Collaborative needs assessment and systems development in Alabama: Process and products.

Abstract

This article describes the implementation of a collaborative project and its results, involving a department of maternal and child health (DMCH) in a school of public health and a state department of public health. The state received a federal grant to enhance systems development for women and children. Adequate information regarding the existing system of health care was lacking. The state contracted with the DMCH for assistance in designing and conducting a needs assessment, whose purpose was to (1) identify strengths and weaknesses in the state system of care, (2) provide baseline information for targeting resources and measuring change, and (3) initiate an on-going process of assessment and evaluation of need. The DMCH collected data about financial and nonfinancial barriers to care from state-level health agency and organization experts, county-level service personnel, and consumers. The contributions to understanding the needs of the state offered by the information garnered in the three surveys helped the state in setting immediate and long-range objectives. The presence of the school of public health and the focus of its particular DMCH on assisting state agencies provided an atmosphere in which the state could ask for assistance and the university could respond in a way that was useful and relevant to the state's needs. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH): assessment, health planning, health priorities, interprofessional relations, program planning, public health.