Course – Lesson 2: IV. Capacity
LESSON 2:IV – Q+A WITH AUTHORS KATHERINE ORTEGA COURTNEY, PHD AND DOMINIC CAPPELLO
How does one assess the capacity of a community to provide basic services (health care, behavioral health care, food, shelter, transportation, job placement)?
Dominic Cappello responds:
Our resilient community experience survey answers two vital questions: can 100% of community members access 10 vital services, and if not what are the barriers? This provides an important first step in assessing the community’s capacity to provide the 10 basic services to its residents.
One can also research the current level of services, noting how many accept Medicaid and have sliding fee scale (so no one is turned away for lack of funds). To assess the quality of the services one would need to survey community members on their experiences (satisfaction level) using the services.
How does one assess the overall capacity of a community to protect its children from ACEs, child maltreatment and trauma?
Katherine Ortega Courtney, PhD responds:
A community’s capacity to protect its children extends far beyond a child welfare system. Residents need to understand that child protective services is set up to respond after trauma has occurred. It is neither funded nor staffed to strengthen systems of support to keep abuse and neglect from happening in the first place. As our hypothesis demonstrates, families need access to 10 vital surviving and thriving services.
Additionally a community should have support from law enforcement, the courts and family advocates. Second, research will reveal which agencies are responsible for each of these areas and clarify if they are funded to prevent challenges, treat challenges or both. Thirdly, this requires the ability to assess and use data for planning, identify agency staffing and funding levels, assess political will and readiness to address the issues and identify community norms.
Why is it important to ask parents about their access to services?
Dominic Cappello responds:
It is quite common to hear from agency representatives and government officials that, in general, services do exist for parents, and gaps are already understood. While this may be true in some localities, we can’t assume it’s true everywhere. Our Resilient Community Experience Survey will provide valuable data directly from those who need to access the services.
While maps and gap analyses are useful on a population level, sometimes families may not be aware of services, or know how to access them. By asking the parents and youth directly whether they are able to access services, we can not only find out whether services exist, but whether or not families are able to access them in a timely manner.
How does existing data from government departments inform the 100% community assessment process?
Katherine Ortega Courtney, PhD responds:
In most localities governments do provide general information about health, safety and education. This information is useful to inform the work of 100% community. The assessment process is designed to paint a big and detailed picture of all the challenges and strengths of a community. Using existing data from government departments along with data collected through the Resilient Community Experience Survey and informational interviews can help paint this picture.
In part two of 100% Community, the majority of the leaders represented, also represent possible sources of data.
How can the survey results lead to more questions?
Dominic Cappello responds:
The survey results are a catalyst for many questions from community leaders, stakeholders and the public. They provide a starting place and an opportunity to dig deeper.
For example, if parents are stating that there is no need for behavioral health care at schools, this may contradict other survey results which indicate that students are seeking such services. This is a good example of how we must always analyze data and different data sources very carefully in order to understand the context and complexities of results. Another example is that survey results may suggest that there are gaps in medical care, while agency staff representing health care point out that these services do exist. This may be pointing to a access or perception issue rather than a lack of services issue, however more digging will be necessary possibly in the form of informational interviews with both health care staff and clients in order to identify the root cause of the problem.
How will we know when we're done with the assessment phase?
Katherine Ortega Courtney, PhD responds:
The reality is that the assessment phase never ends. In the 100% New Mexico initiative we are always gathering data on the capacity of families to access 10 vital services. At a certain point, action teams must move on to the planning phase in order to address gaps and services. Teams will know it is time to move to the planning phase when they have identified a specific challenge through data analysis, and have a clear idea about what the root cause of that challenge might be. The CQI model also provides specific questions related to assessment that must be answered before moving on to the next phase.
