Listening Sessions: How to Set Them Up and How to Reach Diverse Populations

1
Listening Sessions How to Set Them Up and How to
Reach Diverse Populations

• Sarah Thach and Ayotunde Ademoyero
• Community Health Assessment Institute
• February 6, 2007

2
What are listening sessions?

• Like focus groups
• Discussion of open-ended questions
• By a group of 8-12 people of similar demographics
• 60-90 minutes in length
• Different than focus groups
• A natural group - an existing group that knows
  each other

3
Why do listening sessions?

• Gather information about attitudes, concerns,
  resources
• Look for continuity of views among different
  populations
• Invest people in the community assessment
  process when we listen, people talk

4
When NOT to use listening sessions

• To generate statistics
• To rapidly collect information from large numbers
  of people
• To hear from everyone in a community

5
Selecting listening session sites and hosts

• Target 15-18 sessions
• ID groups in your community based on
• geography, ethnicity, age, income, gender,
  newcomer/old timer status, etc.
• ID existing groups representing each demographic
  positive atmospheres
• Session hosts ID leaders of groups and/or
  trusted community members

6
Host duties

• In advance
• Give legitimacy to activity
• Encourage attendance
• At the event
• Welcome participants, create comfortable
  atmosphere
• Explain purpose of activity
• DONT state own opinion as fact

7
Selecting moderators and notetakers

• Notetakers
• Hear well
• Write clearly
• Understand general topic
• Paraphrase appropriately
• Ask to clarify

• Moderators
• Facilitate groups well, draw out silent
  participants
• Understand general topic
• Ask follow up questions
• Dont interject own opinions

8
Moderator and notetaker duties

• Notetakers
• Record comments, highlighting good quotes, key
  points
• Clarify when needed
• Report results

• Moderators
• Describe process, set ground rules
• Ask questions and follow up questions
• Stay neutral
• Explain possible next steps
• Report results

9
Selecting questions

• Good questions are
• Limited 6-8 total
• Open-ended
• Ask about community perceptions, concerns,
  individuals experiences
• Identify resources that can be brought to bear on
  issues
• Start with an icebreaker question

10
Training moderators and notetakers

• Explain process, timeline
• Go over role of host, moderator, and notetaker
• Review facilitation and notetaking rules
• Review form for collecting information
• Practice skills in mini-listening session
• Describe reporting out process

11
Analyzing the data

• All sessions should have data collected
  similarly list of topics, notes re. themes,
  starred quotes
• At a report out, generate a list of all
  responses to each question note which groups
  had each response, which had good quotes
• Compare listening session results to health
  statistics, survey results, etc. note
  commonalities and differences

12
Sample session report

• What do people in this community do to stay
  healthy?
• (Probe How do people get information about
  health?)

13
Sample reporting out summary

• What do people in this community do to stay
  healthy?

14
Sample presentation

• The top causes of death in Swain are also top
  concerns among residents heart disease (16 of 18
  listening sessions mentioned it), cancer (12),
  diabetes (12), and breathing problems (13)

15
Other tips

• Call early to get on meeting agendas
• Offer snacks and/or daycare (in a separate space)
• Make sure to report results back to groups
• To get group warmed up
• Go around room and have everyone say name and
  where they live
• Give people written questions with space to write
  responses
• Start with icebreaker what do you like about
  living in this community?

16
Maximizing the impact

• Listening sessions are a great means of
• Drawing people into your community assessment
• Collect contact info and invite participants to
  the community forum where you present results
• Recruiting members to your action teams
• Identifying hidden assets in your community
  leaders, organizations, channels of communication

17
Recruiting Diverse Population for Focus Groups

• Purpose
• To obtain in-depth information about attitudes
• beliefs, perceptions, behavior, interests,
• emotional response and concerns to questions
• of interest

18
Recruiting Diverse Population for Focus Groups

• Criteria
• Ethnicity
• Race
• Gender
• Income Differences
• Age
• Geography
• Disability

19
Recruiting Diverse Population for Focus Groups

• Methods
• Use your contacts
• Use a database that local recruitment facilities
  have developed
• Advertise for participants in local newspapers,
  on the radio or at high traffic shopping
  locations
• Existing Groups/Coalitions
• Suggestions from CHA team

20
(No Transcript)
21
Focus Group Questions

• Ice Breaker Exercise (6 min.)
• The point of this exercise is to have everyone
  introduce someone else. After
• forming into pairs, the first person interviews
  the other person to find out their
• name and institution and other non-professional
  things such as hobbies, pets, or
• favorite vacation spot. At three minutes, the
  leader calls time and the second
• person interviews the first. At three minutes
  everyone returns to the circle and
• then each member of the group introduces their
  partner
• Assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the
  community (15 mins.)
• Health (10 mins.)
• Resources/Activities (15 mins.)
• Communications (5 mins)
• Closing (5 mins.)

22
Suggestions

• Signed Release Form
• Incentives
• Refreshments