267064 Using Social Epidemiology to Advance Community Health Equity

Monday, October 29, 2012

Sharon Mierzwa, MPH RD , Health Equity Alliance project, Connecticut Association of Directors of Health, Hartford, CT
The Connecticut Association of Directors of Health (CADH) developed a Health Equity Index that provides data ranking community conditions and health outcomes for every city and town in the state. The Index provides a profile of measures related to housing, education, environmental quality, safety, economic stability, employment, and civic engagement. These indicators are scored and analyzed for statistical significance in association with health outcomes. The data analysis can be used by local public health departments to improve health equity by targeting specific community conditions that impact health. Evaluation findings from pilot testing of the Index in three communities indicated that the Index is a useful tool for communicating connections between the social determinants of health and chronic disease, infectious disease, maternal and child health indicators, age-adjusted mortality, and other health measures. Indicator measures are standardized so that comparisons can be made at varying geographic levels of analysis. Based on participation in this project, 73% of project personnel reported that they could easily describe the concept of social determinants of health to other members of the community, compared to 17% who weren't sure and 9% who disagreed. Fifty-seven percent of project leadership reported the Index was useful in demonstrating the connection between community conditions and health outcomes. Forty-two percent of local public health employees stated that in their opinion their agency had the right amount of focus on health inequities. Additional findings and methods of data display will be shared.

Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health education
Chronic disease management and prevention
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Epidemiology
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
1.Describe the design of a health equity index and its application by local health departments. 2.Demonstrate the utility of Index data to promote examination of community conditions in relation to health outcomes. 3.Describe the implications and benefits of this approach for improving community health outcomes.

Keywords: Health Disparities, Communication Evaluation

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am currently the project director for this work and have been supervising the project for the last three years.
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.