Engaging with Impact was commissioned in response to a growing need for Ontario’s Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) to better engage communities in the design and delivery of integrated health services. The author, MASS LBP, is a Toronto-based advisory firm specializing in public consultation.
The report advocates for the need to foster “a culture of engagement” in Ontario’s public health system, and proposes a series of targets and indicators to help Ontario LIHNs evaluate their public engagement strategies.
It describes three citizens’ workshops —in Thunder Bay, Richmond Hill, and Kingston —that brought together randomly-selected community members to learn about and contribute ideas for improving engagement. The authors used the outcomes of these workshops to develop an engagement scorecard for LHINs, and a set of principles, recommendations and indicators for community engagement, all of which are included at the end of the report.
Other highlights include
- An essay by Professor John Gastil, Head of Communication Arts at Penn State University, examining the challenges associated with evaluating deliberative engagement.
- A comparison of community engagement approaches used in the Canadian and British health systems, by the Wellesley Institute and Involve (a UK-based think-tank).
- Interviews with LHIN directors who are engaging local communities in their operations and governance.
Use this resource to
- Explore ways to use community engagement approaches in integrated health care systems (e.g., regional health authorities)
- Review a set of indicators that measure how well your organization is engaged with stakeholders and community members
- Learn how to evaluate the impact of community engagement approaches
- Understand the challenges of evaluation, and learn about ways to address those challenges
MASS LBP. (2009). Engaging with impact: Targets and indicators for successful community engagement by Ontario’s Local Health Integration Networks: A citizens’ report from Kingston, Richmond Hill and Thunder Bay. Toronto, ON: Author. Retrieved from: http://www.masslbp.com/journal_detail.php/ontario-health-public-engagement.html
MASS LBP (commissioned by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, Health System Strategy Division, and the Central, North West and South East LHINs)