141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

285796
Partnership defined quality: A community-based approach to address socially determined barriers to care

Tuesday, November 5, 2013 : 10:45 AM - 11:00 AM

Beth Outterson, MA, MPH , Department of Health and Nutrition, Save the Children, Washington, DC
Save the Children (SC) developed Partnership Defined Quality (PDQ) methodology in 2002 to improve access and quality of community level health services. PDQ builds social capital using a Community Action Cycle model. Unique among quality improvement approaches, PDQ engages both users and nonusers of health services alongside providers to identify barriers to access and quality health services, and to problem solve to overcome these barriers using existing local resources. Participants become empowered as they jointly design, implement and monitor these interventions. PDQ is rights-based, in that it makes the duty bearers (providers) more accountable to clients (community members). Three program examples demonstrate pre-post improvements in provider capacity and facility environment leading to improved client satisfaction, demand, provider performance and sustainability of services. Two examples compare “PDQ communities” versus “non-PDQ communities.” PDQ has been implemented in fifteen countries regarding maternal, child and adolescent health. Scale has been achieved in three countries, with many successes yet significant challenges due to labor intensive local processes. More rigorous evaluation of PDQ alone and as complement to other methods is needed to demonstrate effectiveness.

Learning Areas:
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Diversity and culture
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
List the four phases of the Partnership Defined Quality process Explain how the PDQ process builds social accountability at the community level Describe how PDQ strengthens social capital while improving quality of health service delivery

Keywords: Barriers to Care, Participatory Action Research

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I guide PDQ activities at my organization. I lead trainings for PDQ implementation, adapted manual for use with Youth, led a multi-agency Working Group which developed several documents including "The PDQ Monitoring and Evaluation Toolkit" and " Essential Elements for Maximizing the Effectiveness of PDQ." I compiled 11 monographs and provide TA for PDQ to promote adolescent friendly services in four countries.
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.