Rhode Islanders are once again being asked to share how they feel about life in the Ocean State in this year’s RI Life Index survey.
The collaboration between Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island and the Brown University School of Public Health is now in its seventh year of tracking residents’ views on social and economic factors that influence health, including housing, food security, job opportunities, education, child care and the cost of living.
Respondents are selected randomly and contacted primarily by phone or text message, with some respondents also reached online. Surveys started in March and will run through the end of spring, with results expected to be released in fall. The Siena College Research Institute administers the surveys.
The anonymous surveys were first conducted in 2019 with the goal of aggregating data over time and from diverse communities about how people perceive quality of life in Rhode Island. Since 2020, the survey has placed a special focus on social factors of health among Rhode Island’s Black and Latino populations.
The findings help inform and guide a 14-member coalition of local organizations and public health agencies to provide “thought leadership on viable solutions to the challenges identified” in the survey data, according to the index’s website. Among the coalition members are AARP Rhode Island, HousingWorks RI, Rhode Island KIDS COUNT, the Economic Progress Institute, and the Rhode Island Department of Health. Past survey data has been used in publications by coalition members, like the HousingWorks RI Housing Fact Book and the Rhode Island Community Food Bank’s “2024 Status Report on Hunger in Rhode Island.”
Blue Cross also uses the data to steer its philanthropic initiatives.
Respondents are asked questions about their communities and the likelihood of specific experiences within their communities, as well as their direct experiences with housing and food security. Responses are graded on a 100-point scale dubbed the “POP” score, or “percent of the possible” — a measure of how close respondents believe their community is to an ideal, healthy environment. The overall, statewide POP score in the 2024 survey was 57.
The 2024 survey included 1,946 respondents, with an oversample of Black and Latino Rhode Islanders. Last year’s data also saw improvements in perceptions about access to health care among Black and Latino residents. People living in the four “core” cities of Central Falls, Pawtucket, Providence, and Woonsocket rated health care, community life, and programming and services for children more positively than in the previous year. Scores for Latino residents rebounded to 2020-2022 levels in all categories except the quality of community, cost of living and food security.
Past survey results and more info on methodology are available at the RI Life Index website.
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
