Assessment of Training Needs and Preferences for Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Mapping in State Comprehensive Cancer-Control Programs

• Published in: Health promotion practice Vol. 10; no. 4; pp. 579 - 587
• Main Authors: Hopfer, Suellen, Chadwick, Amy E., Parrott, Roxanne L., Ghetian, Christie B., Lengerich, Eugene J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA Sage Publications 01.10.2009; SAGE Publications; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Cancer; Continuing education; Female; Geographic Information Systems; Health care access; Health education; Health promotion; Health Promotion - methods; Humans; Information systems; Inservice Training - organization & administration; Interviews; Male; Mapping; Needs assessment; Neoplasms - epidemiology; Neoplasms - prevention & control; Policy making; Preferences; Public health; Public Health Practice; Regional differences; Regional variations; Sentinel Surveillance; Skills; Small-Area Analysis; Training; Training needs; geographic information systems; adult learning; mapping; training; health promotion; comprehensive cancer control
• ISSN: 1524-8399; 1552-6372
• DOI: 10.1177/1524839907309047

Geographie information systems (GIS) mapping technologies have potential to advance public health promotion by mapping regional differences in attributes (e.g., disease burden, environmental exposures, access to health care services) to suggest priorities for public health interventions. Training in GIS for comprehensive cancer control (CCC) has been overlooked. State CCC programs' GIS training needs were assessed by interviewing 49 state CCC directors. A majority perceived a need for GIS training, slightly more than half of state CCC programs had access to geocoded data, and the majority of programs did not require continuing education credits of their staff. CCC directors perceived judging maps and realizing their limitations as important skills and identified epidemiologists, CCC staff, public health officials, policy makers, and cancer coalition members as training audiences. They preferred in-class training sessions that last a few hours to a day. Lessons learned are shared to develop training programs with translatable GIS skills for CCC.