311293
Community Health Status Assessment Directing Louisiana to Community-Based Strategies
METHODS: Through regional focus groups, community members were engaged in two of the four key components of the assessment process to determine ideal themes and strengths of the community, and issues and needs hindering community health. State and regional partners worked with 178 community members across the nine health regions of Louisiana to complete the assessments in 2012.
RESULTS: Themes identified as healthy community characteristics included: affordable/accessible healthcare, quality education, community involvement, and healthy eating/active living. The major force hindering all communities was economics. Unemployment, budget cuts, and limited money/resources all had bearing on additional forces of change (social, political, environmental, and technological).
CONCLUSIONS: Data obtained from these assessments along with the Community Health and State Public Health Status Assessments is being used to move from capacity building to implementation of environmental, programmatic, and infrastructure strategies to improve Louisiana's health as part the Community Transformation Grant. The issues faced by the community are interconnected, relating to multilevel decisions and outcomes. The next steps will involve working with communities in the nine regions of Louisiana to develop unique evidence-based community action plans.
Learning Areas:
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programsLearning Objectives:
Describes the performance of a community health status assessment for the State of Louisiana.
Keyword(s): Community Health Assessment, Community Health Planning
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a masters level trained Epidemiologist with a degree from Tulane University. I have worked with the LA Department of Health and Hospitals for over 3 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.
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I developed the data collection process and advise the Louisiana State Department of Health and Hospitals on the Community Transformation Grant funded by the Centers for Disease Control and prevention. I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at Louisiana State University School of Public Health.
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.