• Community Health Planning
• Using Research Information in Planning for Community Health
• Data, Evidence, and Community Input

 

Community Health Planning

Introduction

Most organizations and agencies use some kind of planning process when deciding how to address an issue or develop a program. The purpose of using a planning process is to ensure that organizations take a systematic and comprehensive approach to their work. Using a well-developed planning process can make program development and decision-making more effective and improve outcomes. The components of a planning process include: assessment, action planning, implementation and evaluation. The planning cycle introduced in this workshop describes a process that a community, district, or organization can go through when planning for community health. The planning process can be used by an organization on its own, in partnership with other organizations, or to target particular components of the planning cycle.  (Adapted from A Best Practices Approach to Health Promotion, 2000).  In this interactive workshop, we will explore the following topics:

Assessment of Health Status and Environment
Participants will learn about the skills and resources needed to determine the health status of your community or population, and to identify your community’s strengths. We will also discuss the importance of the broad factors (health determinants) that impact on people’s health.

Action Planning
Workshop participants will review the components of action planning and learn how to ensure the issues and needs of the community can be addressed through research-based health promotion strategies. We will discuss establishing goals and objectives; determining the most effective approach; developing an action plan for implementation, evaluation and sustainability; identifying needed resources; identifying potential partners, and assigning tasks, responsibilities and timelines.

Implementation
This phase of the workshop will include determining how to put programs and interventions into action, including accomplishing objectives, completing activities, and observing and documenting how the work is unfolding. We will discuss how to adjust and fine-tune activities if expected involvement or results are not achieved.

Evaluation
In this session, we will discuss the value of evaluation and its purposes. We will review different types of evaluation, and discuss the importance of evaluation in creating evidence.

Who Will Benefit From This Workshop

This workshop will be of particular interest to Community Health Boards and health promoting agencies and organizations. This workshop can be tailored for your organization to serve as the beginning point for your own planning processes.

Outcomes of the Workshop

At the end of the workshop, you will have:

 

• An understanding of the components of a community planning process;
• An understanding of the importance of and challenges of using research information;
• An understanding of how research information can be used in a planning cycle; and
• A set of tools and resources to use in your own planning processes.

 

Tools/ Resources Used in Workshop

 

• A Best Practices Approach to Health Promotion
• Planning Cycle
• Action Planning Tools
• Evaluation Resources

 

Length of Workshop

This workshop varies in length from a half-day introduction to the planning cycle model to two full days.

Using Research Information in Planning for Community Health

Introduction

This workshop provides an overview of using research information in planning for community health - from deciding which sources of research information are appropriate at each stage in a planning process to collecting planning information from stakeholders.

Workshop Objectives:

 

• To build on participants’ understanding of community health planning processes;
• To build on participants’ ability to understand and use research information in a  planning process in a population health, health promotion context;
• To identify and build on supports for research-based planning for community health;
• To provide linkages among groups/sectors within the region; and
• To provide a forum to enhance relationships across sectors.

 

We define research information as a combination of:

Data: statistics and facts that describe a community and/or the population with whom you are working. There is wide variety in the sources of data and major sources include surveys, administrative data, registries, and the census.

Evidence: research on how and why certain programs and interventions worked (or didn’t). Evidence includes research articles, systematic reviews, literature reviews, best practices research, and published and unpublished reports.

Community Input: information gathered systematically from community members that draws on their experiences and community knowledge. Community input can be gathered in a number of ways including surveys, focus groups, public meetings and interviews.

Who Will Benefit From This Workshop

Anyone involved with community or program planning processes will benefit from this workshop- from participants with little planning experience to those with more advanced experience. The workshop is designed to break down the barriers to using research information in the planning process and provide participants with options for accessing research information. We also offer a more advanced workshop series (Data, Evidence, and Community Input Workshop) for participants with more advanced planning experience.

Outcomes of Workshop

Participants in the Using Research Information in Planning for Community Health Workshop will leave the session with:

 

• An overview of a planning cycle;
• An overview of data, evidence, and community input and how they complement each other;
• An understanding of how data, evidence, and community input fi t in a planning cycle;
• An overview of methods of obtaining research information; and
• An overview of sources of research information.

 

Tools/Resources Used in Workshop

A workshop manual will be provided to all participants. Concrete workshop exercises, tools, and resources based on the needs of participants will be provided. For example, you will receive a model for the planning process and an overview of sources of data, evidence, and community input.

Length of Workshop

The length of this workshop is one full day.

Data, Evidence, and Community Input

Introduction

In this workshop we provide an overview of the uses of data, evidence, and community input in community or program planning processes- from deciding which sources of research information are appropriate at each stage in the planning process, to collecting planning information from stakeholders.

We define the types of research information as:

Data: statistics and facts that describe a community and/or the population with whom you are working. There is wide variety in the sources of data and major sources include surveys, administrative data, registries, and the census.

Evidence: research on how and why certain programs and interventions worked (or didn’t). Evidence includes research articles, systematic reviews, literature reviews, best practices research, and published and unpublished reports.

Community Input: information gathered systematically from community members that draws on their experiences and community knowledge. Community input can be gathered in a number of ways including surveys, focus groups, public meetings and interviews.

Who Will Benefit From This Workshop

Anyone involved with community or program planning processes will benefit from this workshop- from participants with little planning experience to those with more advanced experience. The workshop is designed to break down the barriers to using research information in the planning process and provide participants with options for accessing research information. Advanced workshops can be designed to meet the needs of participants with more advanced planning experience.

Outcomes of Workshop

The Data, Evidence, and Community Input Workshop will provide you with a concrete understanding of the use of data, evidence, and community input in the planning process. You will be provided with tools and resources to help you gather and use these sources of planning information within your own community or program. In particular, you will learn answers to the following planning questions:

 

• What is data?
• What is evidence?
• What is community input?
• How do data, evidence, and community input fi t into a planning process?
• What are the methods of gathering data, evidence, and community input?
• What sources of data, evidence, and community input already exist (e.g., databases, websites, libraries)?
• What questions should I consider when reviewing data, evidence, and community input?
• What are the common problems with the use of data, evidence, and community input?
• How do data, evidence, and community input complement one another?

 

Tools/Resources Used in Workshop

A workshop manual will be provided to all participants. Concrete workshop exercises, tools, and resources, based on the needs of participants will be provided. Examples include: a model for the planning process; checklists for ensuring that appropriate sources of research information are used at each stage of the process; and resource lists for accessing existing sources of research planning information.

Length of Workshop

This is a three-day workshop series.