Using an asset mapping approach to evaluate the reach of community-level health equity interventions

Asset Mapping Score Analysis (AMSA) is a standardized approach to organizing data on community assets. This study uses AMSA in two ways to quantify health equity efforts of the Communities Organizing to Promote Equity (COPE) project: (1) quantify community assets identified by COPE; and (2) apply AMSA methods in a novel way to evaluate the reach and depth of COPE interventions.

COPE aimed to strengthen community-driven public health by establishing community coalitions, called Local Health Equity Action Teams, in 20 Kansas counties. LHEATs were tasked with: (1) identifying local organizations addressing health and social needs; (2) addressing needs through community-level interventions; and (3) addressing the needs of individual community members (clients). Using the AMSA framework, we assigned an asset score to organizational resources in each community and client-level interventions. We examined the relationship between asset scores and the level of area deprivation at the census block level.

Of 1,786 organizations, 355 community-level interventions, and 3,241 individual clients supported, 63.4% (n = 1,133), 64.9% (n = 231), and 69.6% (n = 2,256) were in areas of high deprivation (Area Deprivation Index ≥ 7), respectively. Compared to lower ADI block groups, mean asset scores were significantly higher in block groups characterized by higher ADI for all three measures (organizations: 4.2 ± 9.06 vs 1.5 ± 4.85, p < .001; community activities: 0.7 ± 2.61 vs 0.2 ± 0.88, p < .001; individual client support: 55.7 ± 67.52 vs 26.7 ± 25.15, p < .001).

In this study, community coalitions prioritized areas of greatest need. GIS-based asset mapping provides a valuable lens for assessing the distribution and intensity of public health efforts beyond traditional evaluation methods.