Community Engagement - A Complete Package: Needs Assessment, Data Dissemination and Beyond

Mosavel M¹*, Simon C²*

1. Centre for Reducing Health Disparities, MetroHealth Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
2. Department of Bioethics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Community engagement is an on-going, arduous, and necessary process for developing effective health promotion programs. The challenges are amplified when the particular health issue is not prominent on the health radar of the targeted community. Such was our experience when we decided to explore strategies to reduce the risks for cervical cancer in a peri-urban community in Cape Town, South Africa. Cervical cancer is a significant health problem in South Africa. For years it has been the number one female cancer among black South Africans; but more recently it has been surpassed by breast cancer.

Our initial phase included conducting extensive consultations and informal interviews with diverse community and regional stakeholders. Following these, we conducted 27 focus groups and 106 demographic surveys with randomly selected school-going youth, parents, local health care personnel, educators and school staff. Focus group data were summarized and analyzed cross-sectionally. At every step of this process, we engaged the community and policymakers. We concluded this initial phase by conducted extensive data dissemination workshops.

Community engagement is not a linear process but involves creativity and constant reinventing. Our research in this community exemplifies how effective community engagement embraces the input of diverse stakeholders. Our study results will identify and describe the various challenges of community engagement but most importantly we will discuss how this process can vastly strengthen efforts at capacity building and sustainability.

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