This skill building training aims to improve data visualization and communication with a health equity lens. There are eight total lessons, and the first three lessons are pre-training webinars for participants to view that highlight many of the introductory aspects of data visualization. The remaining five lessons feature an interactive virtual experience to meet the following objectives:

• Define health equity. 
• Define data visualization principles.
• Explore best practices for communicating data with various audiences (i.e., decision makers, stakeholders, general public).
• Understand how different audiences think and remember information. 
• Increase retention of information from presentations. 
• Tailor messages to help stakeholders remember key points (ex. policy makers, general public). 
• Develop skill sets to make data aesthetically pleasing and easy to understand. 

Trainers

Hannah Herold, MPH, MA, MCHEES, CVF
Hannah Herold is a public health consultant specializing in capacity building strategy among public health organizations working in chronic disease prevention and management. As the former Chronic Disease Prevention Program Manager for the Wyoming Department of Health, Ms. Herold has significant experience with evidence-based interventions related to chronic disease, as well as familiarity with the complexities that accompany preparing data for presentation to partners, funders, and the general public. For the last four years, Ms. Herold has worked as an independent consultant providing subject matter expertise to many state and local health departments and national organizations such as the National Association for Chronic Disease Directors and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. 

Karen Errichetti, MPH, DrPH
Karen Errichetti is a program evaluator and public health consultant specializing in data visualization. She helps public health departments create beautiful data visuals for needs assessments and surveillance reports. Most recently, Dr. Errichetti consulted with the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials to support the US Virgin Islands Department of Health where she helped the USVI's epidemiology team prepare hundreds of data visuals for their first territorial health assessment in decades. Dr. Errichetti is also an Assistant Professor at Tufts University School of Medicine in the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine and serves as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Bridgewater State University. Most of Dr. Errichetti's work takes place in communities of color including the US-Mexico border. 

Lesson 1: Foundations: Effective Data Storytelling

By the end of the lesson, participants will be able to:

1. Describe how "storytelling" allows public health professionals to convey messages about data. 
2. Compare different data visualization communication mechanisms. 
3. Define an audience and use that information to plan an appropriate data visualization. 

Lesson 2: Foundations: Principles of Beautiful and Accessible Data Visualization

By the end of the lesson, participants will be able to:

1. Apply design principles to create presentations and data visualizations that tell a "data story."
2. Identify proper design practices for tables and charts. 
3. Consider techniques for improving accessability of data visualizations. 

Lesson 3: Foundations: Meeting the Challenge of Health Equity Data

By the end of the lesson, participants will be able to:

1. Define health equity. 
2. Differentiate health inequity, health inequality, and health disparity. 
3. Describe how data visualizations can be used to (1) identify health inequities within a population and (2) support progress towards equity. 

Lesson 4: Data Visuals You Can Make

By the end of the lesson, participants will be able to:

1. Define the principles of data visualization. 
2. Discuss why data visualization is important for public health. 
3. Recommend the best types of data visualizations to use for a given type of data. 
4. Critique, evaluate, and assess the appropriateness of a data visualization. 

Lesson 5: Creating Effective and Equitable Data Visuals- Part 1

By the end of the lesson, participants will be able to:

1. Explain the basics of data visualization. 
2. Learn skills and collect tools to create effective visualizations. 
3. Use appropriate graphic and other visualization techniques for communicating data about health disparities and inequities. 

Lesson 6: Creating Effective and Equitable Data Visuals- Part 2

By the end of the lesson, participants will be able to:

1. Develop skills for tailoring a message to a specific topic and audience. 
2. Recognize design concepts for accurately conveying key points of a data visualization. 

Lesson 7: Strategies for Presenting Data Effectively and Equitably

By the end of the lesson, participants will be able to:

1. Use visualizations to aid in the presentation of complex scientific concepts to a diverse audience. 
2. Consider how different audiences think and remember information. 
3. Increase recognition, retention, and recall of information from presentations. 

Lesson 8: Data-Inclusive Dissemination Strategy

By the end of the lesson, participants will be able to:

1. Recognize the public health responsibility of accurately communicating data. 
2. Learn tools for advocating for accurate communication and interpretation of data. 
3. Review tips for collaborating with communication departments. 

This training series was funded by CDC Cooperative Agreement No: 1 NU38OT000297. The contents of this training are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of CDC. The training content was developed by Hannah Herold, MPH, MA, MCHEES, CVF, and Karen Errichetti, MPH, DrPH, consultants for CSTE, and was adapted from the CD/MCH/Oral Health in person workshop at the 2022 CSTE Annual Conference. CSTE acknowledges the following workgroup members who assisted with review and input:

• Michael Friedrichs, MS (UT)
• Melissa Baker, MA (WV)
• James Arnaez, MPH, PhD (WA)
• Caitlin Pizzonia (former ME)
• Valerie Goodson, MPA (CSTE)
• Kyra Parks, MPH, (CSTE)
• Preksha Malhotra (CSTE)

Competencies:

• 1.1 – Data Analytics and Assessment Skills – Identifies the diversity of individuals and populations 
• 1.2 – Data Analytics and Assessment Skills – Describes factors that affect the health of a community
• 1.4 – Data Analytics and Assessment Skills – Conducts surveillance activities
• 1.6 – Data Analytics and Assessment Skills – Manages data
• 1.8 – Data Analytics and Assessment Skills – Interprets results from data analysis
• 3.3 – Communication Skills – Facilitates accessible communication among individuals, groups, and organizations
• 3.4 – Communication Skills – Disseminates messages to internal and external audiences
• 4.1 – Community Partnership Skills – Describes epidemiologic conditions, systems, programs, and policies affecting community health and resilience
• 4.2 – Community Partnership Skills – Maintains bidirectional relationships that improve community health and resilience
• 7.4 – Policy Development and Program Planning Skills – Applies principles of ethical and legal practice to epidemiologic activities, data analysis, assessment, and dissemination