Integrating quantitative and qualitative data to support more

effective public health action

Kevin Balanda,Institute of Public Health in Ireland (IPH)

Open Conference, Belfast 11 October 2012

What do effective public health interventions look like?

Diverse information….

Details of:

• Evidence• Routine data• Policies• News and organisations• Interventions

Involves:

• Both qualitative and qualitative data • Explicit (written) and tacit (unwritten)

Drawn from the academic and “grey” literature

Easily accessed, usefully presented and effectively managed • Bring different types of information together in

one “place”

• Flexible searching/browsing that applies to different types of information

• Present different types of information alongside each other

• Tools to help people manage, understand and share that information

Separation of quantitative/qualitative data

The value of data linkage is well recognised.A broader type of “data integration” - co-location of qualitative and quantitative data - is needed.

Analytically, it will: • Place data analyses in policy and practice context• Fill gaps in quantitative data• Extend data analyses to topics not covered by quantitative

data.

Strategically, it will:• Put policy and practice at the centre • Strengthen knowledge co-production by academics, policy

makers and practitioners.• Encourage use of health intelligence

An example of this type of “data integration”

Online library of key documents

www.thehealthwell.info

Resources on the Health Well• Interventions• Policies• Routine data• Evidence:–Open Access Journals –Systematic reviews –Guidance–Other research and evaluation

• News• News articles and publications • Organisations

Community Profiles Tool

• 160 indicators

• All-island, NI plus RoI, NI only, RoI only

• Grouped into themes

• Compiled for all counties in the RoI and LGDs in NI

(www.thehealthwell.info/community-profiles)

Current Themes Obesity Diabetes Mental Health

Stroke Hypertension Coronary Heart Disease

Chronic Airflow Obstruction Cancer Musculoskeletal

Living conditions Working conditions

Education

Early years Health behaviours and environments

Health protection

Health service resources Community resources

Early detection

Hospital Morbidity Demographic and Socio-economic conditions

Mortality

Fuel poverty

A “traditional” data website …

… with co-located relevant documents

… Health Well Search Facility

What could other data websites do?

1. Add links (or a webpage of links) to relevant documents

2. Allow visitors to search the Health Well from the website (search widgets)

3. Become a partner website of the Health Well

4. Co-locate key public health documents in the website

What’s needed for this “data integration?”

• Agreed set of “key public health documents”– Reduced set (for use in offline data apps)– Full set (for use in online data websites)

• Agreed core metadata standards• Central repository of documents • Some relatively simple web programming• Perhaps most importantly, the “will”

Opportunities in the new public health frameworks in both jurisdictions

Thank you

kevin.balanda@publichealth.ie…