Collaborative leadership strategies to implement and evaluate a preterm prevention program

Preterm birth, the number one cause of newborn death and infant morbidity in the US, impacts health throughout life. Yet despite decades of research and prevention programs, the rates have increased 20% since 1990 and annually about 1-in-8 infants (>540,000) are born premature. An innovative 3-year (2007-2009) ecological design program in Kentucky, Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait (HBWW), tackled this issue in 6 geographically disparate sites. To plan, implement and evaluate HBWW it was essential to leverage resources and support from state and local public health departments, hospitals, clinicians, public health workers, public relations, media, hospital administration, the Kentucky Perinatal Association (KPA), professional organizations (AWHONN, ACOG), and local and national March of Dimes. Key to program administration were biweekly meetings of the leadership team (the Executive Program Board, with key membership from the partners- March of Dimes, Johnson & Johnson Pediatric Institute, and the Kentucky Department for Public Health; and the program director, evaluator, administrator, manager, field coordinator and communications/media expert). On a monthly basis, team leaders from the clinical intervention sites participated, and quarterly meetings included the local public health department team leaders from the intervention sites. Other resources/tools included: the program extranet with restricted access to all HBWW documents, materials, minutes of meetings, and presentation and evaluation materials; a program website; biannual Site Councils; scholarships for continuing education participation; presentations about the program at state and national meetings; regular newsletters; daily emails. Challenges, successes, lessons learned and recommendations from the collaborative HBWW initiative will be presented.