The Metrics Identification Process
From 2017 - 2018 Blue Zones Project team members across several communities created a workgroup to collectively identify metrics that Blue Zones Project should collect at a community, organizational, and policy level. The workgroup members studied the U.S. data sources and dashboards listed below and evaluated which metrics were most related to BZP interventions and the feasibility of collecting those metrics consistently.
A set of metrics was identified and categorized into core and optional metrics.
Core metrics are metrics that show how a body of pledge items is driving outcomes and value for an organization or community. Colleagues should collect all core metrics unless,1) the data does not exist, or 2) the organization is unwilling to provide the data.
Optional metrics are metrics that organizations can report on in addition to core metrics. Organizations may be motivated to select some optional metrics because they may closely tie to a particular pledge item of interest. Organizations can identify additional metrics to track in addition to those on the optional metrics list.
Cadence of Metrics Collection
At the population level, the RealAge test has an annual campaign for each community but surveys are collected on an ongoing basis. Community metrics are collected at baseline and updated annually. Policy metrics are collected at baseline and in the final year of Phase 1 transformation, while places metrics are collected on a rolling basis based on when an organization begins its journey with Blue Zones Project. Places metrics are collected annually from an organization after their baseline year.
This grid below outlines the cadence at which metrics are collected for the population level via RealAge Test, community, policy, and places metrics.
Responsibilities for metrics collection are divided as follows:
RealAge Test. The local team deploys the RealAge Test with support from the central team and with analysis from Boston University.
Community metrics. The local team leader and selected team members support community metrics. The 15 core metrics are selected along with 3 optional metrics that are community-specific.
Policy Metrics. The public policy advocate is responsible for the policy metrics.
Core Metrics |
Optional Metrics |
|
Built Environment |
5 |
6 |
Food |
7 |
6 |
Tobacco |
4 |
3 |
Alcohol (if applicable) |
7 |
3 |
Places Metrics. The organization lead is responsible for organization metrics.
Core Metrics |
Optional Metrics |
|
Worksites |
6 |
5 |
Schools |
7 |
16 |
Restaurants |
3 |
8 |
Grocery |
3 |
4 |
metrics Collection tools
Community Metrics
All Blue Zones Project communities collect core community metrics annually throughout the life of the project. In addition to the core metrics, the community's Steering and Leadership team select additional measures of interest during the Blueprint Workshop.
The table below shows both the core metrics as well as some examples of commonly select metrics:
Here is an example of outcomes from Blue Zones Project Klamath Falls:
Submission and Review
The Center of Excellence (COE) team will schedule a quarterly call to review metrics grids. Local teams are expected to update their metrics grids in time for these calls in early spring, summer, fall, and winter.
During these meetings, the local team will highlight any additions that have been made to the metrics grids since the last check-in.
