Resources for best practices in decision making in US local health departments: Variation across program area

Background. Public health practitioners incorporate evidence from various sources to make decisions on how to improve public health system performance and health outcomes. Knowledge about resources that comprise the evidence base and inform best practices in public health administration is lacking, particularly in local health departments (LHDs). Methods. We analyzed data from the Local Evidence Affecting Decisions in Public Health study to examine resources for evidence-based decision-making (EBDM) among LHDs. The cross-sectional survey assessed LHD practitioners' use of resources for EBDM in policy and program development (9 items) and for learning about the latest research findings (15 items), in addition to demographics, organizational context, barriers to EBDM, and core competencies in EBDM. Participants included LHD practitioners in three program areas: chronic disease (n=99), infectious disease (n=113), and environmental health (n=100) (preliminary response rates: 59%, 64%, and 56%, respectively). Analyses included descriptive statistics and chi-square tests to assess differences in proportions across groups. Results. Overall, the most commonly ranked resources guiding EBDM in policy and program planning included state agencies (58%), funders (52%) and agency leadership (48%). Patterns differed with respect to program area. Systematic reviews and health planning tools were more highly ranked in chronic disease (p<.05), while individual scientific studies were a top resource in infectious disease (p<.05). The most commonly ranked resources for recent research findings were seminars (53%), professional associations (36%), academic journals (34%), and email alerts (32%). Across programs, social media use was more common in chronic disease while professional associations were a more common resource in infectious disease. Conclusions. These findings provide insights into commonly used resources guiding EBDM in LHD program and policy development. Differences in resource utilization across program area suggest global strategies to improve EBDM may need to be tailored differently to various practitioner groups at the local level.