An innovative model for prioritizing health care needs for women, infants and children in Texas: Lessons derived from a 2009-2010 Texas-wide multi-method needs assessment approach

Since mid-1930s, the Title V Federal-State partnership in the United States continues to provide a dynamic program to improve the health of all mothers and children of the nation, including children with special health care needs. Every 5 years, each state Title V agency is required to develop their own framework and process to conduct and submit a formal assessment of their state or territory's maternal and child health needs. For the stakeholder input phase of the 2011 - 2016 needs assessment, researchers at the Public Policy Research Institute at Texas A&M University helped the Texas Department of State Health Services to design and implement an innovative methodological approach for developing prioritized list of maternal and child health needs for Texas. This paper discusses the various phases of the multi-method needs assessment design that drove the process and the findings derived from implementing the design. It analyzes various stages of design implementation: stakeholder engagement in the 50 community listening sessions in strategic Texas locations, two prioritization surveys as a direct follow-up from the sessions, a two-day stakeholder summit held in Austin, and the eight public forums in the health service regional headquarters. In the larger comparative context of various maternal and child health needs assessment designs implemented by other states, this paper addresses why and how this Texas-based approach with its nuanced components served as a promising innovative program model for maximizing stakeholder input and reducing participation barriers in identifying and prioritizing the maternal and child health needs in Texas.