Have theory will travel

Tonight I learned a valuable lesson while working on a survey. I don't have to come up with all of it on my own! Someone else has probably come up with something *similar*-- doesn't have to be exactly what I'm doing but close enough. I can look at their theory and see if it truly fits with what I want (after deciding as to whether it was the appropriate theory to apply). I can then use it to figure out the path to take.

What theories/models are out there that help explain health behaviors? How about the Transtheoretical Model and Stages of Changes? Theory of Reasoned Action and Theory of Planned Behavior? Social Cognitive Theory? Health Belief Model?

If you'd like to see how you can utilize them to help you plan your health promotion programs, take a look at Theory at a Glance: A Guide for Health Promotion Practice (pdf) from the National Cancer Institute.

Or, if you're feeling really motivated, there's a great book by Glanz, Rimer, and Lewis, Health Behavior and Health Education: Theory, Research, and Practice. It's available from Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0787957151

Cheers!

Blogging for Community Indicators

Here's blog I stumbled on one evening that you might enjoy.

http://communityindicators.blogspot.com/

He's done a mighty fine job of tracking online resources of community indicators. For those of you who take my EBPH workshop, maybe you'll become enamored with the whole community indicators thing. I am, although I don't get to study it the way I wish I could. Instead, I spend my time trying to find more sources of data and then organizing those sources so you can put the information all together, write those grants, prove your programs work, make City Hall happy-- whatever it is you need to do.

Take a spin through the Community Indicators blog. I found some great resources on it; I hope you do too.

Community Indicators

I don't know about you but one of the things I find the hardest to do is to start with a blank canvas. I need to see examples or templates--something that shows me how it might be done that I can not exactly copy but model from. It's not plagiarism. I just need ideas. Sometimes I start by borrowing structure, then revising to fit what I need to say. Sometimes I look at multiple examples, then pluck from each what works for me. Why reinvent the wheel?

Of course, I willgive credit where credit is due-- I'm not about the plagiarism! But what I'm talking about is different. Sometimes I just...don't...know...how...to...get...started.

If you're like me, then the thought of doing a community assessment from scratch could be a daunting task indeed. That's one reason I've been working on my community assessment workbook (coming soon). I figured I know where the data is hiding so I would create an Excel workbook that has select Healthy People 2010 objectives, US data, and Texas data. (Sorry for those of you in other states--I'm located in Texas and that's been the focus of my work.)

Here's the kicker-- I've also got links to sources of county data for every one of the objectives in my workbook. I've also weeded out the stuff that HP 2010 asks for that isn't easily available. I promise-- I'll have a link to it soon!

But-- you still have to put pen to paper, er, fingers to keyboard and write a descriptive text about your community. You can't hand people a bunch of printouts from a spreadsheet, right?

So, to make a short story long, here is one site that serves as a gateway to bunches of indicator initiators:

http://www.iisd.org/measure/compendium/

Here's a blurb from their web site:

"Welcome to version two of the Compendium of Sustainable Development Indicator Initiatives, a worldwide directory of who is doing what in the field of sustainability indicators. Work on an earlier version of the Compendium was carried out with several partners and donors, including the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), Environment Canada, Redefining Progress, the World Bank and the United Nations Division for Sustainable Development."

Just for kicks, go to:

http://www.iisd.org/measure/compendium/searchinitiatives.aspxvv

to do a search for health. Limit the Scope to Local/Community and you'll still get bunches of hits. Try just public health for fewer results.

Happy searching! I hope you find this useful....

Access to Health Data

I'm a data nut. Okay, I don't necessarily want to either gather it or analyze it. I just want to know where it can be found! Here is my attempt to find all the data that is meaningful for Texas.
CHARTing Health Information for Texas
http://www.sph.uth.tmc.edu/charting/

The site is organized by:
Cause of Illness or Death: http://www.sph.uth.tmc.edu/charting/causes.htm
This section is further broken out into broad categories-- cancer, cardiovascular disease, other chronic diseases, infectious diseases, mathernal & child health, accidents & suicide, and other.


Sociodemography & Community Characteristics: http://www.sph.uth.tmc.edu/charting/social_community.htm
Health and health outcomes aren't just about how many times we see a doctor. There are many factors that influence our health (determinants of health). In this section, I've organized links to resources around some of those influences. So far I have 11 categories.

Environmental/Occupational Health: http://www.sph.uth.tmc.edu/charting/environment.htm

There are other resources on this site as well as the major areas listed above.

EBPH Web Sites

My goal is to make this as easy as I can for you. So, I created an Evidence-Based Public Health web site on my Library site that you can access.

http://www.sph.uth.tmc.edu/library/default.aspx?id=2909

From this page, you can search for systematic reviews which help you determine what we really know about interventions, health theories, treatments, etc.
http://www.sph.uth.tmc.edu/library/default.aspx?id=2909#systematic

There are guides to developing your own systematic review should you be so inclined.
http://www.sph.uth.tmc.edu/library/default.aspx?id=2909#develop

There are links to evidence-based guidelines:
http://www.sph.uth.tmc.edu/library/default.aspx?id=2909#guidelines

best practices:
http://www.sph.uth.tmc.edu/library/default.aspx?id=2909#best

other EBPH sites:
http://www.sph.uth.tmc.edu/library/default.aspx?id=2909#meta

and much more.

Welcome to Evidence-Based Public Health

This blog has been created to support a series of workshops. The project has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the National Library of Medicine National lnstitutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No NO1-LM-6-3505.

Resources used in the class will be listed here as well as other resources that public health practitioners (PHPs) might find useful.

I'm located in Texas so many of my links will be relevant only for Texas PHPs. Not all, but many!

I know you have many blog choices in addition to mine, so thank you for visiting!