Session: Planning Data: Finding, Analyzing and Utilizing Health Data for Community Assessments and Planning Studies

The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

2011.0: Sunday, November 10, 2002: 8:00 AM-11:30 AM

Oral

Planning Data: Finding, Analyzing and Utilizing Health Data for Community Assessments and Planning Studies

Statement of Purpose and Institute Overview:

Staff members of public health agencies and other parties involved in health planning activities are increasingly in need of accurate and timely data for the preparation of community assessments, documentation of need, program evaluation, and strategic planning. States are increasingly mandating community assessments and increased reporting requirements and demands for accountability are making access to relevant data increasingly important. Although most public health professionals are trained in the use of epidemiologic data, today's data requirements extend beyond the traditional data sets to a wide range of both health-related and non-health-related data that often reside outside the public health agency. Effective public health planning requires that "non-traditional" data be incorporated in order to include the entire "public" in planning and assessment initiatives. This institute will cover four components related to data for planning: 1) a description of the data sets-health and non-health and inside and outside public health agencies-that are necessary and appropriate for planning and assessment activities; 2) a description of sources of these data sets and how to find and access them; 3) steps involved in processing, analyzing and interpreting data from disparate sources; and 4) applying, tracking and evaluating the data within planning and assessment contexts. Participants will benefit from the extensive data research carried out by the faculty and, to the extent time allows, participate in hands-on exercises in finding, analyzing and interpreting data for planning and assessment. Participants will take away handouts and other materials that will immediately assist them in their data management activities.

Learning Objectives: Although a half-day workshop cannot make participants experts in data management, participants will take away a much better understanding of the various types of data that are available and required for planning and assessment activities, techniques for managing and processing data from disparate sources, tips for data analysis and interpretation, and guidance on applying this information in a planning and assessment context. Ultimately, participants should gain an overall understanding of the data management process along with some technical skills that can be immediately applied.

See individual abstracts for presenting author's disclosure statement and author's information.

Organizer(s):

Richard K. Thomas, PhD

8:00 AM

Introduction

8:10 AM

Categories of data for public health planning and assessment activities
Richard K. Thomas, PhD

8:50 AM

Finding and Assessing health and non-health data from public health and non-public health sources
John W Steen

9:30 AM

Break

9:45 AM