Types of Focus Groups in Health Education

Focus groups are designed to gather opinions or ideas from individuals who use or are interested in a product or service. Focus groups stress discussion and free sharing of attitudes and opinions, rather than simply answering questions. In health education, focus groups may be used as part of a community health assessment strategy, for program development, and program evaluation. The focus group facilitator looks for common themes that are shared by group members. These common themes help shape future programs and services.

New Programs

• Focus groups may be used in health education to generate new ideas of programs or services. For example, if a health educator is interested in organizing grocery store tours to teach individuals about shopping for healthy foods, a focus group could be convened to obtain information about shopping habits. Target members of the focus group would be persons who do most of the grocery shopping in the household. Individuals would brainstorm or throw out ideas about shopping for food. They might provide information such as when they shop, where, what types of food they are likely to purchase and why. If the results reveal that members are purchasing mostly unhealthy processed foods, this would point to the need for educational programs related to healthy shopping. The ideas gathered from such a focus group would provide a blueprint for developing a grocery store nutrition education tour.

Gaps in Services or Needs

• Public health departments conduct periodic community health assessments to plan health programs and services for a county or region. One of the means of gathering health information about residents is a focus group. In this type of focus group, members might identify major health issues in an area and share their own experiences in accessing health care. This helps the agency determine gaps in services and look at ways to address these needs.

Product Usefulness

• A health education focus group may be used to evaluate the effectiveness of products, such as brochures and educational curriculum, used by a health education program. The focus group tests the readability of a brochure or survey before these items are used with audiences. The members may also review printed materials to assess whether they are culturally sensitive. This type of information is helpful in developing health education materials that will be effective with intended audiences.

Program Effectiveness

• A focus group can evaluate the effectiveness of health education programs. This type of focus group helps determine if a program has met the intended goals and objectives. For example, if a health educator has implemented a diabetes education program, the goal might be to improve participants' diabetes self-management skills. Objectives might center on participants learning how to choose healthier foods, monitor blood sugar levels, and take medications as prescribed. If participants implement what they learn, the outcome would be better diabetes self-management. This will delay conditions associated with poor diabetes control, such as loss of limbs, kidney failure and blindness. Successful diabetes control would show that the program worked as intended. This input is valuable because public and private funds for health education are often tied to program impacts and outcomes.