Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #112196

Rebecca Ledsky, MBA¹, Maria Gomez-Murphy², Joanne Leslie, ScD³, Alison Hughes, MPA⁴, Cristine Russell⁵, Claire Brindis, DrPH⁶, Virginia A. Caine, MD⁷, Sabrina Matoff, MA⁸, and Reem Ghandour, MPA⁸. (1) Health Systems Research, Inc., 1200 18th St, NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20036, 202 828-5100, RLedsky@hsrnet.com, (2) The Promotora Institute, The Way of the Heart, 125 E. Madison Street, Nogales, AZ 85621, (3) School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, Box 951772, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772, (4) Rural Health Office, University of Arizona, 2501 East Elm Street, Tucson, AZ 85716, (5) Freelance Health/Medical Writer, 83 Turning Mill Lane, New Canaan, CT 06840, (6) Center for Reproductive Health Research and Policy, University of California at San Francisco, 3333 California Street; Suite 265, San Francisco, CA 94143-0936, (7) Marion County Health Department, Office of the Director, Marion County Health Department, 3838 North Rural Street, Indianapolis, IN 46205, (8) Office of Women's Health, HRSA, 5600 Fishers Lane, Room 18A-44, Rockville, MD 20857

Background: Established in 2001, the Federally-funded BFWHW identifies opportunities and creates tools to help integrate prevention into self- and provider-delivered healthcare for women across the lifespan. Tools on physical activity and healthy eating for adult women and their healthcare providers were developed to increase communication and facilitate realistic goal setting; tools for adolescent females and communities were also developed. The adult tool was evaluated to assess acceptability, feasibility, and potential impact.

Methods: Pilot testing at three clinical sites, including two Federally-qualified health centers, and one hospital-based clinic using OMB-approved questionnaires was completed by 910 clients and 30 providers. Phone interviews were conducted with 5 clinic administrators.

Results: Sixty-five percent of women talked to their providers about the tool contents, obtaining recommendations, and setting goals. Women cited moderately-strong intentions to improve their nutrition and physical activity. Intention was associated with the number of patient-provider activities (r =0.68). Providers significantly increased their discussion about physical activity and nutrition with patients. Half of the providers (n=16) would continue using the tool and 58% would recommend it to colleagues. Administrator feedback was positive regarding patient experience and tool implementation.

Conclusions: Testing tools with potential users is critical to their eventual utilization. A well-designed clinical conversation starter can increase patient-provider communication, promote focused discussion, and increase intent to improve physical activity and healthy eating behaviors. Tools should focus attention on how topics are relevant to women's daily lives. Underserved women may particularly benefit from preventive health tools that encourage patient-provider communication and shared goal setting.

Learning Objectives:

• After this session, participants should be able to
• • Identify the unique features of the Bright Futures for Women’s Health and Wellness Initiative
• • Describe the methods used to evaluate a patient-provider nutrition and physical activity communication tool
• • Discuss features of tools that have a strong chance of being acceptable to women and their healthcare providers, feasible to use in clinical settings, and have the potential to impact women’s nutrition and physical activity.

Keywords: Communication Evaluation, Underserved Populations

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.