Assessing National Capacity for Injury and Violence Prevention: Findings from the 2013 State of the States (SOTS) Survey

Purpose:  Injuries are the leading cause of death for people 1-44 years of age in the United States.  State health department injury and violence prevention (IVP) programs are critical to building and sustaining delivery and support systems necessary to implement evidence-based programs and policies. This presentation will report results of the 2013 State of the States (SOTS) survey that assesses state public health departments’ capacity for IVP efforts.  Understanding the organizational capacity of state IVPPs is an essential step in increasing their ability to reduce injuries and violence. Methodology:  SOTS is a national, biennial survey administered by the Safe States Alliance to each SHD/IVPP in the U.S. It measures state IVP programs’ capacity across six “core components”:  infrastructure, data, program and policy strategies, partnerships, communication, and technical assistance and training. 2013 data will be compared to results from previous surveys to measure significant changes in key variables related to all core component areas.  Results: This presentation will report 2013 SOTS findings, highlight correlating capacity variables, and make comparisons across five survey administrations.  The presentation will also provide an overview of states’ capacity across six core component areas and highlight variables that show significant change over time. Finally, the presentation will discuss what these trends suggest for IVPPs nationally. Conclusions: State IVPPs have developed core capacities to help build and sustain prevention delivery systems.  Measuring changes in capacity highlights their achievements, identifies barriers to implementing evidence-based programs, and provides direction for future development.