Residents' Perception of the Hunterdon County Health Department

Background: Hunterdon County, NJ has a population of 121,989. Median household income at $93,342 is fourth highest for counties nationwide. Since county services influence resident quality of life, the health department describes its services through various media outlets.

Objective: The health department will assess resident awareness and perceptions of its services. Concurrently, the “This is Public Health” campaign by ASPH will be implemented to promote public health.

Methods: An intercept survey is conducted from June to August 2008. Twenty-one sites were selected throughout the county to obtain a sample size of 500 residents. A questionnaire was administered and a poster on health department services was presented “This is Public Health” stickers were strategically placed throughout the county.

Results: Preliminary data from surveys conducted in twelve sites show that 146 residents (66.1%) were generally unaware while only 75 (33.9%) were generally aware of health department services. Of these 75 residents, 41 (55.4%) reported the quality of services as high, 26 (35.1%) reported medium, and 3 (4.1%) reported low. Thirty-eight residents (17.1%) were not confident, 75 (33.9%) were somewhat confident, and 93 (42%) were very confident in the department's ability to handle a public health emergency. Of those surveyed, 169 (76.5%) residents reported obtaining health information from newspapers.

Conclusions: Most residents are unaware of the health department services. However, residents utilizing these services were satisfied. The residents prefer newspapers for local health information. These findings suggest the need for an increase in awareness of its services through public relations preferably through newspapers.