The study used qualitative research methodology in a two-stage design. First, researchers identified multiple ways organizations access CHIS data and the uses and applications that involved CHIS data (Stage 1), and then subsetted examples for in-depth examination (Stage 2). The paper presents findings from this study. Population Studied: Organizational and agency users of data from the CHIS. Principal Findings: A diverse audience of CHIS users including state and national policy makers, advocacy organizations, philanthropic health foundations, private hospitals and health care organizations, and state/county public health agencies. Most data users accessed data through the Center's AskCHIS online query system. Center reports and briefs, public-use files, confidential data files and requests for special data analyses by the Center also served as important data sources. Regardless of type of organization, CHIS data were used in a number of ways including to promote education and awareness, support an organization's policy position, identify a specific population and its characteristics and develop complex modeling to meet organizational goals and objectives. Successful application of CHIS data led to significant outcomes in several domains of interest including health policy development, health policy advocacy, policy analysis, grant making, funding development, and service and program planning. Conclusions: Organizations interviewed for the CHIS Impact Study reported specific key characteristics of CHIS data were instrumental in meeting goals and objectives. Implications for Policy, Delivery or Practice: State health surveys like CHIS will provide the most value if data are comprehensive in scope; provide both local- and state-level data; have large samples that permit robust estimates at appropriate geographic levels and relevant demographic groups to inform health policy development, advocacy and service planning needs; and use methods that produce reliable, valid and representative data in which users can put their confidence. Finally, this impact study demonstrates how substantial investment in dissemination and communication of health survey data has fostered widespread use of CHIS data by all types of public and private organizations, and established an effective research tool for advocacy, program and policy impact purposes.

Learning Objectives:
The authors conducted a study to better understand the effects of the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) dissemination strategy on access to CHIS data, use of the data, and the impact of the data in the work of organizations.

Keywords: Data Collection, Public Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: E. Richard Brown, PhD, is the founder and director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and is a professor at the UCLA School of Public Health. He received his PhD in sociology of education from the University of California, Berkeley. Brown has studied and written extensively about a broad range of issues and policies that affect the access of disadvantaged populations to health care. His recent research focuses on health insurance coverage, the lack of coverage, and the effects of public policies, managed care, and market conditions on access to health services, particularly for disadvantaged populations, ethnic minorities, and immigrants. Brown and the Center's studies of health insurance coverage, uninsurance, and eligibility for public programs have been used by California's governors, legislators, and advocates in crafting health insurance legislation and programs. Brown is the principal investigator for the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), one of the nation's largest ongoing health surveys. CHIS uniquely provides statewide and local-level estimates for California's diverse population and covers a broad range of health issues, including health status and conditions and access to health care. Brown also has been extensively involved in the analysis and development of public policies, with particular emphasis on health care reform. He served as a full-time senior consultant to the President's Task Force on National Health Care Reform, for which he co-chaired the work group on coverage for low-income families and individuals. He has served as health policy adviser to two members of the United States Senate, where he was a Senate Fellow and developed major health care reform legislative proposals. He was health policy adviser to several candidates for President. Brown also has developed legislation for the California Legislature and advised members on a variety of health policy legislative issues. He has presented invited testimony to numerous committees in both houses of the U.S. Congress and in the California Legislature and has provided consultation to many private, state, federal, and international agencies. He also has served on several National Academy of Science study committees. He is a past president of the American Public Health Association.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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