2015 APHA Annual Meeting & Expo

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Recorded Annual Meeting Presentations (RAMP) are now available for purchase.
Only $90 for presenters, $140 for registered attendees and $200 for non-attendees.

Online Program

324926
Applying evidence based practices in rural communities


Monday, November 2, 2015

Linda Soberano, MPH, Bureau of Primary Health Care - Office of Southern Health Services /Southwest Division, HRSA, Rockville, MD
Christina Villalobos, MPH, Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, Health Resources and Services Administration, Rockville, MD
Amanda Philips Martinez, MPH, Georgia Health Policy Center
Tina Anderson Smith, Georgia Health Policy Center
Background

When community programs are grounded in evidence-based or promising practice models, organizations spend less time “recreating the wheel” and more time executing programs proven effective. While there are few rural evidence-based models, the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) has established an evidence-based principle in its grant programs and resources in order to build a more robust rural evidence base.

Methods

The Rural Health Care Services Outreach Grant Program (Outreach), which expands outreach and healthcare service delivery in rural communities, revamped its program to emphasize the use/adaption of evidence-based/promising practice models to address grantee-specific community needs. Additionally, FORHP developed the Rural Community Health Gateway, which contains evidence-based resources and tools.

Results

In 2012, 71 Outreach grantees adopted or tailored an evidence based/promising practice model. A grantee in Georgia adapted the National Diabetes Education Program “Power to Prevent: A Family Lifestyle Approach to Diabetes Prevention” curriculum and found at the end of their second year 89% of their diabetic adult patients had a HgA1c <8.0%. Another grantee serves the seriously mentally ill (SMI) using the IMPACT and Quadrant IV Clinical Integration models to integrate behavioral and physical healthcare. From project year one to two, they observed a 25% increase in the percentage of SMI diabetic adults maintaining a HbA1c <8.0%. Final outcomes for all grantees will be available summer 2015. This information will help enrich a rural evidence base and strengthen resources on the Gateway.

Conclusion

The application and impact of evidence-based/promising practice models in rural communities are positive.

Learning Areas:

Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Program planning

Learning Objectives:
Identify rural evidence-based tools and resources Discuss how a national program has helped community organizations apply evidence-based and promising practice models into rural communities

Keyword(s): Rural Health, Community Health Programs

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the program coordinator for this grant program.
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.

Back to: 3317.0: Predictors of Health Disparities: Identifying Targets for Change