Report Publish Date: January 2024
This report looks at how to create a trustworthy system for gathering data via surveys and ensuring the system meets the public’s needs.
Public health professionals and community leaders who know about national surveys and data platforms said they trusted the data and found it accurate and reliable. “This is a solid foundation for building stronger ties with all communities,” the authors write. And those strong ties are necessary for building a data collection system that people trust and that promotes their health needs.
This report describes the findings of a CDC Foundation project that aimed to find out how members of communities feel about the use of survey data to improve health. It recommends promising actions for data scientists in two sections: “Fostering a Trustworthy System” and “Creating Responsive Data Across the Survey Lifecycle.”
The CDC Foundation worked with the National Alliance Against Disparities in Patient Health and five local organizations that focus on data equity. These groups investigated how public health survey systems could better gather and share local information about the social and structural determinants of health. They conducted community survey validation interviews, led focus groups and community discussions, and looked for ways to boost survey participation.
Using the “Principles for Using Public Health Data to Drive Equity,” the researchers classified the promising actions. They refined and reviewed themes in interactive workshops.
“The report adds to a growing body of data equity tools by providing insights on creating inclusive, accessible and effective largescale public health survey systems that capture relevant and actionable SSDOH data.”
—Pamela Roesch, Michaela Curran, Erin Salvaggio, CDC Foundation
The CDC Foundation worked with the National Alliance Against Disparities in Patient Health and five local organizations that focus on data equity. These groups investigated how public health survey systems could better gather and share local information about the social and structural determinants of health. They conducted community survey validation interviews, led focus groups and community discussions, and looked for ways to boost survey participation.
Using the “Principles for Using Public Health Data to Drive Equity,” the researchers classified the promising actions. They refined and reviewed themes in interactive workshops.
The CDC Foundation administered a multi-faceted project to gather communities’ perspectives on the use of survey data to improve health.
The Data Equity Coalitions (DECs) are local organizations collaborating with communities to improve access to and use of public health
data. The DECs are National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership (NNIP) members or collaborate with their local NNIP member. NNIP helps local communities use data to shape strategies and investments so all neighborhoods are places where people can thrive.
The DECs and NADPH conducted coordinated and tailored research investigating opportunities for public health survey-based surveillance systems (herein referred to as survey systems) to respond to local information needs about the social and structural determinants of health (SSDOH), including the experiences and impacts of systemic injustices.
CDC Foundation, January 2024
This study and report were conducted and created by the following people.
