223359 Consumer Health Portal: An Informatics Tool for Translation and Visualization of Complex, Evidence-Based Population Health Data for Cancer Prevention and Control

Tuesday, November 9, 2010 : 11:10 AM - 11:20 AM

Paul Courtney, MS , Clinical Monitoring Research Program, SAIC-Frederick, Inc., NCI-Frederick, Frederick, MD
Abdul R. Shaikh, PhD, MHSc , National Cancer Institute, Division of Cancer Control and Population Science, Behavioral Research Program, National Cancer Institute, Rockville, MD
Noshir Contractor, PhD , Director, Science of Networks in Communities (SONIC) Research Laboratory, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
Deborah McGuinness, PhD , Department of Computer Science and Cognitive Science Department, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
Li Ding, PhD , Department of Computer Science, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
Erik M. Augustson, PhD , Tobacco Control Research Branch, National Cancer Institute, Rockville, MD
Kelly Blake, ScD , Health Communication & Informatics Research Branch, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD
Glen D. Morgan, PhD , Behavioral Research Program, National Cancer Institute, Rockville, MD
Richard Moser, PhD , Behavioral Research Program, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD
Gordon Willis, PhD , Division of Cancer Control and Prevention, National Cancer Institute, Rockville, MD
Bradford W. Hesse, PhD , Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch, National Cancer Institute, Rockville, MD
This presentation will describe the development and implementation of the National Cancer Institute's Consumer Health Portal (CHP), a web site addressing the Federal Government's mandate to increase public access to high value data (data.gov). Designed to present complex, evidence-based population health data primarily for consumers, but also applicable to public health planners, population scientists, and policy makers, CHP provides a single point of access to data, analytic, and visualization tools for cancer prevention and control. This portal enables users to explore how they and their community may compare with state and national trends in risk factors for cancer and related behaviors including tobacco use, physical activity, nutrition, and cancer screening. Data for these comparisons are drawn from publicly available public health datasets such as BRFSS, HINTS, NHIS, and SEER, linked to other regional and national data (e.g., cigarette tax, health policy, and other sociodemographic data). By integrating these data within an interactive geospatial interface, location-specific information on the built environment (e.g., parks and trails for physical activity, farmers markets,…) and related public health resources (e.g., smoking quit-lines, screening clinics) can help users locate personally relevant resources. In addition to describing the challenges of creating an interface for consumers that can provide actionable information from complex statistical data, the presentation will include a live demonstration of CHPs features including the utilization of crowd-sourcing to provide feedback and ratings on location- and domain-specific resources.

Learning Areas:
Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Communication and informatics
Public health or related education
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
1. Describe the challenges of portraying complex data using geospatial data visualization interfaces to consumers. 2. Differentiate the conceptual models that consumers, public health planners, population scientists and policy makers use in understanding health data.

Keywords: Public Health Informatics, Cancer Prevention

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I provide guidance to the programs in the NCI/DCCPS on how best to utilize biomedical informatics tools and infrastructure in support of the program goals.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.