Appendix B: Perspectives of Stakeholders: Comprehensive Findings

This supplement presents the comprehensive results of focus groups and key informant interviews that were conducted to gain an understanding of stakeholders’ perceptions of North Carolina’s different organizational/governance models for local health departments (LHDs). Four focus groups were held, two with randomly selected health directors and two with randomly selected county officials (commissioner members of boards of health, county managers, or their designees). Individual key informant interviews were conducted with local and state public health practitioners, county managers and assistant county managers, county commissioners, state legislators, representatives from the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners (NCACC), and representatives from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health who work closely with local health departments. A total of sixty-­‐four individuals participated in this component of the study. Participant responses are categorized into two groups—public health practitioners and county officials and state legislators. Practitioners include current and former local and state health practitioners and current and former staff of the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health who work (or worked) closely with LHDs. Officials include county managers, assistant county managers, county commissioners, NCACC representatives, and state legislators.