Local health department factors associated with performance in the successful implementation of community-based strategies: a mixed-methods approach.

Objectives: We examined which local health department (LHD)-level factors contributed to successful implementation of policy, systems, and environmental change strategies in Minnesota.

Methods: We used a retrospective mixed-methods design to evaluate the relationship between the Statewide Health Improvement Plan (SHIP) grant initiative and key predictor variables (2009-2011). We obtained quantitative capacity data for 91 cities and counties in Minnesota; in addition, we conducted 15 key informant interviews to examine factors that facilitated and acted as barriers to LHD performance.

Results: Grantee performance was distributed as follows: exceeds expectations (29.7%), meets expectations (55.0%), and is approaching expectations (15.3%). Organizational quality improvement (QI) maturity was strongly positively associated with grantee performance on SHIP. Organizations with high QI maturity, effective leadership, efficient decision-making, and successful regional or cross-jurisdictional partnerships were more likely to be rated as exceeding expectations.

Conclusions: This study successfully translated practice-based research findings into tangible outcomes, including new system-level performance measures for local public health and recommendations for shaping the statewide initiative examined in this study. The approach taken in this study to systematically monitor communications, dissemination, and translation may be a model for others.