The Institute of Medicine Report (1997), Improving Community Health , noted three developments fundamental to community health improvement planning. They are: a broadening of our understanding of health and its determinants; a greater appreciation of the importance of a community perspective; and a growing interest in the use of performance measurement to improve the quality of health and other services in public and private settings.
The community empowerment approach to defining and prioritizing health needs acknowledges the importance of these developments in bringing traditionally underserved populations together with public health service providers to work together in the process of improving community health.
A healthy and evolving process of community development that is locally sustainable requires broad-based participation from grassroots community leaders. Grassroots community leaders in Horry County, South Carolina were nominated to serve on the Community Leadership Council (CLC) for which skills development training was conducted. This group’s goal was to collect and prioritize information about health issues at the community level.
Members of the CLC facilitated community conversations in 25 identified neighborhoods of Horry County. These 25 neighborhoods are identified not only along geographical lines, but also with an emphasis on preserving “natural” neighborhood boundaries (“natural” in this context meaning along the lines of shared identity).
Through participation in both Community Leadership Council and community conversations, those residents and groups that have been historically left out of leadership positions and have been underrepresented in community actions were afforded opportunities to participate in the decision-making process with traditional power brokers.
Learning Objectives: At the end of the session, the participant will be able to 1. Discuss the need for and value of data collection at the community level for health improvement planning 2. Describe appropriate procedures for insuring inclusion and representation of underserved populations in the community health improvement planning process 3. Describe the community empowerment approach to facilitation training for community leaders collecting health data 4. Discuss appropriate methods of recording and disseminating data collected at the community level
Keywords: Data Collection, Underserved Populations
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.