Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #107770

Christopher Maylahn, MPH, New York State Dept of Health, Division of Chronic Disease Prevention and Adult Health, Room 511 - Empire State Plaza, Tower Bldg, Albany, NY 12237, 518-474-0512, cmm05@health.state.ny.us, Cate Bohn, MPH, New York State Dept of Health, Public Health Info Group, CCH, Rm 750, Tower, ESP, Albany, NY 12237, and Edward Waltz, PhD, The Evaluation Unit, School of Public Health, University at Albany, One University Place, Rensselaer, NY 12144.

The evidence-based approach to public health relies on assessing health-related risks in a community, obtaining and interpreting information about effective public health strategies and applying this knowledge to design interventions for targeted populations or communities. A two-day course, modeled on the pioneering work of St. Louis University School of Public Health and Missouri DOH, was developed by the New York State DOH and University at Albany's Prevention Research Center, with input from a focus group of county health department senior staff. It was then offered to local health departments and their community partners in four regions of New York. The course taught participants how to 1) access and interpret existing data systems for assessing a community's health; 2) locate, understand and use evidence from the scientific literature and other sources to identify effective interventions and develop programmatic options; 3) weigh these options using real-life scenarios; 4) construct a program plan using a logic model; and 5) design appropriate evaluation strategies. The course employed lectures, practice exercises, simulations and case studies to show how public health decisions are made. The course evaluation measured the level of skill improvement in public health core competencies using pre- and post-course assessments, and sought feedback on the best ways for teaching evidence based public health to local health department staff and their partners. This presentation will identify the components of this course judged to be most important and useful to participants.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the evidence based public health course developed in New York State.
• Identify effective educational strategies to teach evidence based decision making in public health
• Identify ‘core competencies’ important in evidence based decision making

Keywords: Training, Evidence Based Practice

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation