ONGOING ASSESSMENT IDENTIFIES A MISSION’S STRENGTHS AND NEEDS FOR PROVIDING ANNUAL MEDICAL SERVICES IN RURAL HONDURAS

C. Bieber Parrott¹, L. Jubina¹, E. Robertson¹, C. Scheitinger¹, C. Potter², J. Wetzel¹

Background: Volunteer mission organizations often do not have a well-designed assessment plan to determine if their activities are meeting their goals. A non-profit medical mission, providing services to a rural Honduran community annually for 15 years, has implemented a cyclical assessment plan to evaluate resource utilization and program impact. The assessment plan utilizes data from three stakeholders: Honduran Population, Mission Team Members (20-26 participants providing services), and the mission’s Board of Directors [BOD] (secures resources). This project implemented the third cycle of the assessment plan with an aim to identify trends in stakeholder perception of importance and achievement of provided services. Systematically obtained data across time was able to identify consistencies in service strengths and needs.  

Purpose: To demonstrate the usefulness of the cyclical assessment model for identifying strength and need trends in the mission’s medical services, and for guiding BOD decisions for resource allocation and program development.

Methods: Data was collected from 21 volunteers at the end of the 2020 trip to minimize recall bias. Volunteers completed the same piloted survey used in prior years which lists care services provided during the trip. Each volunteer identifies how well achieved a service was provided, and how important it is to provide to the Honduran people. Written comments are requested for service categories not well achieved. Data analysis used Critical Need Quadrant Analysis for quantitative data and Thematic Development based on text coding for qualitative data. The current data was compared to findings collected from prior assessment cycles.

Results: While the quantitative data from 2020 revealed improvement in achievement over the last 2 years, the same 3 care services were again identified as Critical Need (high importance, low achievement). These were Teen Pregnancy Education, Pregnancy Intervention and Diabetes Education. The volunteers identified 5 services as strengths in 2020 with 4 of these also strengths in recent years. Four themes were developed from the qualitative data:  services needed, supplies needed, efficiency need and unneeded services. When presented with the findings, the BOD decided to
1) prioritize continued resourcing of two services determined to be strengths (high achievement) and also highly important: waterborne illness treatment and dental care
2) augment mission developed pregnancy education material with an internationally recognized reproductive health education curriculum associated with the “Days for Girls International ” program.  

Conclusion(s): This assessment with piloted data collection tools and cyclical analysis allows for triangulation of findings across stakeholders and over years. Findings of consistent success or need focuses program decisions to benefit underserved people in Honduras.  

Implications: Other mission organizations may find this assessment process useful for informing their own program decisions.

Funding, acknowledgements: Youngstown State University supports activities via workload to involved faculty.

Keywords: Assessment, Health Promotion, Volunteer Mission

Topic: Globalisation: health systems, policies & strategies

Did this work require ethics approval? No

Institution: N/A

Committee: N/A

Reason: Project identified as minimal risk survey and interview research (Federal regulation exempt category 2) which is exempt from IRB review