Abstract 14085: Population Health Delivery: A Community Health Needs Assessment Related to Physical Activity and Exercise

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Introduction: A community health needs assessment asks members to measure the health of their community by prioritizing problems and identifying the needs. Methods: There are 10 counties in the Cedar Valley Area of Northeast Iowa, USA. Healthcare providers and allied service organizations came together as partners to write online survey to identify the community health needs of Cedar Valley residents. The online survey for residents was posted from March 1-May 15, 2019 and drew 1,554 unique responses. The online Survey Monkey for residents was supplemented by paper surveys distributed to and collected from members of minority church congregations. Responses were tabulated and analyzed. Once the initial responses arrived, the partners reached out to gather additional responses from minority populations to help match the overall return to the market profile. The resident survey was extended 45 days past its original deadline to ensure additional returns. This report focuses on physical inactivity and exercise part of the multi question survey. Results: For the question of risky adult behavior, 45% of the residents identified physical inactivity. For question of what healthy behaviors would you like to start or do more often to improve your health, 77% of the residents identified more exercise. For the question of what prevents you from doing the healthy behavior, 63% identified lack of motivation, 61% identified not enough time. But only 5% said that they were not aware of the healthy options. For the question of what would help you or your family members to start or maintain a healthier lifestyle, 58% identified more affordable facilities, 36% identified employee wellness programs, 32% identified community exercise programs and 17% identified school wellness programs. Conclusion: These results indicate that there is clear awareness in this community that physical inactivity is a risky adult behavior and 95% of the population was aware of exercise as a healthy option. The results also identified specific perceived needs. To achieve high degree of physical activity and exercise and to maintain population health, more efforts need to be focused on wellness programs to improve the motivation and make available affordable facilities.