About the Survey (CHES)

Learn about the CHES, including its purpose, how it was conducted, and how the data are being used.

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1. What is this survey?

The Community Health Equity Survey (CHES) is a confidential survey, mainly conducted online.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) created the survey. They worked with community members and partners throughout the state as part of the Community Health Equity Initiative (CHEI). Survey questions ask about the experiences and needs of Massachusetts residents.

Survey results are combined with CHEI Community Health Equity Qualitative (CHEQ) data. This helps DPH and communities in the state change health-related conditions.

CHEI is funded by the state of Massachusetts to understand the experiences of Massachusetts residents and use those data to create programming and policies that improve health and reduce inequities.

2. What data are collected in the survey and how can they be used?

The Community Health Equity Survey (CHES) asks about topics that affect health, including housing, access to health care, mental health, employment, education, substance use, safety, and trusted sources of information. The survey gathers information from communities hit hardest by health inequities. These groups are often missing from traditional health data systems.

These communities include:

Immigrants
Older adults
Parents and caregivers of children with special health care needs
Youth and young adults
LGBTQ+ individuals
People of color
People with disabilities
Non-English speakers
Pregnant individuals and parents of young children
Rural residents
Veterans

CHES data shows health inequities in various communities and topics. It helps us understand their root causes and spot chances for public health action. Survey results will be public. We will share them with partners and communities. This helps with programs, grant applications, policy efforts, and other community initiatives. Learn how partners have used the data to secure funding, advocate for policies, and strengthen programs in their communities.

3. When will the survey be available?

The survey will be available in late summer and fall of 2026. Outreach will occur throughout the survey period to encourage participation across Massachusetts.

4. Who can take the survey?

Anyone aged 12 and over who lives in Massachusetts for some or all of the year can take this survey.

5. What languages can I take the survey in?

You can take the survey in these languages:

American Sign Language
Arabic
Cape Verdean Creole
Chinese (simplified and traditional)
English
Haitian Creole
Khmer
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Vietnamese

If you would like, someone else can translate the questions into your preferred language and fill out the survey for you.

6. How will taking this survey benefit my community?

Taking the survey helps make sure that the needs and priorities of your community show up in the data. Your answers to this survey will show what helps communities be healthy and what makes it harder for communities to be healthy.

The data inform how DPH and other state agencies spend money, develop programs, and provide services. Your information can tell DPH what your priorities are to help your community get the resources it wants and needs.

DPH and other state agencies used CHEI data to:

Apply for and distribute funding.
Inform programs.
Prioritize outreach to communities in need.

Community organizations use these data to advocate for the needs of their residents. Over 125 organizations across the state have used CHEI data to advance their work, including to secure over $100,000 in grant funding. Community organizations across the state have used CHEI data to develop programming, secure funding for staff positions, understand community needs, and conduct strategic outreach to communities who most need resources.

7. What should I expect when I take the survey?

After clicking the link, you will be able to choose the language you want to take the survey in. The survey usually takes from 15-30 minutes. You will see questions on topics like access to health care and transportation, physical and mental health and wellbeing, housing, education, and work.

The survey asks for information about you such as age, race, and gender. This helps us understand how needs and experiences differ across groups. You can exit the survey at any time and skip any questions you want.

8. Is this survey confidential?

Yes! The survey does not collect information like your name, your email, or your address. It does not collect your IP address or information about the device you are taking it on.

The survey asks general questions about your identity, including your age, city or town, and race and ethnicity. You can skip any question that you do not feel comfortable answering.

9. Who has access to my answers?

Only staff who have been approved and trained on how to keep data safe and confidential by DPH to work on this project will have access to confidential individual-level survey responses. All other DPH and state government staff can only see grouped data, the same way it is shared with the public.

After the survey closes, results will be shared with community partners so that they can use the information to understand where and how to best provide resources to improve health. These results will be grouped together, so your responses cannot be identified or traced back to you.

Summarized data will also be available to everyone on our website through data tables, recorded presentations, and a data dashboard. The privacy of survey respondents is important to us.

Individual-level CHES data are not shared with other state or federal agencies.

10. How are CHEI data being kept safe?

The data is shared publicly only in summary form. This means responses are grouped together, so no single response is revealed.

Also, we use anonymous quotes. These quotes can't be traced back to the person who shared them. This keeps your information secure.

All shared data follow DPH confidentiality rules:

These rules require minimum sample sizes.
This way, no one who takes the survey can be identified from the shared responses.
The data are stored and transmitted using DPH-approved secure systems that follow state data privacy regulations.

11. How can the public access CHES data and resources?

CHES 2026 data will be available in 2027 through a publicly available data dashboard and data tables, in addition to current opportunities for individualized Data & Action support using 2023 CHES data and collective learning through cohorts and webinars. Visit our website to learn more about CHEI, including how to access and get support for using the data to advance your work.

