How to Create a healthier community:
Community Health Engagement Survey Solutions (CHESS®) is a strategy developed by Matrix PHS as part of an international research project designed initially to assess baseline characteristics of the built environment of communities in resource poor settings. Attention to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in these settings was novel in the early 2000s and there were no quantifiable tools to assess the built environment that reflected where people lived, shopped, worked, learned and played. In response to this a collection of surveys were developed to assess the accessibility, affordability, and availability of healthy foods and opportunities for physical activity as well as barriers to healthy living including the density of alcohol and tobacco outlets, fast foods and access to care. As part of the research project a set of evidence-based NCD prevention interventions were then tested over the course of a two-year period. After the intervention period, community members in these settings were hired to help collect data at follow up and they were fascinated by what they were learning about their own health and decision-making processes - which led to the reconceptualization of this work beyond a research setting. CHESS® then shifted to become a community level strategy for promoting better health and taking actions to improve the environments in which we live by addressing policies and practices through a social determinants of health framework.
CHESS® CAN HELP BY:
Offering a strategy that identifies evidence-based opportunities for impactful community health promotion and disease prevention
Supporting a community-led data collection system for assessing the health of communities
Addressing four health risk factors at the community level: food, physical activity, tobacco and alcohol (adaptable to include more factors)
Enabling community members (adults and/or youth) to play an active role as ‘citizen scientists’ in understanding their health environment and take action to improve it
Creating tailored solutions for communities including tables, maps, and figures that illustrate ‘change’ points and provide strategies for interventions