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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Betty Bekemeier, RN, MPH, MSN¹, Catharine Riley, MPH¹, and Bobbie Berkowitz, RN, PhD, FAAN². (1) Health Services, University of Washington School of Public Health, Box 358852, Seattle, WA 98195, 206-616-8410, bettybek@u.washington.edu, (2) University of Washington School of Nursing, Box 357263, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195

The public health community and its funders have often assumed that activities supported by grants have secondary effects that are wider and more sustainable than specific grant-funded objectives. These assumptions have been largely under-researched and the factors that facilitate this leveraging of resources are largely unknown. Turning Point states received funding from The RWJ Foundation between January 1998 and March 2006 in order to establish and implement strategic goals for achieving significant statewide public health system improvement through diverse, cross-sector partnerships. Researchers from Turning Point National used a semi-structured interview schedule to conduct key informant interviews with individual state Turning Point leaders. Interview data gathered for this study, supplement findings from a quantitative survey that has enumerated the amounts and types of resources leveraged by Turning Point states to finance public health improvement efforts. Data from key informants has also identified specific factors associated with the effective leveraging of resources toward financing public health systems improvement. Findings show that developing and fostering cross-sector partnerships has been pivotal to the successful leveraging of resources for improvements to state public health infrastructures. Successful leveraging of funds was also strongly linked to having a comprehensive, inclusive planning process that resulted in an improvement plan allowing states to make the case for systematic improvements and providing a foundation from which opportunities could be realized. Outcomes from this study provide guidance to administrators and policy makers in terms of strategic approaches that can be used to leverage resources for the public health system.

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