Engaging youth as citizen scientists to determine health needs of New Brunswick adults

Abstract

Community health needs assessments (CHNAs) are important tools to determine community health needs, however, populations that face inequities may not be represented in existing data. The use of mixed methods becomes essential to ensure the needs of underrepresented populations are included in the assessment. We created an in-school public health course where students acted as citizen scientists to determine health needs in New Brunswick, New Jersey adults. By engaging members of their own community, students reached more representative respondents and health needs of the local community than a CHNA completed by the academic hospital located in the same community as the school which relies on many key health statistics provided at a county level. New Brunswick adults reported significantly more discrimination, fewer healthy behaviors, more food insecurity, and more barriers to accessing healthcare than county-level participants. New Brunswick participants had significantly lower rates of health conditions but also had significantly lower rates of health screenings and higher rates of barriers to care. Hospitals should consider partnering with local schools to engage students to reach populations that face inequities, such as individuals who do not speak English, to obtain more representative CHNA data.

Keywords

• Adolescents
• community health needs assessment
• public health
• health promotion
• community health