Health Services Research Commons^™

Policymakers Identify Priorities For Phssr, Katherine Froeb Papa

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

A major goal for the health services research community is to provide evidence policymakers can use to improve the public’s health. However, it can be difficult to know what evidence policymakers want and how they decide what research to fund.

In order to understand where policymakers turn for evidence and how they make funding decisions amid fiscal and political constraints, AcademyHealth conducted a 3-part Fireside Chat series in the spring of 2014. This editorial summarizes the evidence gaps identified, and provides strategies for communicating with decision makers.

Developing A Tool To Assess Administrative Evidence-Based Practices In Local Health Departments, Rodrigo S. Reis, Kathleen Duggan, Peg Allen, Katherine A. Stamatakis, Paul C. Erwin, Ross C. Brownson

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

There is need for assessing the practices undertaken by local health departments in order to improve the implementation of evidence-based actions. This paper describes the development and testing of a survey instrument for assessing Administrative Evidence-Based Practices (A-EBPs) in Local Health Departments. A-EBPs identified through a review of the literature were used to develop a survey composed of nine sections and tested in a sample of local health department practitioners. The resulting tool showed adequate test-retest reliability and internal consistency. Practitioners and researchers may apply this tool in practice-based and evaluation research.

Evaluating Use Of Custom Survey Reports By Local Health Departments, Nadya M. Belenky, Christine A. Bevc, Elizabeth Mahanna, Carol Gunther-Mohr, Mary V. Davis

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

This report demonstrates how providing survey feedback, like comparative reports, to survey respondents can result in improvement activities. For each of the past three years (2010-2013), the North Carolina Institute for Public Health (NCIPH) has invited local health departments (LHDs) from 40 states to participate in a preparedness capacities survey. In addition, NCIPH fielded a six-question evaluation survey to a subset of LHDs (n=70) to determine how LHDs use these reports. LHDs that reported using their custom reports compared their preparedness capacities to other LHDs, conducted strategic planning (e.g., benchmarking, setting preparedness goals), planned staff trainings, and disseminated the report …