Southeastern Title V program staff perceptions of state-level maternal and child health assessment skills.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Since the publication of the Future of Public Health, a high priority has been placed on the development of the assessment capacity in public health programs. METHOD: Key informant interviews were conducted by telephone with selected program personnel of state Maternal and Child Health and Children with Special Health Care Needs programs in ten southeastern states to determine perceived deficiencies in skills needed to carry out assessments. RESULTS: We found that professional staff perceived that several fundamental assessment skills were available in their units, including collecting secondary data, and creating interagency groups and frameworks for assessment. In contrast, program staff perceived that their units did not have adequate skills to carry out many other critical assessment tasks, including the ability to analyze data using descriptive statistics. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support the argument that more funds and staff resources must be devoted to the development of analytic skills, and to ensuring that consistent application of these skills is reinforced.