The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has developed technical packages to help states and communities take advantage of the best available evidence to prevent violence. A technical package is a collection of strategies that represent the best available evidence to prevent or reduce public health problems like violence. They can help improve the health and well-being of communities. A technical package has three parts.
– The strategy lays out the direction or actions to achieve the goal of preventing violence.
– The approach includes the specific ways to advance the strategy. This can be accomplished through programs, policies, and practices.
– The evidence for each of the approaches in preventing violence or its associated risk factors is included as the third component.
This Technical Package for Violence Prevention includes mutliple resources:
– Preventing Intimate Partner Violence Across the Lifespan: A Technical Package of Programs, Policies, and Practices[PDF]
– Preventing Suicide: A Technical Package of Policy, Programs, and Practices[PDF]
– A Comprehensive Technical Package for the Prevention of Youth Violence and Associated Risk Behaviors[PDF]
– STOP SV: A Technical Package to Prevent Sexual Violence[PDF]
– Preventing Child Abuse & Neglect: A Technical Package for Policy, Norm, and Programmatic Activities[PDF]
In addition, the Best Practices for Implementation resource below provides general guidance on implementation best practices.
The Safe States Alliance and the South by Southwest Injury Prevention Network present the “Evidence Webinar Series” – a three-part series that provides practitioners with principles, case studies, and resources to help them identify, understand, and utilize the evidence necessary to implement effective injury and violence prevention programs. The three webinars in this series are described below.
PART 1: Finding the Evidence
There has been an increasing focus on implementing “evidence-based” practices and programs, which is a beneficial for the field of public health, but has become a source of concern for many injury prevention and public health practitioners. The current reality is that while resources for injury prevention have always been tight, they are getting even tighter. Consequently, without the necessary funding, it can be difficult to implement these programs with fidelity. However, given the increasing focus on accountability and the need to demonstrate measurable outcomes, implementing programs that are grounded in evidence has become more important than ever. During Part 1 of the Evidence Webinar Series, participants will learn:
* The definition “evidence-based” programs and practices
* Ways to determine whether a practice is evidence-based
* Why evidence-based practice is important for effective injury and violence prevention
* Where to find sources for evidence-based injury and violence prevention practices/programs.
PART 2: Implementing Evidence-Based Programs
Once you’ve identified an evidence-based or evidence-informed program that fits your community and has the support of key stakeholders, it’s time to turn to the next step: implementation. Implementation science is a field that looks at what goes on when research is taken into the real world. By using implementation science, both practitioners and researchers can understand what is necessary to implement programs with fidelity, which is essential for effectiveness and positive outcomes. During Part 2, participants will learn:
* The elements of fidelity that are important to successful program implementation
* How to assess whether an evidence-based program is a good fit for the capacity of your organization
* Where to find resources to better understand implementation science
PART 3: When Your Program Lacks an Evidence Base
Oftentimes a community may face an injury or violence issue for which there is not yet an evidence-based program to address it. This presentation will discuss how to go about addressing a new issues and evaluating your work. During Part 3, participants will:
* Learn about the elements of a public health approach to prevention
* Hear examples of programs that were designed by communities to address an issue where there was not yet an evidence-base
* Gain an understanding of the importance of evaluation in program design to determine if the program is achieving its goals, objectives, and outcomes.
Good planning can make all the difference in creating a successful public health project. Project planning can be thought of as a series of specific steps, keys to success that will help projects of all types run smoothly and effectively. You don’t have to be a project management expert to successfully plan a project. If you carefully think things through and use common sense, your plan can provide a solid foundation for your project and help you make and communicate important decisions. After completing this course, you should be able to:
– