1 Introduction
1.1 Purpose
The purpose of this textbook is to train future public health professionals, specifically Master of Public Health (MPH) students, how to conduct basic applied data analysis using secondary data collected from national health surveys. This textbook helps to eliminate gaps in knowledge, skills and analytical abilities that may prohibit MPH graduates from being successful in entry-level public health practice and research-focused positions. A recent study of local health departments demonstrated that entry-level public health professionals lacked the knowledge, skills and abilities for data collection, database management, data cleaning, quantitative data analysis/statistics, and data analysis using SAS statistical software.1 Using publicly available data from national health surveys, this textbook will allow students to learn and practice data analytic skills with SAS statistical software to answer general surveillance and analytical research questions in preparation for their future public health practices.
1.2 Health Services Research Focus
The examples used in this textbook stem from previous studies and the current research laboratory focus of its primary author, Tiffany Kindratt, PhD, MPH. Established in Fall 2019, Dr. Kindratt’s Health Survey Research (HSR) Lab is housed in the Public Health Program, Department of Kinesiology, College of Nursing and Health Innovation at the University of Texas at Arlington. The goal of the HSR lab is to conduct epidemiologic research studies focused on evaluating predisposing and enabling factors that influence individuals’ health behaviors, morbidity, mortality and use of health services with big data methodologies. This includes the secondary analysis of large national health surveys that use complex samples, such as the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS), American Community Survey (ACS), and others. Another goal of this lab is to collaborate with multidisciplinary teams and contribute to research studies designed to 1) train and mentor future public health and medical professionals and 2) implement community-based participatory research and quality improvement methodologies in community and clinical settings.
The HSR lab’s research focus was developed to cover a wide range of epidemiology outcomes and contributing factors using Andersen’s model of health services as its guiding framework.2 Race, ethnicity, place of birth, and geographic context (urban or rural) disparities are evaluated to determine how individual predisposing factors contribute to health outcomes. Dr. Kindratt’s research incorporates the examination of health disparities among Arab Americans, comprising of either born or tracing heritage to the Middle East or North Africa, who are largely underrepresented in health research because they are classified as non-Hispanic Whites by the United States (US) federal governmen