Date of Award

Spring 5-5-2017

Degree Type

Capstone Project

Degree Name

Master of Public Health (MPH)

Department

Public Health

First Advisor

Kim Ramsey-White

Second Advisor

Stephanie Hall

Abstract

Asthma is a serious chronic disease that causes inflammation and narrowing of the airways. Due to the prevalence rates among children, asthma is a priority public health concern in the state of Georgia. The Georgia Asthma Control Program (GACP) seeks to improve asthma control by maximizing comprehensive asthma services. Surveillance is one of the ways this is done. This evaluation sought to determine the effectiveness and efficiency of asthma surveillance product packaging and dissemination efforts. The findings will be used to gain recommendations on how to improve surveillance products, reports, and the efforts that are made to disseminate the information. Four stakeholders were involved in the evaluation planning process to insure stakeholders’ needs would be met through the evaluation. Twelve stakeholders participated in evaluation interviews and focus groups in order to assess the effectiveness of current asthma surveillance products and dissemination. Interviews and focus group discussions were audio recorded to insure accuracy. A document review on current surveillance documents and the OASIS service were also performed. Stakeholders expressed their satisfaction with GACP surveillance products and dissemination efforts, and most also agreed that the data was easily accessible. Additionally, respondents indicated that there were few gaps in the data that is presently available, however others suggested additional measures and analysis that should be reported. Future recommendations include, making more efforts to get data and surveillance products to parents and community leaders, producing multiple surveillance documents for different audiences, updating surveillance data in a reasonable timeframe, and training all school staff to handle asthma events in children.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.57709/10091421

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