Implementing the National Prevention Strategy in Local Health Departments: A web-based tool

The National Prevention Strategy (NPS) calls for collaboration among cross-sector partners to implement evidence-based strategies for wellness.  Local Health Departments (LHDs) are well positioned to implement NPS due to their ability to engage local stakeholders and provide data on local public health concerns.  NACCHO surveyed 79 LHDs to determine factors that influence adoption of NPS.  More than half of participants did not use the NPS for the following reasons:  1) lack of awareness about how to access/use NPS; 2) perceived lack of relevance and limited time to implement it; and 3) perceived duplication of the NPS with other public health planning resources including Healthy People 2020 and The Community Guide.  In response, NACCHO developed the Resource Center for Evidence-Based and Cross-Sector Approaches, a time-efficient, interactive, web-based tool offering a framework  that advances implementation of NPS through integration with Healthy People 2020, The Community Guide, and LHD Community Health Improvement efforts.  The Resource Center includes an NPS toolkit, prescribing 4 steps LHDs can use to implement NPS.  The toolkit contains links to helpful tools that facilitate implementation of each step, and is designed to develop key competencies among local public health practitioners: 1) cross-sector partnership; 2) stakeholder engagement; 3) assessment; 4) evidence-based practice;  and 5) evaluation. Preliminary data shows high demand and use of the tool by LHD users.  Future testing will investigate the impact of the Resource Center in increasing competencies for forging cross-sector partnerships for prevention, adoption of evidence-based strategies, coordination across sectors to address the chronic disease burden, and adoption of NPS.