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Strengthen the Evidence for Maternal and Child Health Programs

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Evidence Tools
MCHbest. Childhood Vaccination with MMR, Flu, and HPV.

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Strategy. Community Outreach and Partnerships

Approach. Engage with community outreach and partnerships to increase vaccinations for adolescents.

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Overview. Partnering with community organizations to offer preventive services, such as vaccines, is a valuable method to reach all communities.[1, 2] A flu vaccination event held in a church successfully increased flu vaccination rates among children.[1] By partnering with community-based organizations, there was an increase in vaccination rates in excluded populations, including the uninsured, unemployed, and unhoused individuals.[2]

Evidence. Scientifically Rigorous Evidence. Strategies with this rating are most likely to be effective...

Access the peer-reviewed evidence through the MCH Digital Library or related evidence source.

This strategy is also supported by "Community-Based Interventions Implemented in Combination" in The Community Guide.

Potential Data Sources. Data to support this strategy can be accessed through:

  • Community reports on partnerships and joint/cross-sector collaboration
  • State/county epi data on rates of vaccine-preventable disease
  • Parent/caregiver or community qualitative data on knowledge of community-driven vaccine programs

Outcome Components. This strategy has shown to have impact on the following outcomes (Read more about these categories):

  • Access to/Receipt of Care. This strategy increases the ability for individuals to obtain healthcare services when needed, including preventive, diagnostic, and treatment services.
  • Utilization. This strategy improves the extent to which individuals and communities use available healthcare services.
  • Timeliness of Care. This strategy promotes delivery of healthcare services in a timely manner to optimize benefits and prevent complications.

Detailed Outcomes. For specific outcomes related to each study supporting this strategy, access the peer-reviewed evidence and read the Intervention Results for each study.

Intervention Type. Collaboration (Read more about intervention types and levels as defined by the Public Health Intervention Wheel).

Intervention Level. Community-Focused

Examples from the Field. There are currently no ESMs that use this strategy. Search similar intervention components in the ESM database.

Sample ESMs. Here are sample ESMs to use as models for your own measures using the RBA framework (see The Role of Title V in Adapting Strategies).

Quadrant 1:
Measuring Quantity of Effort (“What/how much did we do?”)

  • Number of outreach events and activities conducted in community settings to educate and motivate adolescents and their families. (Measures current level of activity and opportunity for direct engagement)
  • Number of community health workers and peer educators trained to provide vaccination information and support. (Measures workforce capacity for community-based education)

Quadrant 2:
Measuring Quality of Effort (“How well did we do it?”)

  • Percent of community outreach and partnership activities that are co-designed and co-led by members of the focus population. (Measures community participation and planning in community outreach programming)
  • Percent of outreach materials and messages that are tailored to the adolescent and family populations served. (Measures responsiveness of outreach messaging to community makeup)

Quadrant 3:
Measuring Quantity of Effect (“Is anyone better off?”)

  • Number of best practices and lessons learned from successful community partnerships disseminated and adopted by other organizations. (Measures level of knowledge sharing and replication surrounding successful vaccination partnerships)
  • Number of policies and systems changes influenced by community-driven support efforts to improve adolescent vaccination access. (Measures policy and structural impact of community based vaccination programming)
  • Number of communities that achieve and sustain high adolescent vaccination rates and low levels of vaccine-preventable disease. (Measures impact of vaccination outreach programs on population health over time)
  • Number of community-based organizations that strengthen their capacity and reputation as trusted resources for adolescent health. (Measures organizational and community support for vaccination programming provided by community-based organizations)

Quadrant 4:
Measuring Quality of Effect (“How are they better off?”)

  • Percent of best practices and lessons learned from successful community partnerships disseminated and adopted by other organizations. (Measures level of knowledge sharing and replication surrounding successful vaccination partnerships)
  • Percent of policies and systems changes influenced by community-driven support efforts to improve adolescent vaccination access. (Measures policy and structural impact of community based vaccination programming)
  • Percent of communities that achieve and sustain high adolescent vaccination rates and low levels of vaccine-preventable disease. (Measures impact of vaccination outreach programs on population health over time)
  • Percent of community-based organizations that strengthen their capacity and reputation as trusted resources for adolescent health. (Measures organizational and community support for vaccination programming provided by community-based organizations)

Note. When looking at your ESMs, SPMs, or other strategies:

  1. Move from measuring quantity to quality.
  2. Move from measuring effort to effect.
  3. Quadrant 1 strategies should be used sparingly, when no other data exists.
  4. The most effective measurement combines strategies in all levels, with most in Quadrants 2 and 4.

Learn More. Read how to create stronger ESMs and how to measure ESM impact more meaningfully through Results-Based Accountability.

References

[1] Barnes, D. M., & Wright, J. (2022). Partnering with faith-based organizations to offer flu vaccination and other preventive services. Pediatrics, 150(3), e2021052229. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2021-052229

[2] Brown, S. H., Fisher, E. L., Taylor, A. Q., Neuzil, K. E., Trump, S. W., Sack, D. E., Fricker, G. P., & Miller, R. F. (2020). Influenza vaccine community outreach: Leveraging an interprofessional healthcare student workforce to immunize certain populations. Preventive Medicine, 139, 106219. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2020.106219

This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number U02MC31613, MCH Advanced Education Policy, $3.5 M. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.