CDC Prevention Research Centers' Policy and Environmental Changes to Promote Healthy Communities

Introduction: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Winnable Battles (e.g., obesity prevention, tobacco control) describe public health priorities with large-scale impact and known, effective strategies to intervene. The CDC's Prevention Research Centers (PRC) Program funds schools of public health and medicine to conduct health promotion and disease prevention research using community-based participatory research. This study examines the extent to which the PRCs influenced policy and environmental changes in communities during fiscal year 2010, the types of changes, and their alignment with the Winnable Battles. Methods: PRC Program office staff conducted telephone interviews in fall 2010 with key informants from the PRCs to collect information about each PRC's contribution to the creation or alteration of policies and environmental changes to promote health or prevent disease. Raters coded each policy and environmental change's topic (e.g., obesity, tobacco) and the PRC's role in the change (e.g., partnership, conducting research). Results: In fiscal year 2010, PRCs contributed to approximately 60 local policy and environmental changes. Examples of policy and environmental changes included prohibiting smoking on a school campus and creating healthy eating zones in a city. The PRCs' involvement in those policy and environmental changes included partnering with the American Cancer Society and conducting research to inform a taskforce. Conclusions: Results demonstrate the PRCs' numerous contributions towards policy and environmental changes to promote health and prevent disease within communities. These changes demonstrate that the PRCs have substantial impact on promoting healthy communities and are contributing to fighting the CDC's Winnable Battles.