Lynn D. Woodhouse

Choosing a Route of Administration for Quadrivalent Meningococcal Polysaccharide Vaccine: Intramuscular versus Subcutaneous

A clinical trial was conducted to compare intramuscular (im) with subcutaneous (sc) routes for administration of quadrivalent meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine in 141 adults. Safety assessment showed the im route had reduced erythema (P<.01) and reduced headache on days 1 and 2 (P<.05). Serological testing for serum bactericidal antibody titers against capsular groups A and C did not detect significant differences.

Building Health Promotion Capacity in Developing Countries: Strategies From 60 Years of Experience in the United States:

The Galway Consensus Conference articulated key definitions, principles, values, and core domains of practice as the foundation for the diffusion of health promotion across the globe. The conference occurred in the context of an urgent need for large numbers of trained health workers in developing countries, which face multiple severe threats to the health of their people. In this article, the authors draw on the experience acquired by the health promotion profession in the United States to illustrate what might be done to build health promotion capacity in developing countries. They examine the professions experience in the areas of accreditation and certification, research and publications, advocating for the profession, and advocating for public health policy. Finally, the authors direct a challenge to the profession in the United States to extend a hand to developing countries to assist them in expanding their capacity to prepare health promotion professionals and deliver health promotion services.

Framing a Transdisciplinary Research Agenda in Health Education to Address Health Disparities and Social Inequities: A Road Map for SOPHE Action:

SOPHE leaders continue to challenge us to be true to the call for an “open society.” SOPHE has supported the Healthy People 2010 goal of eliminating health disparities through its Strategic Plan. SOPHE held an Inaugural Health Education Research Disparities Summit, Health Disparities and Social Inequities: Framing a Transdisciplinary Research Agenda in Health Education, August 8 and 9, 2005. This article explains the process used at the Summit where more than 80 researchers, academicians, practitioners, and students from across the country convened to ask fundamental questions about health disparity associated with race and ethnicity and how a health education research agenda could help in eliminating these disparities. From this Summit, about a dozen questions and/or recommendations have been developed to frame our future discussions about health disparities. Through its Research Agenda Committee, SOPHE has developed a process of translation and dissemination, including community participation, review, dialogue, and action

Tobacco Policy and the Role of Law Enforcement in Prevention: The Value of Understanding Context:

The Florida Office of Tobacco Control sponsors evaluations of the effect of its comprehensive youth tobacco prevention initiatives. As part of this evaluation, a quasi-experiment designed to assess the effect of law enforcement on youth tobacco use was conducted. An in-depth qualitative study was a critical component of this research. This study provided a rich description of the context in which law enforcement was implemented. Data collection involved interviews with judges, clerks of court, and selected officials in each of the study counties. Approximately 70 interviews were conducted. Extensive, ongoing computer-assisted analysis complemented the process. Several consistent themes emerged during the research that helped to give contextual meaning to the findings. These themes provided critical insights into the complexity of policies about youth tobacco possession, and the findings helped illuminate the varying contexts in which these interventions were applied.

Exploring the Versatility of Qualitative Design for Evaluating Community Substance Abuse Prevention Projects

Evaluation of community organization and intervention programs presents challenges that cannot be addressed through traditional outcome-oriented paradigms. The versatility of qualitative designs and methodologies was illustrated in their application to a multiple-agency community substance abuse prevention project. The evaluation provided a historical reconstruction of the project along with important summative and formative information. However, the value of qualitative evaluation extended beyond the expected outcomes of evaluation. The interactive nature of the qualitative design and methods contributed to empowerment, enhanced communication, clarified roles, and offered a clearer understanding of the balance of power among the partners involved in the project.

Survey of Accredited Master of Public Health (MPH) Programs With Health Education Concentrations: A Resource for Strengthening the Public Health Workforce

The authors designed survey research to assess accredited master of public health (MPH) programs with health education concentrations. A Web-based survey was distributed to program directors and was used to collect characteristics of program faculty, students, graduates, internships, employment, and competency development. Results indicate that students and graduates are diverse; 72% of students complete internships and 61% of graduates work in government or community public health–related agencies; 98% of faculty hold a doctoral degree and 67% have at least one degree from an accredited public health school or program; and 85% of programs build competencies in most of the Institute of Medicine–suggested areas. The authors conclude that accredited MPH programs with a concentration in health education train diverse public health practitioners highly likely to work in a government or community public health agency with competencies to enhance public health.

A Merged Model of Quality Improvement and Evaluation: Maximizing Return on Investment

Quality improvement (QI) and evaluation are frequently considered to be alternative approaches for monitoring and assessing program implementation and impact. The emphasis on third-party evaluation, particularly associated with summative evaluation, and the grounding of evaluation in the social and behavioral science contrast with an emphasis on the integration of QI process within programs or organizations and its origins in management science and industrial engineering. Working with a major philanthropic organization in Georgia, we illustrate how a QI model is integrated with evaluation for five asthma prevention and control sites serving poor and underserved communities in rural and urban Georgia. A primary foundation of this merged model of QI and evaluation is a refocusing of the evaluation from an intimidating report card summative evaluation by external evaluators to an internally engaged program focus on developmental evaluation. The benefits of the merged model to both QI and evaluation are discussed. The use of evaluation based logic models can help anchor a QI program in evidence-based practice and provide linkage between process and outputs with the longer term distal outcomes. Merging the QI approach with evaluation has major advantages, particularly related to enhancing the funder’s return on investment. We illustrate how a Plan-Do-Study-Act model of QI can (a) be integrated with evaluation based logic models, (b) help refocus emphasis from summative to developmental evaluation, (c) enhance program ownership and engagement in evaluation activities, and (d) increase the role of evaluators in providing technical assistance and support.

Thematic analysis of documents from the SOPHE health disparity elimination research agenda summit: illuminating competencies for future researchers and practitioners.

Public health education researchers are adopting a view that disparities are a product of social systems exposures. As a result, the researchers are facilitating a review of the research questions asked and highlighting underlying assumptions informing the interpretation of results. It is within this view that the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) Health Disparities Elimination Research Agenda Summit was implemented. Aspects of planning for the Summit are described elsewhere in this journal. This article describes an effort to facilitate additional learning from the Summit through qualitative analysis of documents from the Summit. This analysis processes records and verifies the consistently highlighted ideas or the content that offers guidance on how to move toward engaging in research that supports change. In addition, the analysis illuminates insights about the context in which research strategies can develop and suggests skill development that can foster this important research in the emerging public health education workforce.

Assessing a Quality Improvement Project in a Georgia County Health Department

The study and evaluation of quality improvement among Georgia’s public health systems continues to be a major priority for the Georgia Public Health Practice Based Research Network (GAPH-PBRN). This article focuses on the application and evaluation of a Quality Improvement project in a Georgia County Health Department. The QI team sought to reduce the waiting time in the teen clinic; thereby, increasing the Quality Improvement culture one project at a time in this Health Department. The project revealed that Quality Improvement is a continuous process that requires change and adaptation by employees. This initial Quality Improvement project was the first step in helping to establish Quality Improvement culture in the County Health Department.

Building Capacity to Support and Study QI in Local Georgia Public Health Systems

The study of quality improvement within Georgia’s local public health systems provides important insight into the use of regional bodies as quality improvement (QI) collaboratives and multijurisdictional entities. This report describes QI initiatives following a RWJF funded quick strike research grant to assess health district capacity to conduct QI in Georgia’s local public health systems. These QI initiatives use QI to improve public health outcomes including: Adolescent pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Infection prevention, HIV prevention and control, and HIV Management.