Guide to Community Preventive Services

[Kuester, Sarah]

Pardon my crossposting. Thanks!  


> Hello.  Below are excerpts taken from the webpage describing the 

> development of a new publication called "The Guide to Community 

> Preventive Services." Components of the guide will be published as 

> they are completed, while the full document will be finalized in 2000.

> 

>  

> Thank you,

> Sarah Kuester

> Public Health Nutritionist

> Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

> sak2 at cdc.gov 

> 

> ---------------------------------------------------------------

> Source: http://web.health.gov/communityguide/

> Under the auspices of the U.S. Public Health Service, a Task 

> Force on Community Preventive Services (the Task Force) is

> developing a Guide to Community Preventive Services (the 

> Guide). The Guide will summarize what is known about the

> effectiveness of population-based interventions for prevention 

> and control. Where data exist, the Guide will also summarize

> information on the cost-effectiveness of these interventions. 

> Based on available evidence, the Guide will provide

> recommendations on these population-based interventions and 

> methods for their delivery. 

> 

> Purpose of the Guide: 

> The purpose of the Guide is to provide public health 

> practitioners, their community partners, and policy makers 

> with information needed for informed decision making on 

> the most effective and cost-effective public health strategies, 

> policies, and programs for their communities. Together, the 

> Guides to Clinical and Community Preventive Services will 

> lead to improve the health outcomes for the nation. 

> 

> Primary Target Audience: 

> The primary target audience of the Guide is persons involved 

> in the planning, funding, and implementation of population-based 

> services and policies to improve health at the community and 

> State level. 

> 

> Target Date for Completion: 

> The complete Guide is expected to be published by July 1, 2000, 

> with individual components being published as they are completed. 

> 

> Background: 

> During 1991-1992, a pilot effort was undertaken at CDC to 

> assess the feasibility of developing analytic frameworks and 

> synthesizing evidence on population-based interventions in 

> public health. In discussions during 1994, the Public Health 

> Functions Working Group, Department of Health and Human 

> Services, crystallized ideas on how to meet those needs and 

> considered the prospects for developing a guide that would 

> synthesize and present information on the effectiveness

> of population-based public health interventions. During 1994-

> 1995, the Council on Linkages between Academia and Public

> Health Practice, with support from the Kellogg Foundation 

> and in collaboration with federal, state, and local public health

> agencies, conducted a feasibility study (Practice Guidelines 

> for Public Health: Assessment of Scientific Evidence,

> Feasibility and Benefits, October, 1995), which resulted 

> in the "consensus that the development of public health 

> practice guidelines should be urgently pursued." Consequently, 

> development of a guide to community preventive services has 

> become a top priority for the Public Health Service. 

> 

> The Guide to Clinical Preventive Services, first issued by the 

> U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) in 1989, 

> has served as an important guide to practitioners in considering 

> which clinical preventive services to provide to their patients.

> Based on rigorous review of evidence, recommendations were 

> made on provision of primary and secondary prevention

> services (e.g., screening, immunization, chemoprophylaxis, 

> and counseling) to individuals in clinical settings. 

> 

> The Guide to Clinical Preventive Services did not include population-

> based approaches (e.g., community, occupational, school-based) 

> to public health services. Practitioners of public health, managed 

> care executives, health policy makers and payers for health care 

> have expressed a need for evidence-based recommendations upon 

> which they can make informed decisions for selecting and implementing 

> community preventive health services. 

> 

> The Guide to Community Preventive Services will complement the 

> USPSTF Guide to Clinical Preventive Services by focusing on 

> community-based prevention and control strategies. The Guide 

> will summarize what is known about the effectiveness of population-

> based interventions for prevention and control. Where data exist, 

> the Guide will also summarize information on the cost-effectiveness 

> of these interventions. Based on available evidence, the Guide will 

> provide recommendations on these population-based interventions 

> and methods for their delivery. 

> 

> Format and Content of the Guide: 

> The Task Force on Community Preventive Services has developed 

> a working Table of Contents for the Guide on Community Preventive 

> Services. The Guide will comprise several sections, each of which 

> will include several chapters. The working Table of Contents for the 

> Guide was developed based on the following considerations:

> 1) The following criteria: a) Coordinates with Healthy People 2000 

> (2010) Priority Areas; b) Allows for breadth of scope; c)

>  Incorporates prevalent risk behaviors with the most impact on 

> health; d) Addresses the causes of diminished health among

> children and young adults; e) Reduces replication of interventions 

> common to several diseases or risk behaviors; and f) Provides 

> information on implementation of interventions; 2) An analysis of 

> the overlap between the Healthy People 2000 Priority Areas, 

> the Actual Causes of Death described by McGinnis and Foege, 

> and estimates of the burden of chronic diseases for adults and 

> children; and, 3) A discussion at the April 1997 quarterly Task 

> Force on Community Preventive Services meeting where Task 

> Force members debated the utility of each proposed section 

> and chapter heading. 

> 

> The Task Force on Community Preventive Services:

> The Task Force on Community Preventive Services is an 

> independent, non-federal Task Force and consists of 15

> members, including a chair, appointed by the Director of 

> CDC. The Task Force's membership is multi-disciplinary, 

> and includes perspectives representative of state and local 

> health departments, managed care, academia, behavioral 

> and social sciences, communications sciences, mental health, 

> epidemiology, quantitative policy analysis, decision and cost-

> effectiveness analysis, information systems, primary care, and 

> management and policy. The Task Force meets approximately 

> quarterly. 

> 

> The Task Force is complemented by the active participation of 

> four consultants who have had previous experience with other

> evidence-based guidelines efforts, Federal Agency liaison members 

> and liaison representatives from professional organizations involved 

> with population-based preventive services. 

> 

> Role of the Task Force: 

> The Task Force is determining the scope of the Guide, topics 

> to be addressed by the Guide, and the most appropriate means 

> to assess evidence regarding population-based interventions. The 

> Task Force will review and assess the quality of available evidence 

> on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of essential community 

> preventive health services, and develop recommendations. 

>