The Statewide Health Improvement Program (SHIP) uses grants to local communities to reduce the burdens of chronic diseases associated with tobacco use and obesity through policy, system and environmental (PSE) changes. Each community collaborates with schools, worksites, service providers and health care organizations.
The Improve Group values what has become a long-term relationship working with the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) for the Home and Community Based-Services (HCBS) Waiver Review Initiative.
Recently, I attended a focus group training facilitated by Dr. Richard Krueger and Dr. Mary Anne Casey of the U of MN School of Public Health.
In 2013, the Improve Group conducted focus groups as part of many projects. Two of these projects include: the Minnesota DHS Community Services Input project and the Region 4 Mental Health Services Needs Assessment.
You can draw stronger conclusions from your survey data when you have a high response rate. Incentives can increase the likelihood that people participate, and acknowledges that their time is valuable to the research. Traditionally, these incentives come in the form of gift cards, food, money, etc. A newer trend in incentives is to “pay it forward” through a gift in kind.
Hello! We are Stacy Johnson and Cami Connell from the Improve Group. At Evaluation 2013, we had the opportunity to present on our experiences using a unique mixed methods approach to collecting data.