Frequently Asked Questions
General Questions
-
Who is this site intended for?
-
This site is intended for anyone interested in community health and community health data. Several audiences may find the information on this site useful, including but not limited to hospitals and healthcare providers, health departments, health coalitions, non-profits, city planners, policy makers, community educators, local service providers and students.
-
What is the purpose of this website?
-
Ultimately, we hope to provide information to a variety of stakeholders so that they may work to improve the health and quality of life in their community. We hope that individuals look to this platform as a rich source of data and information about their community.
-
How should I reference this website?
-
Recommended citation of website:
Conduent Healthy Communities Institute. (Date of publication, if available). Community Dashboard. Title of web site. Retrieved date. Retrieved from URL.
If referencing a specific data indicator:
Source or agency name. (Date/dates). Specific data source, if available (e.g. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2007). Web site name. Retrieve date. Retrieved from URL.
-
What is Conduent Community Health Solutions?
-
The website is operated as a partnership between the Shelby County Health Department and Conduent Community Health Solutions (aka Conduent Healthy Communities Institute). The Conduent Community Health Solutions mission is to improve the health and environmental sustainability of cities, counties and communities worldwide. To learn more visit https://www.conduent.com/community-population-health/.
-
How were the health priorities selected for this site?
-
The health priorities selected as the focus of Healthy Shelby align with the main goals of the Shelby County Health Department's CHNA (Community Health Needs Assessment). Additionally, Healthy Equity was chosen based on its relevance to all Health and Wellness priority areas and our local Population Health Improvement Program work. See Shelby County Health Department's CHNA for additional information.
-
How can I reach someone to give feedback, ask questions, or share ideas?
-
Visit Contact Us with Healthy Shelby Population Health Improvement staff.
Data Questions
-
What is an indicator?
-
An indicator describes an aspect of the population used to measure health or quality of life. Health indicators may include measurements of illness or disease, as well as behaviors and actions related to health.
-
Where does the data come from?
-
The types of available comparisons depend on the source and methodology of the data. If the data comes from a national source collected at the county level, your county’s value will typically be compared to a distribution of all U.S. counties or to a national average, as well as a distribution of your state's counties and your state's average value. If the data are collected at the state level, your county’s value will be compared to a distribution of all counties or county-equivalents in the state, or compared to a state average or value. If the distribution or average data is not available, your county value will typically be compared to the Prior Value. Sometimes there will also be a Healthy People 2021 target for a comparison, when the definitions of the indicator aligns with those national goals.
-
What do the colored gauges mean?
-
How is data organized on the site?
-
All of the indicators are available from the Healthy Shelby Data Dashboards page. On this page, you can search for an indicator by topic under the “Search by Indicator” drop down, or you can search all indicators for a specific location under the “Search by Location” drop down.
-
How do I find data for a specific location?
-
To find data for a specific location, go to the Healthy Shelby Data Dashboards Page, then select your desired location from the search by location dropdown. The dashboard will populate with all of the indicators on the site for the selected location.
-
Why is some data not available for all other counties surrounding Shelby County?
-
Select data for some counties may not be displayed because they are unavailable, or because the rates are considered to be unstable. Unstable rates are unreliable due to small sample sizes.
-
Why can’t I view all indicators by zip code?
-
The data is presented by Healthy Communities Institute (HCI) and Healthy Shelby according to how it is collected and made publicly available. Zip code-level data is not available for many indicators featured on the site.
-
Why can’t I view all indicators by subgroup, like race/ethnicity, gender, age, or income?
-
The data are presented by Healthy Communities Institute and Healthy Shelby according to how it is collected and made publicly available. Subgroup-level data is not available for many indicators featured on the site.
-
What are age-adjusted rates?
-
Age-adjustment is a statistical process applied to rates of disease or death that allows communities with different age structures to be compared. This is important because most diseases and health outcomes occur at different rates in different age groups. For example, cancer is more commonly associated with older populations.
-
Why is some unstable data values displayed on Healthy Shelby while others is not displayed?
-
The majority of the indicators available on Healthy Shelby is maintained by Healthy Communities Institute (HCI) and HCI does not display unstable data values for the indicators that it maintains. Healthy Shelby has chosen to identify and include unstable data values for the indicators it maintains, allowing users to view the data, despite its unreliability.
-
Why is there an equal sign icon when the prior value is different?
-
The comparison to a prior value shows an equal icon when the confidence intervals overlap. Not all indicators have confidence intervals, but when they are available, they are taken into consideration in determining if there has been a statistically significant change from the previous measurement period. Click here for additional information on confidence intervals and statistical significance.
-
How often is the data updated on this website?
-
Many of the indicators are updated on an annual basis, although there are several indicators that are updated on a daily or monthly basis. If you see something that is out of date, please let us know.
-
I have strong knowledge of other great data/data sources. Why aren't they included on this site?
-
Conduent HCI strives to provide high quality, publicly accessible data, available at the county level. Indicators on this site were chosen based on the following criteria:
- Publicly available data (at the county level)
- Strong likelihood that the indicator will be replicated again in the future
- Validity of data source (appropriate methodology)
- Corresponding Healthy People 2020 goals
Conduent HCI is always on the lookout for good new data sources. If you would like to recommend data, send us Feedback. Sending your information to us does not guarantee that we will incorporate it on the website.
Site Features
-
Search for Data
-
On this page, you can explore data by keyword, indicator name or location. You can also find links to build a custom dashboard and to many of our speciality dashboards.
-
Indicator List by Location
-
This page shows a list of all of the indicators on the site and the level of data at which they are available. The list is organized by topic and show is data are available at the county, region, zip code, or census tract level.
-
Disparities Dashboard
-
This tool allows you to view indicator breakout information such as age, gender, race/ethnicity. The disparities dashboard is organized by primary category (health, education, public safety) and then sub-categories (cancer, diabetes, school environment, crime).
-
Demographics Data
-
This section of the site offers demographic data on population, race, ethnicity, age, sex, households/income, housing, education and employment. The data are Nielsen Claritas annual estimates and are available at the regional, county and zip code levels.
-
500 Cities Data
-
The CDC's 500 cities project provides small area estimates on health indicators for the nation's 500 largest cities. Data are available for the City of Syracuse and Census Tracts within Syracuse.
-
HP 2030 Tracker
-
Healthy People provides science-based, 10-year national objectives for improving the health of all Americans. The 2030 Tracker compares your community’s health to the national objectives and whether or not your community has met the objectives or not. Learn More
-
Promising Practices
-
Promising Practices are best practices related to health or quality of life that have been found to be useful in improving the health of a community in some way. Healthy Communities Institute has identified a wealth of Promising Practices from around the country and internationally. They are a helpful way to identify strategies for making improvements in your community without reinventing the wheel. Healthy Communities Institute makes distinctions between practices that have been thoroughly and scientifically reviewed (Evidence Based) from those that have undergone less rigorous (Effective Practice), or perhaps no evaluation (Good Idea). See Ranking Methodology.
How to submit a promising practice:
You may choose to add your own local Promising Practice to our site by filling out this form. Before submitting a promising practice, please review our Guidelines for Submitting Promising Practices.
-
Report Tools
-
Report Assistant: This tool can be used to create a customized report that will contain content from this site that you can either save or share with others based on keywords or topics of interest.
-
SocioNeeds Index Suite
-
The SocioNeeds Index Suite identifies zip codes that have the highest level of socioeconomic, food insecurity, and mental health needs compared to our county and the US.
Support
-
How can I contribute content, such as local activities, partners, or resources to the site?
-
Visit Contribute Content to find out how to submit activities, local resources, photos, or promising practices. See our Editorial Policy for additional guidelines on Healthy Shelby content. Visit Get Connected for information on how to become a site partner and other ways to get involved in health improvement work in Shelby County.
-
How can I report a broken link or other technical issue?
-
Your Feedback is very important to us.