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Session Title: Using Evaluation to Inform Public Health Policy: A Sodium Reduction Perspective
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Panel Session 768 to be held in El Capitan A on Friday, Nov 4, 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM
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Sponsored by the Health Evaluation TIG
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| Chair(s): |
| Rashon Lane, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, rlane@cdc.gov
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| Abstract:
This session will show the value of using evaluation to inform and support public health policy. Throughout this session presenters will highlight how they use various evaluation methods to expand what is known about public health policy interventions in the area of sodium reduction. This includes a national perspective on using evaluation to build practice based evidence, employing case study methodology at a community level, and a unique county level perspective on the use of evaluation data to inform decision makers on policies that impact county residents. The critical role evaluation plays in supporting sodium reduction strategies in the United States will be highlighted by all of the presenters.
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Informing Public Health Policy: A National Perspective on the Role of Evaluation
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| Rashon Lane, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, rlane@cdc.gov
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| Jan Losby, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, kfy9@cdc.gov
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| Kristy Mugervero, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, klynchmugavero@cdc.gov
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The Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention (DHDSP) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention utilizes evaluation to build practice based evidence when expanding into new areas of program planning and policy development. The presenters will describe how a portfolio of evaluation approaches can be used to build practice based evidence. DHDSP uses evaluation tools (e.g., logic models) and methods (e.g., case study, benchmarking, surveys) to inform future public health policies in the area of sodium reduction. DHDSP presenters will share how evaluators and policy staff work together with internal and external stakeholders to enhance evaluation planning. This session will demonstrate the critical role evaluation plays to inform public health policy at the national level.
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Using Case Study Methods to Evaluate Policy, Systems and Environmental Changes and Build the Evidence Base for Community Sodium Reduction Efforts
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| Heather Kane, RTI International, hkane@rti.org
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| LaShawn Curtis, RTI International, lcurtis@rti.org
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| Jim Hersey, RTI International, hersey@rti.org
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| Barri Burrus, RTI International, mcf@rti.org
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| Marjorie Margolis, RTI International, mmargolis@rti.org
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Implementing policy, systems and environmental (PSE) changes has become an important strategy for improving public health, but not a lot of guidance for evaluation in this area exists. Evaluation is needed to show the impact and value of these approaches. This presentation will describe how the evaluation team will employ in-depth case studies and cross-site analyses to build the evidence base for sodium reduction PSEs. The in-depth, individual case studies will examine PSE development, adoption and implementation in Sodium Reduction in Communities Program awardees and will identify successes, best practices, and lessons learned. The team will also employ conduct a cross-site analysis to examine common processes or patterns. Assessing these meaningful commonalities across sites can increase confidence in the results by contributing to "user-generalizability," a construct similar to external validity. The presentation will conclude with a discussion the promises and challenges of employing case study methods to assess PSE interventions.
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Translating Evidence to Practice: The Use of Data to Drive Local Policy - A Los Angeles County Perspective
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| Tony Kuo, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, tkuo@ph.lacounty.gov
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| Patricia Cummings, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, pcummings@ph.lacounty.gov
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| Gloria Kim, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, glkim@ph.lacounty.gov
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| Brenda Robles, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, brrobles@ph.lacounty.gov
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| Margaret Shih, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, mshih@ph.lacounty.gov
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The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health routinely conducts research and uses program evaluation as transformative means for translating evidence into practice, especially for public policy development. Strategic use of data through innovative approaches such as the health impact assessment (HIA) can be highly effective in offering clarity on complex policy issues and in convincing decision-makers to adopt policies that have salutary health impacts. The presenters will share the Los Angeles County experience on how scientific data have been used in the past and are presently being used to drive local policy. Case examples from the Department's portfolio, including the use of the HIA to inform menu labeling legislations, the application of earned media strategies (e.g., public release of surveillance data) to raise public awareness of key policy issues, and the recent effort to reduce sodium content through food procurement policy research will be described in detail.
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