EPID-600 Introduction to Public Health
Community Assessment
Objectives

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Students should be able to

• describe why community assessment is important for analyzing community health status
• describe the sources the data available for such analysis
• describe how to, how to gather and present the data that affect community public health policy & funding
• describe how to to use spreadsheet and geographic analysis presentations to strengthen their presentations.
• describe data sets available to measure health status at the national, state and local level
• how to link them health data to economic status
• how to access the health care and medical care data systems and their interfaces between public & private resources.
• GIS Objectives:
  After this session students should understand the added value of epidemiologic analysis using GIS and geocoding software. They should understand the expanding use of census tracts for analyses.  They should be able to explain where they can obtain data. They should understand the elements of enhanced data quality provided by GIS-related tools.  They should be able to describe the major software available, including common use within the public health community.
• Competencies 1C(1,2,4,7,8) 1E (1,2,3,8,10) 1F(All) IIA (1-4)

Key Words

Community, jurisdiction, health status, health measurement, planning, goals, birth rate, infant death rate, fertility measures, community surveys, behavioral risk factors, mental health, Marc Lalonde, Kerr White.
GIS KeyWords: Maps, streets, block groups, census tracts, zip codes, ZCTA, geocoding, spatial analyses, Analysis/Visualization/Reporting (AVR), Census Bureau, Tiger files, choropleth.

Concept

Improving health outcome depends on knowledge of current health status rather than responding to medical crises.

GIS: Epidemiology concerns the distribution of disease with a space and time continuum.  Geographic information systems (GIS) allow a visual display of data distribution, as well as affiliated attributes, at varying levels of geographic granularity.  Additionally, GIS is being used to enhance data quality management and improve our understanding of socioeconomic factors related to public health surveillance.   The use and need for GIS tools and spatial analyses of public health data is increasing, as is evidenced by the growing body of GIS-related literature.  

Readings

Essay # 3, & scan essay #6.
Schneider 2nd Edn: scan Chapter 5, 8, 11 and 24
Virginia Center for Healthy Communities
Kaiser Family Foundation: State Health Facts

GIS Readings: The National Association of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD) Prevention Bulletin.  June 2007.   Read the first four topics below.
Targeting Populations Using Geo-Mapping and Social Network Strategies

• How do we target populations?
• Geo-Mapping
• New York City’s Experience with Geo-Mapping
• Virginia’s Experience with Geo-Mapping
• Welcome to
  ESRI Public Health Page, Scan the options for education and case studies in the left hand columm

GIS Optional readings:

Monmonier, M. 1991. How to Lie With Maps. The University of Chicago Press.

Monmonier, M. 1993. Mapping It Out. The University of Chicago Press * Monmonier, M. 1997. John Snow's legacy. Cartographies of Danger: Mapping Hazards in America. The University of Chicago Press. Ricketts, T.C. and L.A. Savitt, W.M. Gesler, et al. 1997. Using Geographic Methods to Understand Health Issues. (AHCPR Pub. No. 97-N013). Rockville, MD: Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (NTIS No. PB97-137707). Koch. T.  2005.  Cartographies of Disease:  Maps, Mapping, and Medicine.  ESRI Press. Wade T. and Sommer S. ed.  2006.  A to Z GIS:  An Illustrated dictionary of geographic information systems.  ESRi Press.  Cromley & McLafferty.  2002.  GIS and Public Health.  Guilford Press.

GIS Additional Readings:

• 1. Maxcy Rosenau 13th Edn. Chap 40 &66.14th Edn, Scan Chap. 32 & 43 and 70 Secn. C
• 2. Millman M. ed. Access to Health Care in America. National Academy Press (IOM), Washington DC 1993. pp 31-45 (Chap. 2)
• 3. Bozzetta SA et al.(1998) The care of HIV infected adults in the United States. New England Journal of Medicine 339(28): 1897-1904
• 4, Pappas G et Al. (1993). The increasing disparity of mortality between socioeconomic groups in the United States. 1960 and 1986. New England Journal of Medicine 329(2): 103-109
• 5 . MAPP – a strategic approach to community health improvement
• 6 . Principles of Community Engagement.
• 7. A new Perspective on the Health of Canadians, Marc Lalonde. 1974

Articles

• Geography gaining power as a tool for shaping health and social policy. 1997. Advances: The Quarterly Newsletter of the Robert Johnson Wood Foundation, Issue 3.
• Rushton, G. et al. July 1995. A geographic information analysis of urban infant mortality rates. Geo Info Systems. 52-56.
• Tempalski, B. and S. McLafferty. June 1997. Low birthweights in New York City: using GIS to predict communities at risk. Geo Info Systems 7, 6: 34-37

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