Cocreating a Climate and Health Dashboard With Multisector Stakeholders: Qualitative Pilot Study

Climate-related disasters increasingly affect community health, health care access, and disaster preparedness, particularly in disaster-prone Gulf Coast communities. Although climate dashboards have expanded access to environmental data, many function primarily as static repositories with limited integration of health data or operational decision support capabilities.

This study aimed to identify stakeholder-informed design priorities and implementation considerations for a climate and health dashboard to support disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and community decision-making.

We conducted semistructured interviews with 7 multisector stakeholders representing academic research, community-based organizations, public health, emergency preparedness, and disaster recovery settings in Houston, Texas. Interviews explored current use of climate and health data, desired dashboard features, usability considerations, data integration needs, and sustainability priorities. Transcripts were analyzed using the Rapid and Rigorous Qualitative Data Analysis (RADaR) technique.

Participants described a need for dashboards that could support decision-making rather than simply display data. Priorities included the integration of climate, health, infrastructure, and social vulnerability data; interactive mapping and layered visualizations; local geographic detail; AI-assisted interpretation and plain language summaries; and tools useful to both community and research audiences. Potential uses included emergency preparedness, targeted outreach during disasters, resource allocation, policy advocacy, and community education.

Findings suggest that effective climate and health dashboards require not only technical functionality but also community-centered design, operational usability, and sustainable implementation infrastructure. These findings are preliminary and may inform future studies aimed at developing dashboards designed to support community-focused disaster preparedness and response.