“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there” is a paraphrase from Lewis Carroll’s Adventures in Wonderland. Metrics matter, and having easy access to comprehensive, contemporaneous, accurate knowledge will help everyone live a longer, happier, and healthier life.
The first step to a successful conclusion is setting a goal. Then, close behind, comes measurement. The ability to quantify the attributes at the beginning and along the way facilitates success in any journey. Although seemingly easy to define, these two interconnected processes—goals and metrics—have been challenging, particularly when addressing the social determinants of health (SDOH) for communities.
Now, new resources are making it easier to assess progress on community or organizational health initiatives. For instance, a tool for the measurement and assessment of community health and well-being sheds light on the well-being outcomes of every state, county, and metropolitan statistical area (MSA) based on surveys completed by more than 400,000 Americans every year and analysis of more than 600 elements of SDOH data.
Measuring Success:
Successful communities create an environment where everyone can thrive, enjoy life, and be productive. Challenges abound including lack of resources, insufficient buy-in from leadership, poor economic foundations and, to be sure, public health emergencies such as COVID-19. Strengths can also be cataloged and improved to overcome impediments. All these attributes, good and bad, can be measured over time and displayed graphically to facilitate a journey towards improvement.
Knowing what works and what doesn’t when applied to any situation is mission-critical. For individuals, knowing your numbers—weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, body-mass index, and other easy-to-obtain facts—improves your chances to thrive. Obviously, reacting to these metrics is also essential; but without the initial data, you might feel fine until a healthcare crisis “sneaks up” on you.
Similarly, communities accustomed to food deserts, unsafe streets, and disheartened citizens sometimes just accept these misfortunes as “normal.” With publicly available trustworthy information, everyone’s awareness improves, thus potentially motivating change. About 80% of our health and well-being is related to where we live, work, and play. Our genetic heritage and healthcare access/quality account for the rest.
A New Comprehensive Tool:
As previously mentioned, Sharecare’s Community Well-Being Index (CWBI) is an established metric for community well-being that captures more than 400,000 self-reported responses annually from the
RealAge Test. Items focus on the following:
- Purpose—liking what you do and being motivated to achieve your goals
- Social—having supportive relationships and love in your life
- Financial—managing your economic life to increase financial security and reduce stress
- Community—liking where you live, feeling safe, and having pride in your neighborhood
- Physical—having good health and enough energy to get things done daily
Combining the above with the SDOH metrics below adds to the validity and reliability of the aggregate index to measure well-being. The five SDOH metrics are:
- Healthcare access—concentration of MDs, OBGYNs, and pediatric specialists per 1,000 residents
- Food access—presence of grocery stores within one mile of underserved populations, including Black individuals, children, and individuals over 65 years of age
- Resource Access—quantity of libraries and religious institutions per 10,000 residents, employment rates for people over 65, and presence of grocery stores within 20 miles
- Housing and Transportation–home values, ratio of home value to income, and public transit use
- Economic Security–rates of employment, labor force participation, individuals with health insurance coverage, and household income above poverty level
Via these 10 combined domains, insights on individual well-being and the built environment are now available at a
higher geospatial resolution. States, MSAs, counties, and in many cases smaller geographic units, can be measured at a point in time as well as over time.
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The dynamic views will allow for almost contemporaneous assessment for interventions. Best practices can be shared, while communities and organizations implement programs to help entire populations. Appropriate targeted solutions can be directed to regions of greatest need and, most importantly, measured for effectiveness.
The Future:
When computer software became ubiquitous, a whole new world opened for everyone, creating a digital democracy. Comparably, Sharecare’s CWBI transformed disaggregated data to organized information and thus created a digital instrument for epidemiologists, public health officials, health care organizations, foundations, government officials, community services, and anyone interested in improving populations.
In the past, well-meaning people and entities have spent countless fortunes on projects having undetermined value and insignificant chances of success. Typically, initial excitement and enthusiasm melt away as precious resources are consumed and objective results are impossible to measure, adding to the frustration.
As a result of tools like the Community Well-Being Index, organizations and communities have access to tools that identify needs, assess initial conditions, and subsequently measure progress as cultures change to embrace healthier lifestyles that ultimately contribute to a more engaged, satisfied, and productive environment. By pairing assessment with technology, individuals will have easy access to proven suggestions or “nudges” to maintain motivation for health, wellness, and happiness.
Organizations don’t just prepare for the future—they make it. Moments of uncertainty hold great entrepreneurial potential. As
Pierre Wack once wrote in Harvard Business Review, “It is precisely in these contexts—not in stable times—that the real opportunities lie to gain competitive advantage through strategy.” The current pandemic is one of these unstable times.
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“The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do” is a famous Steve Jobs quote that could be applied to the creators of the
Sharecare Community Well-Being Index. Metrics matter, and having easy access to comprehensive, contemporaneous, accurate knowledge will help everyone live a longer, happier, and healthier life.
References:
- Sharecare Community Well-Being Index Interactive Map, 2020.
- Sharecare Community Well-Being Metro Area and County May, 2020.
- RealAge assessment by Sharecare.
- “Why Do So Many Strategies Fail,” by David Collis, July-August, 2021.