12. Does CHES collect immigration data?

CHES asks about what country you were born in to understand the priorities and experiences of people who were born in the US and people who immigrated to the US. You can skip this question if you do not feel comfortable answering it.

CHES does NOT ask about your immigration status or your status to work in the United States.

13. What are Communities of Focus?

Communities of focus are groups who historically have been and currently are being denied an equal chance at health. CHES 2026 communities of focus are people identifying as:

Immigrants
Older adults (age 60+)
Parents and caregivers of children and youth with special health care needs
Parents under 25
People identifying as LGBTQ+
People of color (including, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian American/Pacific Islanders, Black, Hispanic/Latino/a/e, and Middle Eastern/North African residents)
People whose preferred language is not English
People with disabilities
Pregnant people and parents of young children
Rural residents
Veterans
Youth and young adults (aged 12-24)

14. How can I help people in my community take this survey?

You know your community best! We are here and happy to support you. Here are a few ways we recommend engaging community members around taking this survey:

Share information about the survey! We have resources to help you spread the word to potential survey takers. You can use email templates, social media language, and posters to reach friends, family, and colleagues.
Have a conversation with us! We’re happy to discuss ideas with you.
Help us build our partner network! If you know of community partners that may be interested in working with us, please share with them our website and contact information.

Resources that can be used to help share and promote the survey in your community are available on our website: www.mass.gov/chei.

You can reach us at chei@mass.gov.

15. How and when can I access these data?

We strive to make this process as simple and transparent as possible. Results will be publicly available on our website in Spring 2027. DPH will provide partners like yourself with support to use the data to address barriers to health in your community.

16. Can I get help accessing, analyzing, and using the data?

Yes! We will have support available in Spring 2027 when CHES 2026 results are published. Check back on our website then (www.mass.gov/chei), sign up for our email list, or contact us at CHEI@mass.gov for an up-to-date list of data supports available.

In the meantime, CHES 2023 data are available through a public data dashboard and data tables. We also offer individualized Data & Action support to help communities access, analyze, and use CHES 2023 data, as well as opportunities for collective learning through cohorts and webinars. Visit our website to learn more about CHEI, including how to access and get support for using the data to advance your work.

17. How have CHEI data been used to benefit communities in Massachusetts?

DPH, state government, and community partners use CHEI data to:

Understand inequities.
Address unmet needs.
Advocate for system changes.
Secure funding for programs that benefit community members.

Here are some examples:

Children with special health needs:CHEI data demonstrated specific priorities (mental health, food security, and the healthcare transition that happens at age 18). These priorities guided several grant applications. They aimed to enhance services for children with special health needs.
Immigrant communities: The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office Fair Labor Division reviewed CHEI data on residents’ access to paid sick leave, broken down by occupation and language. They used these data to prioritize investigations to protect workers’ rights and to determine how to better tailor outreach to immigrant workers who may not know about or have access to earned sick time.
Indigenous communities:CHEI data were leveraged to successfully apply for over $1 million in funding towards Tribes and Indigenous People Serving Organizations. CHEI data on housing inequities among Indigenous residents is being used to develop a report and spur cross-sector state-level planning for how to advance housing security in Indigenous communities.
LGBTQ+ communities:The Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth says “Of the many strengths of the Department of Public Health, its research initiatives, particularly its Community Health Equity Survey, are some of the most critical work to addressing LGBTQ health inequities in Massachusetts." For example, CHEI data were used to direct vaccine equity funding to community-based organizations serving LGBTQ+ residents and ensure they have equitable access to vaccines. Additionally, the DPH Suicide Prevention Program shared LGBTQ youth behavioral health data with Youth Suicide Prevention Grant recipients to ensure suicide prevention activities funded by DPH are informed by data on the experiences of LGBTQ youth.
Medicaid recipients:CHEI data were shared with MassHealth to inform an 1115 waiver application that expanded Medicaid coverage and access to care.
People with disabilities: DPH used CHEI data to inform prioritizing improving vaccine access to people with disabilities. Because of CHEI data, people with disabilities got vaccinated who likely wouldn’t have otherwise.
Rural communities:CHEI 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. CHEI data were included in the federal Rural Health Transformation Grant application that resulted in funding of $162 million per year for 5 years to fund rural health promotion.
Youth: CHEI data have been used to inform DPH initiatives that support youth well-being, including programming like school-based tele-behavioral health services, procurements to fund services provided by the Massachusetts Pregnant and Parenting Teen Initiative, and community outreach including young adult-focused tobacco cessation campaigns.

18. I have more questions. Who can I contact?

If you have questions about the survey, or might need help accessing or analyzing the data, please email chei@mass.gov.

Q&A

The Q&A is available in downloadable format.

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

Provide Feedback

To provide feedback related to the Community Health Equity Survey (CHES), please complete this feedback form.

Contact

Online

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

Support: Request CHEI data & action support

Newsletter: Sign up for our email list

Website home: mass.gov/chei

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