Transforming and evaluating approaches to capacity building in local MCAH Programs in a changing environment: That was then but this is now

Background: For 20 years, the Family Health Outcomes Project (FHOP) at the University of California, San Francisco has been funded by the California Department of Public Health's Maternal Child and Adolescent Health (MCAH) Program to build local MCAH program capacity for performing community needs assessments, monitoring health, developing action plans and evaluating programs, and to provide data and tools for these activities.

Methods: FHOP historically utilized a 6-pronged capacity building strategy including 1) face-to-face trainings; 2) technical assistance via telephone; 3) on-site consultation; 4) automated analytic tools; 5) written guidelines for analysis and planning; and 6) dissemination of materials and tools through the web and an electronic newsletter. Significant cuts in state and local staffs and budgets, combined with increased access to technology, prompted FHOP to revise its training strategies and develop new products.

Results: Trainings are now done primarily using webinars and are recorded and archived online. Site visits aren't possible, consultations are phone-based, and technical assistance is mostly via email. New products developed to meet changing needs include locally-customizable fact sheets for educating policy makers about MCAH priorities; orientation videos for MCAH directors on the internet; the MCAH Marketplace, a website for sharing resources and products among local programs; and preprogramed data spreadsheets that include all rate calculations with confidence intervals, and graphs that show trends and test for their significance. We have also incorporated the life-course perspective and data on the social determinant of health into our tools and methods.

Conclusions: Budget cuts and shifting priorities require utilizing technological innovations, and adapting training tools and methods over time. Based on its years of experience, FHOP will share lessons learned about the pluses and minuses of various methods and tools for effective and efficient capacity building.