Oral

On June 16, 2011 the Surgeon General and the National Prevention Council released the National Prevention Strategy (NPS). NPS is a comprehensive plan based on evidence-based approaches designed to increase the health of Americans at every stage of their lives. It is the community prevention and empowerment aspect of the Affordable Care Act. This strategy was developed collaboratively by 17 federal agencies and in consultation with diverse community and public health stakeholders. The NPS emphasizes prevention of disease through community capacity building, expansion of quality preventive services, and eliminating health disparities. Social work has a long tradition of transforming communities through social change and community health improvement. The APHA Social Work Section will host an in-depth panel discussion on the NPS from the nation’s leading experts in social work, community health, practice, policy and Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR). Expert panelists will discuss and outline the goals of the NPS as related to core areas of social work. Panelists will include: Larry Cohen, MSW, founder and Executive Director of Prevention Institute, a national non-profit dedicated to improving community health and equity through effective primary prevention (Overview of the NPS); Meredith Minkler, DrPH, Professor, University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health (Policy respondent); Paula Allen-Meares, MSW, PhD, Chancellor, the University of Illinois at Chicago (Education/ Research respondent) and Marjorie Sable, DrPH, MPH, MSW Professor School of Social Work at the University of Missouri (Practice respondent).

Session Objectives: 1. Discuss the National Prevention Strategy (NPS) and its public health significance. 2. Describe the NPS four strategic directions and their implications for social work, community health, practice and policy. 3. Identify a potential evidence-based prevention strategy for your community of interest and its relationship to the National Prevention Strategy.

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH)