141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

278077
Increasing capacity to promote health equity: Using evaluation to inform a professional development curriculum

Tuesday, November 5, 2013 : 4:30 PM - 4:50 PM

Carlyn Hood, MPA, MPH , Population Health Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI
According to RWJF's County Health Rankings, the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) account for at least 40% of health outcomes. What programs within the Wisconsin Division of Public Health (DPH) are doing to address the root causes of health inequity has been unclear. For this reason, in 2012 an assessment was conducted to determine what Bureau of Community Health Promotion programs are working on to promote health equity. Several commonalities resulted from the 2 surveys (n=62) and key informant interviews (n=8), including the desire for a better understanding of the approaches other programs were taking, moderate comfort in discussing/working on health disparity issues, and the desire for professional development in health equity. From these recurring themes a health equity curriculum was established and has been implemented. Building on NACCHO's “Roots of Health Inequity” 5 module online curriculum, the course introduces and expands upon the SDoH. Staff meet bi-monthly to watch videos, complete activities, participate in discussions, and hear presentations from community organizations involved in health equity work. Post module evaluations are being conducted and participating staff will be recognized by Bureau leadership at course end in January 2014. By enhancing staff knowledge about health equity internally, our external messages and programming are more apt to address concepts we might not have previously considered. The assessment and professional development curriculum explored in this presentation better equips Wisconsin public health professionals with the tools, knowledge and resources to use in exploring new health disparity issues and creating health equity focused program priorities.

Learning Areas:
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Diversity and culture
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Program planning
Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
Describe the tools used and results of Wisconsin’s Division of Public Health (Bureau of Community Health Promotion) Fall 2012 health disparities assessment. Identify resources used to increase workforce health equity capacity. Discuss the approach used in creating a professional development curriculum aimed at exploring the Social Determinants of Health.

Keywords: Health Disparities, Social Justice

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I received my MPA & MPH in Madison Wisconsin. International work in Vietnam allowed me to see the importance & differences in public infrastructure and how that impacts health outcomes. As a post-masters population health fellow, my passion and motivation for work in the public health field centers around social justice and increasing awareness about health equity and the social determinants of health.
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.