Results of a national evaluation of community participation in Health Impact Assessments: Outcomes in civic agency and public policy

Health Impact Assessments (HIAs) are a research and public engagement tool used to increase the awareness of health and equity in public policy and planning decisions. International standards of HIA include democracy, transparency, equity, ethical use of evidence, and comprehensive consideration of health. One of the best ways to achieve these standards is to authentically engage impacted community members in the HIA process in order to also incorporate their lived experience, preferences, and power into the policy or plan decision-making processes.

A two-year evaluation conducted by a collaboration between a recognized leader in the field of HIA and an evaluation firm assessed the level of community participation in health impact assessment (HIA) nationally as measured by an adaptive scale culled from the Spectrum of Participation from the International Association of Public Participation. The evaluation also solicited the barriers to authentic community participation, ways to address these barriers, the extent to which HIAs build civic agency with community members, and what impact meaningful community participation has on HIA success. This presentation will share findings and recommendations from the evaluation, as well as feature case examples of HIAs that have done exemplary community engagement.