Community Health
Guidelines and Recommendations

Below are selected prevention and treatment guidelines, recommendations, frameworks, approaches, and other documents related to community health. Also see related links on this page.

Key School Strategies to Prevent Childhood Obesity (10/30/05)http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/keystrategies/
The percentage of children who are overweight has more than doubled, and among adolescents the rates have more than tripled since 1980. Overweight is a risk factor for health conditions such as diabetes and is associated with problems such as poor self-esteem. The good news is that schools can help students and staff adopt healthy eating and physical activity behaviors that are the keys to preventing obesity!

Promising Practices in Chronic Disease Prevention and Control (2003)
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/promising_practices/
CDC developed this book to share its vision of how states and their partners can reduce the prevalence of chronic diseases and their risk factors by instituting comprehensive statewide programs. The recommendations for achieving this vision are based on prevention effectiveness research; program evaluations; and the expert opinions of national, state, and local leaders and public health practitioners, including CDC staff. Includes chapters on diabetes, stroke, cancer, arthritis, oral health, healthy eating and physical activity, tobacco, and school health.

Priorities Among Recommended Clinical Preventive Services (Press Release) (2001)
http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/r010622.htm
AJPM Web Site
http://www.meddevel.com/site.mash?left=/library.exe&m1=1&m2=1&right=
/library.exe&action=home&site=AJPM&jcode=AMEPRE (Non-CDC site)
The article describes the results of a systematic assessment of the value of 30 clinical preventive services recommended for average-risk patients by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force based on the services’ cost effectiveness and potential to protect health. High-ranking services delivered to less than half of Americans include: assessing all adults for tobacco use and providing tobacco cessation counseling; screening adults 65+ years for undetected vision impairments; Screening adults 50+ years for colorectal cancer; screening sexually active women 15-24 years for chlamydia; screening adults for problem drinking and providing counseling; and vaccinating adults 65+ years against pneumococcal disease. Five other top-ranking services, which are currently delivered to more than half of Americans, and should continue to be emphasized include: vaccinating all children; screening for cervical cancer among women; screening for hypertension; screening for high blood cholesterol; vaccinating adults 65+ years against influenza. Published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (AJPM) 2001:21(1)

Guide to Community Preventive Services
http://www.cdc.gov/epo/communityguide.htm
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. 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.

PATCH – Planned Approach to Community Health
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/publications/PATCH/pdf/00patch.pdf
The Planned Approach to Community Health (PATCH), developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its partners, is widely recognized as an effective model for planning, conducting, and evaluating community health promotion and disease prevention programs. It is used by diverse communities in the United States and several nations to address a variety of health concerns such as cardiovascular disease, HIV, injuries, teenage pregnancy, and access to health care. The PATCH Guide is designed to be used by the local coordinator and contains "how to" information on the process, things to consider when adapting the process to your community, and sample overheads and handout materials.

Framework for Program Evaluation in Public Health (1999)
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr4811a1.htm
PDF
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/rr/rr4811.pdf
Effective program evaluation is a systematic way to improve and account for public health actions by involving procedures that are useful, feasible, ethical, and accurate. The recommended framework was developed to guide public health professionals in using program evaluation. It is a practical, nonprescriptive tool, designed to summarize and organize the essential elements of program evaluation. The framework comprises steps in evaluation practice and standards for effective evaluation. The framework is composed of six steps that must be taken in any evaluation. They are starting points for tailoring an evaluation to a particular public health effort at a particular time. Because the steps are all interdependent, they might be encountered in a nonlinear sequence; however, an order exists for fulfilling each -- earlier steps provide the foundation for subsequent progress. Thus, decisions regarding how to execute a step are iterative and should not be finalized until previous steps have been thoroughly addressed.

Engaging Faith Communities as Partners in Improving Community Health (1999)
http://www.phppo.cdc.gov/documents/faithhealth.pdf
Partnerships between faith organization and the health system, be it medical care or public health, are not new. These partnerships, however, are not as common as we hope them to be. The information presented here is intended to expand understanding and collaboration between faith organizations and health organizations. The individual capacity of these organizational sectors is impressive, but their combined capacity to promote community health is enormous. The forum, Engaging Faith Communities as Partners in Improving Community Health, was held in November of 1997 and addressed three topic areas: separation of Church and State, an important consideration for effective collaboration between public health and faith; understanding what science has discovered regarding the influence of faith on health at the individual and community levels; and current partnerships and best practices of faith and health collaborations involving CDC or other federal agencies.

Principles of Community Engagement (1997)
http://www.cdc.gov/phppo/pce/index.htm
Increasingly, community involvement and collaborations have become the foundation of public health action. CDC has seen the need to broaden the understanding of the key principles of community engagement, and is pleased to offer Principles of Community Engagement to public health professionals and community leaders interested in engaging the community in health decision-making and action. This document represents the first time that the relevant theory and practical experience of community engagement has been synthesized and presented as practical principles, or guidelines, for this important work. It contains definitions of key concepts and insights from the literature that support and influence the activities of community engagement. The principles, a set of nine fundamental guiding ideas, form the core of the document and hold true for efforts across public health disciplines regardless of the initiating organizations. A series of case examples, taken from real-life experiences, link these principles to the major components of the community engagement process.

Related Links

Community Health: Women's Health Topics A-Z
http://www.cdc.gov/women/az/commhlth.htm

Guide to Community Preventive Services
http://www.cdc.gov/epo/communityguide.htm

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This page last reviewed February 14, 2004
URL: http://www.cdc.gov/women/gderecom/commhlth.htm

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Office of Women's Health