Evaluating a health equity programme in Washington D.C.
How could we improve the Ward Infinity Programme run by Johns Hopkins Medicine and increase its impact to drive health equity in Washington D.C.?
Project brief
Sibley Memorial Hospital, a member of Johns Hopkins Medicine, started a social innovation program in 2018 called ‘Ward Infinity’ to improve the health and well-being of Washington, D.C.’s most underserved communities with the greatest health disparities. The Ward Infinity program invests in citizens who work to improve the health and wellbeing where they live.
In 2020, after two cohorts of the programme, Sibley Memorial Hospital and Johns Hopkins Medicine wanted to evaluate the programme in order to improve it in preparation for the third cohort. The aim was to understand how past participants, known as Innovators, experienced the program, what went well and what could be improved, thus informing strategic enhancements for future iterations of the programme.
Team: Research lead (me), project manager, public health consultants, visual designers
Research approach
I was brought on as the Research Lead for the project. I led a team of designers and public health consultants to plan and conduct qualitative research using a human-centred design approach. I developed the research plan, designed research activities, and trained the team in conducting interviews.
I started by conducting workshops with programme organisers to map the user journey. This helped me get an in-depth understanding of how the programme worked on paper and draft interview guides. We then conducted in-depth interviews with 40% of the participants of the previous two years of the programme to understand their experiences, focusing on what worked well and areas for improvement. The semi-structured interview questions covered various aspects of the programme, such as initial awareness, onboarding and individual programme activities. We used open-ended questions so we could learn without attributing bias or having preconceived notions. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, we conducted virtual interviews via Zoom.
Following the interviews, I analysed and synthesised the findings into recurring patterns and key themes. I facilitated workshops internally with the team to systematically categorise findings into success statements and problem statements, with corresponding “how might we” statements and opportunities for improvement. I developed a framework to synthesise vast amounts of data effectively that worked well in a digital workshop setting with multiple participants.
Synthesis workshop activities
Feedback from the Project Manager
Actionable insights
Going back to our research questions, we mapped all key findings to them. We also mapped more granular insights to each stage of the Innovator's journey to identify pain points and successes, and come up with practical solutions to improve the programme.
The key insights about the Innovators’ experiences in the program and opportunities to enhance the program experience have informed Sibley’s strategic social innovation plan and adjustments to the Ward Infinity program for the next cohort and beyond.
Project report
The final deliverable was a project report that compiled all aspects of the work including background on the programme, our qualitative evaluation approach, findings and opportunities, and recommendations to bridge the gaps for programme improvement.
The report was written by me, working closely with Sibley Memorial to ensure it aligned with their requirements and organisational language. It was then executed to be the beautiful document below by the graphic designer on the team.
The report:
(please click the arrows to turn pages)
