Implementation and Evaluation of a Community Resource Assessment Process to Identify and Expand Partnerships That Support a Cardiovascular Disease Risk Reduction Program for Uninsured Women

TL;DR

A program for uninsured women in Illinois used a community resource assessment process to expand partnerships for cardiovascular disease prevention, but faced challenges like service disruptions during the pandemic.

Contribution

The study introduces a community resource assessment process to systematically document and expand partnerships for public health programs targeting uninsured women.

Findings

The number of partnerships increased from 179 in 2019 to 225 in 2021, then slightly decreased to 214 in 2023.

Some partners discontinued services due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2023.

The CRA process helps agencies identify gaps and plan new partnerships while understanding external impacts like the pandemic.

Abstract

Low-income, uninsured women are disproportionately affected by cardiovascular disease (CVD). Facilitating primary and secondary prevention of CVD in this population requires supports beyond clinical and public health agencies. The Illinois WISEWOMAN Program (IWP) provides CVD prevention, screening, and management for women who lack health insurance in Illinois, including the use of referral systems to link clients to needed services. To support these efforts, the 7 local agencies implementing IWP developed linkages to facilitate participant referrals for health promotion, clinical services, and programs addressing social needs. The IWP evaluation team implemented a community resource assessment (CRA) process to describe partnerships and facilitate partnership expansion. To conduct the process, we developed a CRA template, which IWP agencies completed in 2019, 2021, and 2023 to describe community organizations that offer IWP-related resources, their relationships with these organizations, and plans to develop or maintain relationships. We tabulated data on the number of partnerships at each agency and across resource types, mapped findings, and compared data across years. We also consolidated and shared strategies for partnership development. The number of partnerships increased from 2019 (N = 179) to 2021 (N = 225), then decreased slightly to 214 by 2023. In 2023, several IWP agencies reported that partners had discontinued services due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The CRA process provides a formal structure for public health agencies to document their partners and gaps and plan for new partnerships. Additionally, the CRA process contributes to understanding the diverse contexts in which public health programs are offered and how external factors, such as COVID-19, can indirectly affect the availability of community resources.

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