An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of GIS Training Workshops for Public Health Professionals and Community Partners

This presentation focuses upon an evaluation of the effectiveness of GIS training workshops for health professionals and community-based organizations working in medically under-served communities.  The nine workshops were hosted by Meharry Medical College from 2010-2013 at various times, and were developed and delivered by the Tennessee State University Director of the Geographic Information Sciences Laboratory.  The backgrounds of the approximately 120 attendees included Meharry MSPH students, college administrators, public health professionals, and non-profit organization workers.  Their ages ranged from late teens to early 70s.  The majority of the participants have little to no prior experience with GIS.  Computer literacy was not a prerequisite for the training, and as such, the participants' computer competency ranged widely. The objective is of this research is to evaluate how extensively past workshop participants are using GIS in their work and/or integrating GIS into their organizations at least six months post-workshop.  Past participants are asked to complete a survey instrument including both open-ended and Likert scale questions aimed at educing how much the workshops influenced their continued utilization of GIS, and if the workshops in some way motivated them to institutionalize use of geospatial technology in their public health-related work activities.  Preliminary results indicate that some participants have continued using GIS, others indicated in a pre-workshop questionnaire that their primary goal was to use GIS to complete a specific project at the time, with no plans for continued use.  A major goal of this project is to develop a training model that will increase applications of GIS in public health practice in general, and specifically in racial health disparities research.  Survey results will determine what portions of the training were most effective in creating persistent and capable GIS users, and  strategies for institutionalizing GIS within health organizations.