Recorded presentation

Jonathan Fielding, MD, MPH, Director of Public Health, Health Officer, County of Los Angeles, Department of Health Services, 313 North Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012, 213-240-8117, jfieldin@ucla.edu

The Guide to Community Preventive Services (Community Guide) fulfills the need among practitioners of public health to have, at their fingertips, the best information on what programs and policies work--to help them make better decisions.

Initiated in 1996, the independent Task Force on Community Preventive Services, the Community Guide has been responsible for the development and publication of systematic reviews of population-based interventions across public health topics including tobacco prevention and control, physical activity, vaccine preventable diseases as well as the social environment (e.g. housing, education and culturally competent care) and its potential for improving health. The first edition of the Community Guide is an important milestone in the field of evidence-based public health and its application for building and enhancing the public health infrastructure, and addressing health disparities.

Our commitment, as public health professionals, especially those within state and local health departments is to improve public health through the application of scientific knowledge and the implementation of policies and programs. However, all too often decisions on policies and programs are not based on the strongest evidence available but on opinions, personal experiences or other factors. Not utilizing available evidence for decision making can adversely impact the ability of departments of health to fulfill our mission and secure public support.

Familiarity with and utilization of evidence, such as the Community Guide, to frame objectives, construct and select interventions, establish research priorities and evaluation will improve the public health infrastructure and the environment within which we make decisions.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. Be familiar with the Guide to Community Preventive Services and how to use it
• 2. Understand the utility and application of recommended interventions and “insufficient evidence” findings especially those that address issues related to improving health through the social or physical environment
• 3. Understand the context within which the Guide to Community Preventive Services can and should be used
• 4. Understand the Community Guide’s role in evidence-based public health and efforts to address and reduce health disparities

Keywords: Community Preventive Services, Evidence Based Practice

Related Web page: www.thecommunityguide.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation