N.B. Health Council switching from phone calls to postcards for health survey
Data gathered used by community groups to understand health realities, needs, says Stéphane Robichaud, CEO
The New Brunswick Health Council is switching gears on how to get people to respond to its health survey.
Council CEO Stéphane Robichaud said the survey has been done since 2011 and gathers information on the health realities and needs of New Brunswick communities.
Previously, the council would make roughly 190,000 calls in order to get a sufficient number of respondents, he said, but that method has become unsustainable.
"A lot of people now have cell phones and cell phones have various types of numbers, and you cannot identify where someone lives anymore with those numbers because people can have various area codes," said Robichaud.
"Also, people have become very reluctant to answer phone calls … so we've had to look at a different approach this year."
This year, the council sent postcards in the mail asking people to take part in the survey instead of making calls.
Robichaud said getting people to participate is important because the information gathered is used by community groups to make sure that services are "evolving in line with the needs of people in their communities."
He said people who take the survey are not asked to identify themselves. They're asked for their postal code or approximate location so the answers can be linked to a geographic area.
The questions centre around general health, chronic health conditions and factors that can have an affect on health, such as physical activity, smoking and barriers to health-care services, said Robichaud.
He said over the years, the council has learned that the information varies greatly from community to community.
"You can have communities side-by-side in the north or in the south, and very different levels of [prevalence] in chronic conditions or in certain behaviours," said Robichaud.
"It really underlines the value of this type of info.
"The provincial average is just that — an average. And … it doesn't necessarily reflect the realities."
With files from Information Morning Fredericton