2006 Model Practice Application (Public)

Risk Communication Survey for Special Needs Populations

Niagara County Department of Health/Western New York Public Health Alliance

The project will accomplish the following:

• Establish a regional snapshot of populations that need to be addressed for regional and local public health preparedness planning.
  
  
• Provide each county with individualized reports and visual map data with recommendations so they know where their populations and community–based organizations that serve these populations are located.
  
  
• Establish data to develop the best means and methods and types of information for reaching the greatest number of individuals in the region and during an emergency.
  
  
• Provide assessment tool for other counties and information to develop a viable SNP public health risk communications plan at the local, regional and state level.
  
  
• Preliminary data analysis reveals SNPs trust physicians and state/local health departments most for receiving accurate health information during an emergency, SNPs and use of the media as a primary emergency communications tool by health departments to these populations will be critical. Info shared with NYSDOH, technical reports, including GIS data/maps and recommendations to be released to participating counties.

The Risk Communication Survey was developed in an attempt to respond to the need for timely and effective communications with special need populations in the event of a public health emergency. Communicating with the public is paramount during any emergency; and the Western New York Public Health Alliance has been particularly concerned with the program's ability to communicate with special need populations; the program recognizes that communicating with these residents may be more challenging than the general community. Communicating with each and every resident during an emergency is an issue with paramount relevancy in every community. Through the survey program staff was able to determine the resources that most members of the particular special need populations had available to them. In addition to determining their resources, staff were able to discover the means in which they preferred to receive the information, what kind of information they value most, and the individuals they would trust in delivering the information.

The Niagara County Department of Health (NCDOH) designed the project and served as the coordinating agency for this initiative; the Department performed outreach to agencies within the community, revised and improved the survey tool, and analyzed the data. However, the project could not have been completed without collaboration. Participation from county health departments in the eight counties of the Western New York Public Health Alliance (WNYPHA), as well as numerous community based organizations (CBOs) and agencies made the initiative a success. Throughout the initiative, Niagara County shared progress reports and the project tools and methods with the NYSDOH regional and central partners.

County health officials within the WNYPHA provided continuous input and feedback pertaining to the survey. The NCDOH gave regular updates and sought feedback from fellow Alliance members in an attempt to perfect the project. In addition, the counties were instrumental in assisting with the collection of contact information for CBOs within their counties.

Phase 1 (July 2003 - May 2004*):

• Identified the information we would like to obtain through the survey and formulated survey questions that would reveal such information.
  
  
• Identified the special need populations that we would like to target in Phase One.
  
  
• Determined the counties in which we will disseminate the survey as a pilot (Chautauqua, Erie, and Niagara).
  
  
• Identified community based organizations (CBOs) within the chosen counties to administer the survey.
  
  
• Contacted the selected CBOs to explain the initiative and seek their assistance and participation in the project.
  
  
• Mailed the survey tool and detailed instructions to the agencies that have agreed to participate, provided the agencies with 4 weeks to administer the surveys.
  
  
• While waiting for the surveys to be returned, developed a database using EpiInfo for inputting the survey data.
  
  
• Entered survey data as they were returned.
  
  
• Conducted basic data analysis of the data utilizing tools in EpiInfo.

Phase 2 (May 2004- August 2005*):

• Identified the problems encountered in Phase One; these included how survey questions were framed, how CBOs were asked to administer the survey, and format/layout of the survey.
  
  
• Determined additional information that would be helpful in obtaining from the special need residents, added questions to the survey to fulfill this.
  
  
• Identified additional special need populations to target with the survey.
  
  
• Revised the survey based on the problems identified and additional questions being sought.
  
  
• Added CBOs to the databases for Chautauqua, Erie, and Niagara Counties.
  
  
• Identified CBOs in five other counties in Western New York (Allegany, Cattaraugus, Genesee, Orleans, and Wyoming); worked with Public Health Preparedness Coordinators in these counties to obtain information on available resources.
  
  
• Contacted directors of the CBOs to seek assistance in distributing the Phase Two survey.
  
  
• Mailed the quantity of surveys that each CBO thought that they could complete with detailed instructions and information pertaining to the initiative; provided a deadline of 6 weeks for returning the completed surveys.
  
  
• While waiting for the surveys to be returned, developed a database using EpiInfo for data entry.
  
  
• Entered survey data as they were returned.
  
  
• Performed quality assurance analysis on the data.
  
  
• Conducted data analysis using Microsoft Excel (converted data for use in Excel).

The program has established those partnerships and contacts that are valuable for public health preparedness planning in general, and will maintain that contact. Positive feedback has been received from the CBOs and the SNP population because the information program staff was able to collect with the tool was deemed useful by both public health planners and the stakeholders.

Goal: To enhance the Western New York Public Health Alliance's capacity to communicate with special need populations, particularly during a public health emergency.

Objective: Identify Community Based Organizations (CBOs) and any other agency that assist special need populations (SNPs):

• Performance measures: 1) data were collected including the names, locations, and contact information for Executive Directors for several agencies that service SNPs; 2) the data was collected by Public Health Preparedness Coordinators in the Alliance counties; and 3) the data were collected through online searches, CBO publications, telephone directories, and word of mouth. All the data is maintained in databases for future use and reference.
  
  
• Data collection: Data from feedback from LHD staff after playing TAG.
  
  
• Outcomes (short-term): Over 50 CBOs in the eight counties of Western New York were identified and contact information for these agencies is being maintained.

Objective: Disseminate a pilot survey (Phase 1) and revised survey (Phase 2) to special need populations through community based organizations:

• Performance measures: A survey tool was developed for Phase 1 and problems were identified and corrected resulting in a corrected/updated survey for Phase 2.
  
  
• Data collection: 1) in developing the survey, research was conducted to determine questions that should be asked; 2) the survey was developed by staff in the Niagara County Department of Health (NCDOH) Public Health Preparedness Program; feedback and input was provided by other Preparedness Coordinators within the Alliance; and 3) the survey was designed following discussions among the Alliance members and NCDOH staff; online research was also conducted to seek ideas for questions to ask.
  
  
• Outcomes (short-term): The creation of well designed survey that reduced confusion amongst those completing it and would provide us with valuable data.

Objective: Identify resources that SNPs posses & their preferred means of receiving information during an emergency:

• Performance measures: Perform data analysis on surveys that have been returned through CBOs; a goal of 500 surveys for Phase 1 and 1000 surveys for Phase 2 was established.
  
  
• Data collection: A total of 11 questions were asked in Phase 1 and 27 questions were asked in Phase 2. The questions identified which special need populations they fell into, demographic information (age, sex, county residency, marital status, education, primary language, education, and employment status), resources they had available to them (television, newspaper, radio, telephone, cellular phone, internet, e-mail, tty/ttd, mail), their preferred means of receiving public health information during an emergency (ie: via tv, radio...), the information they felt was most important in receiving (ie: location of emergency, instructions...), and who they trusted to deliver the information (DOH, law enforcement, hospital staff...) CBOs assisted in distributing and collecting the surveys. After the surveys were returned to NCDOH, NCDOH staff inputted the data into EpiInfo for analysis. EpiInfo and Microsoft Excel were utilized to conduct data analysis once the data had been entered and quality assurance was conducted.
  
  
• Outcomes (long-term): We have gained a better understanding of our special need populations, the resources that they have, and the best means in which we can communicate with them. Based on this knowledge we are developing communication plans to ensure successful communications during a public health emergency.