Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS): Impact on Population Health - For more than three decades, the Hawaii Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (HI-BRFSS) has been a principal resource for monitoring the health of Hawaii’s adult population. HI-BRFSS originally collected data on health behaviors relevant to the leading causes of death, but later expanded to include other topics such as healthcare access, use of preventive services, social determinants of health, and emerging health issues such as COVID-19. Although Hawaii is consistently rated as one of the healthiest states, it faces the same unrelenting health issues observed nationally. Moreover, addressing disparities in health behavior and status among marginalized communities presents a pressing public health challenge. For this reason, the Hawaii State Department of Health (HDOH) is seeking funding to improve public health surveillance of Hawaii’s adults. This includes improving the collection and dissemination of accurate, timely data through strengthened community partnerships, expanded outreach efforts, and improved communications, with a focus on inclusivity of underrepresented communities. Over the 5-year project period, efforts to improve completion rates and enhance the dissemination, accessibility, and utilization of BRFSS data among partners and advocates in underrepresented communities will be pivotal in shaping long-term outcomes. This will facilitate data-driven public policy and action, ultimately resulting in improved population health in both Hawaii and the United States, as well as a reduction in health disparities. To achieve these outcomes, the project shall implement the following strategies: 1) Enhance the collection and timely availability of high-quality BRFSS data, 2) Strengthen community partnerships, and 3) Enhance communication through outreach and education efforts. HI-BRFSS shall work with its contractors to improve data collection, data quality, and data dissemination to make HI-BRFSS data more accessible to interested parties. To improve partnerships and communication, HI-BRFSS shall work with stakeholders across the state including targeted underrepresented communities: such as: 1) Sexual and Gender Minorities (SGM), and 2) Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders (NHOPI) in six geographic communities experiencing increased health risks and lower socioeconomic status. Project activities will be facilitated by long-standing collaborations that HI-BRFSS maintains with CDC, CDC-funded organizations, and organizations not funded by CDC. HI-BRFSS shall use stratified sampling to survey non-institutionalized adults ages 18 years and older. To assess the health status of Hawaii’s multi-ethnic population and to assure representation of potentially disparate groups, HI-BRFSS shall maintain a minimum of 6,500 completed interviews annually, with the ratio of cellphone to landline respondents at 4:1. Surveillance data shall be aggregated by county and sub-county levels, including by community or school complex area, to allow reporting of BRFSS data at more granular levels and by multiple dimensions to address health disparities. HI-BRFSS staff shall routinely conduct analyses, disseminate health indicator data statewide, and track the usage of BRFSS data by stakeholders. Finally, HI-BRFSS shall prioritize the dissemination of data and information to underrepresented communities through collaborative partnerships, outreach initiatives, and educational endeavors. This encompasses a range of activities such as training workshops, coffee break webinars, talk story sessions, an annual stakeholder meeting, social media campaigns, press releases, and large-scale media.
