Importance of local health data to inform health promotion in Wisconsin: Results from the partnership between Transform Wisconsin, the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin (SHOW), and six county health departments

Background: Detailed data for program planning and evaluation at the regional or local level are usually not available to public health decision makers. These data are needed to optimally inform local priorities in health promotion planning.

Methods: The Survey of the Health of Wisconsin (SHOW) collects health data on a representative sample of Wisconsin residents since 2008.  Through support from the CDC’s Community Transformation Grant program and in partnership with Transform Wisconsin and local health departments, SHOW designed and completed baseline health assessments of over 1400 adult residents in six counties.  A structured in-home interview collected information on a wide range of health topics including:  physical activity, nutrition, smoking history, community involvement, neighborhood characteristics, mental health and anthropometry. Trained community researchers were hired to support data collection.

Results: 1418 participant completed interviews in 2012.  The communities differed on several core measures of health.  The percentage of participants measured to be obese varied from 31.2% to 43.7% (p-value=0.004) and the percentage of current smokers living in each of the six communities ranged from 16.8% to 22.1% (p-value=0.04). Perhaps more important for community health promotion planning, communities also differed on perceived barriers to physical activity and healthy eating. For example, the communities differed on the percent reporting 6 of 22 perceived barriers to healthy eating including having enough time to prepare a healthy diet.

Conclusions: Local data are critical to investigating how where you live affects your health and well-being.  When collected, these data show that local differences exist and may inform local health promotion activities.