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MCHwork: Transforming Learning

MCHwork: Transforming Learning

Session 3.1: The Hexagon Tool — Moving from Assessment to Action

MCHwork

Introduction

In this year of the Five-Year Title V Needs Assessment, we are all thinking of how to collect and examine information about capacity and infrastructure; population needs and disparities; and desired outcomes all families, inclusive of women, infants, children, adolescents, and youth, with and without special health care needs. Much of 2024 will be spent determining priority goals, developing action plans, and allocating funds. You can access the resources at MCHneeds.net to learn more about the full needs assessment process. But looking ahead, we know that many of you are already thinking ahead to how to choose new programs or adapt current projects to meet the evolving needs of your populations, as identified by the needs assessment.

The Hexagon Discussion and Analysis Tool is an evidence-based resource to learn about now so you can use it when you're ready to move from assessment to action. This edition of MCHwork focuses on how to use this tool and how it can support your equity work immediately following the needs assessment process. Our hope is that presenting this resource early, you will have a chance to learn more about the tool and dig deeper to add it to your professional toolbox. Remember to come back to the Hexagon Tool — and to this microlearning page — when you're ready to strategize on the findings from your needs assessment.

About the Tool

The Hexagon Tool helps organizations evaluate new and existing programs and practices. This tool is designed to be used by a team to ensure diverse perspectives are represented in a discussion of six factors to help you figure out if a program will fit within your work and have impact on your key populations.

The Hexagon Tool can be used at any point as you are implementing a program to determine its "fit" with the local context. Will this program work in your department along with all the other work that you're doing? Will it have an effect on the population as a whole? Will it help decrease disparities with groups that need help the most? It is most commonly used during the period when your team is identifying possible new programs or practices to implement (the "exploration phase.")

How to Use

Prior to Using

  1. Identify the program or practice to be assessed.
  2. Review the discussion questions prior to meeting to ensure any data or resources that need to be reviewed for this discussion are available. If appropriate, an organization may prioritize components for deeper exploration based on the context and potential programs or practices.
  3. Identify a team to participate in the discussion. If the site has an Implementation Team, that team can complete the assessment as part of their work. If not, identify key stakeholders internal and external to the organization who have important diverse perspectives on the need and possible programs or practices. Suggested team members include leaders, managers, direct practitioners and consumers or community members.

During Use

  1. The team should review and discuss the questions for each indicator and document relevant considerations. Extra space is included in each section for notes and additional questions identified by the team to address unique needs and contexts.
  2. After discussing each component, the team rates the component using the 5-point Likert scale in each section.
  3. Using the discussion notes and ratings, the team makes recommendations about whether to adopt, replicate, or de-implement the program or practice. While ratings should be taken into account during the decision-making process, the ratings alone should not be used to determine final recommendations.

MCHwork provides a jump start to thinking creatively about "finding the fit" with evidence-based programs through a Ready-Set-Go approach. Use the following resources to start your learning, dig deeper, and move from knowledge to practice.

Hexagon Tool: At A Glance

The Hexagon Tool can at first seem complicated. But these are the basic questions it's asking.

Questions to ask about the program you're thinking about implementing:

  1. Evidence. Is the program based on good science? Does it appear to have impact with key population groups? Does it address health disparities? Are the outcomes big enough to be "worth it" to try the program?
  2. Usability. Has the program been used in different settings with positive results? Can you find examples of other groups who have successfully implemented the program?
  3. Support. Does your department have enough staffing to do this program? Do you have resources to train staff in how to implement the program? Do you have a data infrastructure in place to measure results?

Questions to ask about your team and the surrounding work infrastructure:

  1. Need. What does the community feel the need is? Does the program address a gap? Is there data to show that this program can address the need? If implemented, what can potentially change for this population?
  2. Fit. How does the program fit within your current work scope and alongside other initiatives? How would it fit in community values, including the values of culturally and linguistically specific populations?
  3. Capacity. Can we cover program costs? Will program staff have a cultural and language "match" with the population they serve? Can we collect and use data for ongoing monitoring and improvement?

READY: Start with Videos from the National MCH Workforce Development Center

Watch these three videos from the Evidence-Based Decision Making Core of the National MCH Workforce Development Center to gain an understanding of how to use the Hexagon Tool to align new or existing evidence-based programs into your current work. Download presentation slides and transcripts for all three presentations.

In this video, we explain the six parts (the "indicators") of the Hexagon Tool to see if a program you're considering will be impactful.

In the second video of the series, we dive deeper into how to work through and score the actual tool, from ensuring that diverse perspectives are at the table, information is gathered equitably, indicators are scored thoughtfully, and open discussions occur along the way.

In the final video in the series, we focus on how the Hexagon Tool can prompt teams to consider potential impact of the program being considered and whether it has the ability to advance equitable outcomes.

SET: Learn More with Additional Resources from the MCH Navigator

Resources from the MCH Navigator. Use these resources to dig deeper into the specifics of using program funds more effectively:

Start here with this video: The Hexagon: An Exploration Tool — An Introduction to a Package of Resources to Support Using the Hexagon Tool in Practice. Developed: 2023. Source: NHS Education for Scotland. Presenter(s). Marita Bracht and Allison Metz. Type: Recorded Presentation. Level: Intermediate. Length: 28 minutes.

GO: Make Your Knowledge Actionable with Tools from the MCH Digital Library

Resources from the MCH Digital Library. Use these resources to understand how to implement what you've learned:

Start here with this resource: Farmer S. So, We Did the Hexagon Tool. Now What? 2022. State Implementation and Scaling-Up of Evidence-Based Practices. This article provides a case study to show the innovative nature of asking the questions in the Hexagon Tool as an innovative way to choose programs with real potential to have impact.

  • National Implementation Research Network. Using the Hexagon Tool: A Case Study. 2022. This case study provides an example of a school district using the Hexagon Tool to select an evidencebased reading curriculum/program.
  • Blase, K., Kiser, L. and Van Dyke, M. The Hexagon Tool: Exploring Content. Chapel Hill, NC: National Implementation Research Network, FPG Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This short factsheet explores plane-language descriptions of the six tool indicators and provides recommendations for how to use the tool.
  • Lugo-Gil J, Dana J-B, Jaramillo LF. 2019. Using Evidence to Drive Decision-Making in Government. Princeton, NJ: Mathematica Policy Research, 79 pp.

 

 

This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number UE8MC25742; MCH Navigator for $225,000/year. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.