title: Using a Web-based tool to evaluate a collaborative community health needs assessment.
abstract: Despite the fact that community assessment has been identified as a core function of public health for more than 2 decades, evaluations of the impact of the practice of community health assessment are few in number and have only recently been published. This article describes an evaluation of a 2011-2012 community health needs assessment (CHNA) of Kane County, Illinois. The evaluation customized and used a reliable and valid Web-based survey, the New York State Community Health Assessment Usefulness Survey, to measure Kane County CHNA user perceptions of content, format, and impact utility of the assessment. Survey respondents were community leaders and members from a diverse set of professional backgrounds and were nearly evenly divided between those who had actively participated in the CHNA and those that had not. Respondents were overwhelmingly positive in their evaluation of the Kane CHNA, with an average per item score of greater than 3 on a 4-point Likert scale, although respondents who were not involved in the CHNA process were less positive than those directly involved. Implications for public health practitioners and researchers are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Princeton, New Jersey (Dr Kuehnert); Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences Institute, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey (Dr Graber); and Associate Vice President for Research and Associate Professor of Public Health, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois (Dr Stone).
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kuehnert
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Graber
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Stone
mesh_terms: D003153:Community Health Services / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000592:standards; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006292:Health Priorities / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D006788:Hospitals, Voluntary; D006801:Humans; D007087:Illinois; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D020407:Internet; D009111:Local Government; D020380:Needs Assessment / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D058991:Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act / Q000592:standards*; D011634:Public Health / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000379:methods; D013219:State Government; D014481:United States; D014837:Voluntary Health Agencies