 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Kathleen M. Hebbeler, PhD, Center for Education and Human Services, SRI International, 600 Mockingbird Place, Davis, CA 95616, 530-758-7483, Kathleen.Hebbeler@sri.com
The Sierra Health Foundation's Community Partnerships for Healthy Children (CPHC) initiative is a 10-year, $20-million effort that uses community building as a means to improve the health and well-being of young children and their families. Beginning in 1994, the Foundation awarded grants to 31 rural and urban communities in northern California to establish collaboratives and participate in a long-term community-building process. Community building in the context of CPHC meant mobilizing residents to use the community's assets for the common good. The Foundation contracted with SRI International to evaluate the initiative. SRI conducted the overall evaluation and also provided technical assistance to the collaboratives around collecting and interpreting data on activities and outcomes in their community. This paper will (1) present an overview of the key features of the initiative; (2) describe the design for the cross-site and within site evaluation; and (3) discuss some of the challenges faced by the evaluation, and (4) summarize how other evaluations can benefit from what was learned about CPHC and community-building. The evaluation focused on multiple aspects of the initiative: the process of collaborative development and maintenance, the success of the community building efforts, the strategies enacted in the community including policy and systems change strategies, and finally, the changes in health outcomes for young children and their families. The evaluation also employed a variety of data collection techniques including interviews, site visits, surveys of collaborative members, and analyses of institutional data on health outcomes. Case studies were also conducted in 10 communities.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Community Building, Children's Health
Related Web page: sierrahealth.org/programs/cphc.html
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: contractor