The purpose of this survey was to engage the Virginia Beach community and gain information about the community’s health priorities, concerns, and views on quality of life. The Virginia Beach Community Wellness survey is a two-page survey that asked 3 prioritizing questions and 13 Likert scale rating questions. In addition, the survey asked 9 demographic questions and 1 optional open-ended question.

A two-pronged approach was used to distribute the survey to the community. First, the survey was available to take online. The online survey was made available through vbgov.com, an article in the Virginia Beach Beacon, on the Virginia Beach TV station, and through emails distributed, phone calls made, and letters sent to existing contacts, employers, and community groups. Paper surveys were distributed to businesses, city employees, existing community groups, and at two health fairs. Groups and organizations that facilitated in the distribution of the survey included many civic leagues/associations, non-profit organizations, outreach organizations, universities, city departments, community group list-servs, and faith-based organizations.

A total of 1,079 surveys were obtained. Roughly half of the surveys collected were online, while the rest were collected on paper. All surveys were entered into Microsoft Excel for analysis.