The MAPP model is a community-wide strategic planning tool for improving community health that helps communities prioritize public health issues and identify resources for addressing them. The MAPP model is a nationally recognized process for improving community health that was developed by the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), in cooperation with the Public Health Practice Program Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The MAPP model is comprised of six phases:
Phase 1: Organize for Success and Partnership Development
This phase identifies who should be involved in the process and how the partnership will approach and organize the process.
Phase 2: Visioning
A collaborative and creative approach that leads to a shared community vision and common values.
Phase 3: Four MAPP Assessments
The assessment phase provides a comprehensive picture of the community in its current state using both qualitative and quantitative methods. The four assessments are:
- Community Themes and Strengths Assessment provides qualitative information on how communities perceive their health and quality of life concerns as well as their knowledge of community resources and assets. Community members will also prioritize health issues. Asks the questions:
- What is important to our community?
- How is quality of life perceived in our community?
- What assets do we have that can be used to improve community health?
- Community Health Status Assessment provides quantitative data on a broad array of health indicators, including demographics, health outcomes, and risk factors that reflect a broad definition of health. Asks the questions:
- Who are we?
- How healthy is our community?
- What does the health status of community look like?
- Local Public Health System Assessment measures how well public health system partners collaborate to provide public health services based on a nationally recognized set of performance standards. Asks the questions:
- What are the components, activities, and capacities of our local public health system?
- How are the 10 essential public health services being provided to our community?
- Forces of Change Assessment provides an analysis of the positive and negative external forces that impact the promotion and protection of the public's health. Asks the questions:
- What is occurring or might occur that affects the health of our community?
- What specific threats or opportunities are generated by these occurrences?
Phase 4: Identify Strategic Issues
This phase uses the information gathered from the four assessments to determine the strategic issues a community must address in order to reach its vision.
Phase 5: Formulate Goals and Strategies
This phase involves specifying goals for each of the strategic issues identified in the previous phase culminating in a community health improvement plan.
Phase 6: Action Cycle
This phase includes planning, implementation, and evaluation of a community's strategic plan.
Learn more about the MAPP model.