~ Interview & Survey Results
In order to identify climate-informed public health activities underway and to better understand the needs of public health professionals, we conducted interviews and released a complementary online survey. A contact list was compiled of individuals from state public health departments and other agencies and organizations likely to know about climate-related public health efforts within the 16 states. The Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) of cities and counties within the 16 states examined for this study were taken into consideration when identifying interview and survey participants.10 For example, when selecting local agencies or organizations to interview, the project team looked at SVI scores to select areas that are acutely vulnerable (e.g., Philadelphia).
A unified set of questions and interview guide were created and a coding scheme for answers was designed in order to make tracking and cross-referencing possible. Survey responses were collected through SurveyMonkey, a web-based survey company, between October 2018 and January 2019. The survey was sent to a list of 50 individuals and we collected 38 complete responses. The results presented below include the responses from 54 unique individuals (combined 38 survey and 16 interview responses; n=54).