Development and implementation of a community health survey for public health accreditation: Case study from a rural county in California.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the planning, development, pilot testing, fielding, and outcomes of a community health survey in a rural California county pursuing public health accreditation.

DESIGN: Community partners helped the local health department develop the community health survey. Extensive English- and Spanish-language pilot testing was conducted over a period of four months. Final survey fielding was conducted online and at 20 community sites.

RESULTS: 2189 completed surveys were collected. Total costs for developing and fielding the survey were approximately $25,000. Survey results indicated that alcoholism/drug abuse, breathing problems, and obesity were the primary health concerns of county residents. Benefits of conducting the community survey included strengthening inter-organizational partnerships between community partners, engaging a large and diverse respondent sample, and gathering information on a nuanced set of health indicators. Challenges included an unexpectedly high number of respondents and managing the needs of respondents with disabilities or poor literacy.

CONCLUSION: The information gathered from the community health survey was used in the implementation of a county-wide multi-agency strategic plan to address health priorities identified in the CHA. Engaging a broad set of community partners throughout the survey process was critical for ensuring the project's relevance and long-term regional impact.