Evidence map›Paper›PMID 16981996›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of health geographics2006

Exploring the role of GIS during community health assessment problem solving: experiences of public health professionals.

Matthew Scotch, Bambang Parmanto, Cynthia S Gadd, Ravi K Sharma

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in International journal of health geographics, 2006. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
18citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

18 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Matthew ScotchDepartment of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh, 200 Meyran Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. matthew.scotch@yale.edu
Bambang Parmanto
Cynthia S Gadd
Ravi K Sharma

Funding

The internship in Biomedical Research, Informatics, and Computer Science (iBRIC): Biomedical Informatics and Data Science research experiences for students from Minority Serving InstitutionsT15LM007059 · NLM · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · PI HARRY S HOCHHEISER · 1987 to 2026
$23.9M
NLM NIH HHS T15 LM007059
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundA Community health assessment (CHA) involves the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in conjunction with other software to analyze health and population data and perform numerical-spatial problem solving. There has been little research on identifying how public health professionals integrate this software during typical problem solving scenarios. A better understanding of this is needed to answer the "What" and the "How". The "What" identifies the specific software being used and the "How" explains the way they are integrated together during problem solving steps. This level of understanding will highlight the role of GIS utilization during problem solving and suggest to developers how GIS can be enhanced to better support data analysis during community health assessment.

resultsAn online survey was developed to identify the information technology used during CHA analysis. The tasks were broken down into steps and for our analysis these steps were categorized by action: Data Management/Access, Data Navigation, Geographic Comparison, Detection of Spatial Boundaries, Spatial Modelling, and Ranking Analysis. 27 CHA professionals completed the survey, with the majority of participants (14) being from health departments. Statistical software (e.g. SPSS) was the most popular software for all but one of the types of steps. For this step (detection of spatial boundaries), GIS was identified as the most popular technology.

conclusionMost CHA professionals indicated they use statistical software in conjunction with GIS. The statistical software appears to drive the analysis, while GIS is used primarily for simple spatial display (and not complex spatial analysis). This purpose of this survey was to thoroughly examine into the process of problem solving during community health assessment data analysis and to gauge how GIS is integrated with other software for this purpose. These findings suggest that GIS is used more for spatial display while other software such as statistical packages (the "What") are used to drive data management, data navigation, and data calculation (the "How"). Focusing at the level of how public health problems are solved, can shed light on how GIS technology can be enhanced to encompass a stronger role during community health assessment problem solving.

Indexed as

Community Health PlanningGeographic Information SystemsHealth StatusNeeds AssessmentHumans

Identifiers

PMID16981996
PMCPMC1578566

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.