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About the Community Health Equity Survey (CHES)

Learn about the CHES, including its purpose, how it was conducted, and how the data are being used.
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  • What is the Community Health Equity Survey (CHES)?
    • The Community Health Equity Survey (CHES) was an anonymous survey conducted to help DPH and communities across the state change conditions that get in the way of health. The survey was developed in collaboration with community members and partners across the state. Survey questions were based on the experiences and needs of Massachusetts residents. The survey was conducted primarily online with targeted use of paper surveys during the period of August - November of 2023.
    • The survey asked about things that impact health. Survey topics include access to health care and transportation, physical and mental health and wellbeing, experiences with COVID-19, housing, education, and work. It also asked for information such as age, gender, and race.
  • What is the purpose of the CHES?
    • CHES aims to better understand the most pressing health needs facing Massachusetts residents. These include parts of our lives like our social circumstances, economic situations, and environmental needs. This survey looks at the reasons people are unable to be healthy—the root causes of what gets in the way of our health. The responses from CHES will help point out strengths and gaps, health needs, concerns, and inequities in all our communities.
    • This project aims to focus on people and communities experiencing significant health inequities and collect data to support them. A deeper understanding of these communities’ health needs can inform and prioritize public health action. The goal is for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) and its community partners to use and share the data from this survey to prioritize funding, resource allocation, and public health programming where it’s needed most.
  • What are the Communities of Focus for CHES?
    • CHES communities of focus are the communities most impacted by health inequities. For the 2023 survey, the communities of focus are people identifying as:
      • Immigrants
      • Older adults (age 60+)
      • Parents and caregivers of children and youth with special health needs
      • Parents under 25
      • People identifying as LGBTQ+
      • People of color (including, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian American and Pacific Islander, Black, and Hispanic/Latino residents)
      • People whose primary language is not English
      • People with disabilities
      • Pregnant people and parents of young children
      • Rural residents
      • Veterans
      • Youth and young adults (ages 14-17 and 18-24)
  • How did DPH work with communities to develop this survey?
    • To make sure that the 2023 survey is actionable and centers community voice, we engaged community partners at every step of the process.
      • In partnership with Health Resources in Action, we established a Community Engagement Advisory Committee (CEAC) comprising 31 community organizations that serve and represent our communities of focus. The CEAC provided feedback throughout the survey development process, focusing on accessibility, appropriateness, relevance, and actionability of survey questions and topics.
      • We held listening sessions with community-based organizations, advisory boards, advocacy groups, local boards of health, and state government partners to identify important data gaps and opportunities for public health action.
      • We established seven internal advisory groups focused on sharing content expertise and reviewing survey questions about key survey topics. These topics included economic stability and employment, education, experiences with COVID-19, health care access, mental health, neighborhood and built environment, and social context and safety.
  • How did DPH recruit people to take the survey?
    • CHES used a sampling strategy designed to reach communities of focus. We found survey-takers by partnering with community-based organizations (CBOs) and creating outreach plans tailored to reach communities of focus. DPH aimed to obtain sufficient responses to be able to provide granular population and geography specific findings to inform action across the Commonwealth. Results will be weighted for generalizability.
    • DPH provided flexible mini-grants for community-based organizations to conduct outreach for the CHES. Grant recipients used the funds to support community members, particularly those who experience health inequities and are traditionally left out of public health data, in completing the survey.
    • DPH also worked with a Community Engagement Advisory Committee (CEAC), made up of partners working in communities of focus across Massachusetts. CEAC members helped develop and review the survey and design outreach strategies to make CHES more culturally relevant and accessible to communities that have historically been excluded from public health data systems.
  • Who participated in the survey?
    • Anyone aged 14 and over who lives in Massachusetts for some or all of the year was invited to take the survey. Participants could take the online survey using a computer, phone, or tablet.
    • The survey was available in Arabic, Cape Verdean Creole, Chinese (simplified and traditional), English, Haitian Creole, Khmer, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese.
    • An American Sign Language survey will be available this winter for Massachusetts residents who are deaf or hard of hearing.
  • How is this survey different? How will it work to improve health equity in MA?
    • Many existing health datasets do not include enough information about our communities of focus for us to understand who is most impacted by certain public health issues. To overcome this, the CHES works with a network of community partners to reach these communities. The survey helps make sure that the needs and priorities of your community show up in Massachusetts public health data. Survey results will show what things help communities be healthy, and what things make it harder for communities to be healthy.
    • DPH will use data from the survey to guide our work. This includes improving our programs, making decisions about funding and resources, and supporting policies to improve health inequities. We will also share the results of the survey with partners across Massachusetts to support the work they do to improve health in their communities.
  • How and when can I access the data from the survey?
    • Results will be publicly available on our website in early 2024.  DPH will provide support for community organizations to use the data to address barriers to health in your community. This support will include help analyzing the data and looking at survey results.
  • What are examples of how survey results might help communities?
    • Once you analyze the data for your community, you can highlight unmet needs that would benefit from public health action. Here are some examples of how our 2020 COVID-19 Community Impact Survey (CCIS) did just that:

      • LGBTQ+ communities: CCIS data were used by the MA Commission on LGBTQ Youth to advocate for policies that center the needs of the community. The data were also used to advocate for the addition of LGBTQ+ residents as a priority population for the Vaccine Equity Initiative, which provided additional community resources and funding.

      • Indigenous communities: CCIS data were leveraged to successfully apply for over $1 million in funding towards Tribes and Indigenous People Serving Organizations.

      • Rural communities: CCIS data were used to support the rural vaccine outreach program and fund programs to support rural organizations in addressing barriers to health in their communities.

      • Young parents: CCIS data showed significant unmet basic needs among young parents. Following the release of the data, the most frequent services provided by the MA Pregnant and Parenting Teen initiative were rent, housing, and utility assistance.

      • Youth: After CCIS data were released, youth mental health was elevated as a priority within DPH.  The data were used for the procurement of new services by the Child and Youth Violence Prevention Services program.

      • Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) recipients: CCIS data were used by the WIC program to emphasize the importance and need for language accessibility in WIC outreach to ensure that families who speak languages other than English can access WIC services.

      • Children with special health care needs: CCIS data elevated specific needs as priorities for children with special health care needs, including mental health, food security, and the health care transition that happens at age 18. These priorities were used in multiple grant applications to advocate for improved services for children with special healthcare needs.

      • Children: CCIS data were shared at a meeting with the MA Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (MCAAP). These findings provided evidence for MCAAP to further prioritize mental health, healthcare transition, and social determinants of health in their work.

      • Medicaid recipients: CCIS data were shared with MassHealth to inform the 1115 waiver application that expanded Medicaid coverage and access to care.

      • People with disabilities: CCIS data elevated the need for improved COVID-19 vaccine access for people with disabilities. DPH used these data to support the prioritization of improving vaccine access to people with disabilities in vaccination efforts and funding allocations.

  • I have more questions. Who can I contact?
    • For questions about the survey or help accessing or analyzing CHES data, please email chei@mass.gov.

Q&A

The Q&A is available in PDF and Word (.doc) format.

Consent Page

The Consent Page is translated into different languages. The document is available in both PDF and Word (.doc) format.

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Email: Email Community Health Equity Initiative at chei@mass.gov
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