AIM-Local Health

Project Dates: 2016-2021

Purpose: To increase the use of proven strategies for diabetes control among local health departments (LHDs) to reduce the burden of diabetes.

Project Goals

  • Understand factors influencing use of evidence-based practice and evidence-based programs and policies (EBPPs) for diabetes control across LHDs; identify gaps to be addressed
  • Facilitate use of evidence-based practice and EBPPs among LHDs:
    • Provide menu of capacity-building activities based on local context including : trainings in evidence-based public health, technical assistance through knowledge brokers, targeted messages with resources, and organizational change strategies
    • Bridge research and public health practice
  • Advance practice, and dissemination and implementation research by communicating findings through traditional and non-traditional methods

Implications for Research and Practice

This project will drive how research and proven strategies can be more effectively disseminated to those in local public health. Additionally, it will evaluate how useful capacity-building activities can be replicated and/or adapted for other local health departments.

Project Contact

Renee Parks, MS: renee.parks@wustl.edu

Project Staff

Principal Investigator: Ross C. Brownson, PhD

Co-Investigators: Peg Allen, PhD, MPH, RN; Rachel Tabak, PhD, RD; Stephanie Mazzucca, PhD; Rebekah Jacob, MSW, MPH; Yan Yan, MD, PhD; Elizabeth Baker, PhD, MPH; Marshall Chin, MD, MPH; Maureen Dobbins, PhD; Katie Stamatakis, PhD, MPH

Project Manager: Renee Parks, MS

Research Assistant: Sarah Kang

Project Partners

National Association of County & County Health Officials (NACCHO); Missouri Association of Local Public Health Agencies (MoALPHA); Brown School Evaluation Center

Project Dates

2016-2021

Funding Source

National Institutes of Health: R01DK109913

Related Resources

Webinars: Evaluation Skill-Building Series

Goal: Build public health practitioners’ skills in developing/strengthening evaluation plans.
Six webinars, each 1 hour or less. Designed as a series with content building upon each webinar; however, webinars may also be viewed independently.

Evaluation Fundamentals Webinar Series
Infographics

National Survey Summary Infographic

From Aug.-Sept. 2017, researchers from the PRC-StL administered a survey of public health practitioners leading chronic disease control from local health departments (LHDs) across the United States to obtain a national picture of local-level views on and use of evidence-based programs for chronic disease control, and skills and supports for evidence-based practices. This infographic summarizes the findings.

Local Health Directors’ & Practitioners’ Views of Use of Evidence-based Chronic Disease Control

In Jan.-Apr. 2017, researchers from the PRC-StL conducted phone interviews with local health directors and practitioners from local health departments (LHDs) in Missouri to understand factors supporting or hindering use of evidence-based chronic disease control. This infographic summarizes the findings.

Publications

Allen, P., Jacob, R. R., Parks, R. G., Mazzucca, S., Hu, H., Robinson, M., Dobbins, M., Dekker, D., Padek, M., Brownson, R. C. (2020). Perspectives on program mis-implementation among U.S. local public health departments. BMC health services research, 20, 258. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-05141-5

Poehler, A. R., Parks, R. G., Tabak, R. G., Baker, E. A., Brownson, R. C. (2019). Factors Facilitating or Hindering Use of Evidence-Based Diabetes Interventions Among Local Health Departments. Journal of public health management and practice, volume publish ahead of print – issue. doi: 10.1097/PHH.0000000000001094

Allen, P., Mazzucca, S., Parks, R. G., Robinson, M., Tabak, R. G., & Brownson, R. (2019). Local Health Department Accreditation Is Associated With Organizational Supports for Evidence-Based Decision Making. Frontiers in public health, 7, 374. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2019.00374

Mazzucca, S., Parks, R. G., Tabak, R. G., Allen, P., Dobbins, M., Stamatakis, K. A., Brownson, R. C. (2019). Assessing Organizational Supports for Evidence-Based Decision Making in Local Public Health Departments in the United States: Development and Psychometric Properties of a New Measure. Journal of public health management and practice, 25 (5), 454-463. doi: 10.1097/PHH.0000000000000952

Erwin, P. C., Parks, R. G., Mazzucca, S., Allen, P., Baker, E. A., Hu, H., Davis-Joyce, J., & Brownson, R. C. (2019). Evidence-Based Public Health Provided Through Local Health Departments: Importance of Academic-Practice Partnerships. American journal of public health, 109(5), 739–747. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2019.304958

Tabak, R. G., Parks, R. G., Allen, P., Jacob, R. R., Mazzucca, S., Stamatakis, K. A., Poehler, A. R., Chin, M. H., Dobbins, M., Dekker, D., & Brownson, R. C. (2018). Patterns and correlates of use of evidence-based interventions to control diabetes by local health departments across the USA. BMJ open diabetes research & care, 6(1), e000558. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjdrc-2018-000558

Parks RG, Tabak RG, Allen P, Baker EA, Stamatakis KA, Poehler AR, Yan Y, Chin MH, Harris JK, Dobbins M, Brownson RC. Enhancing evidence-based diabetes and chronic disease control among local health departments: a multi-phase dissemination study with a stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial component. Implementation Science. October 18 2017;12(1):122.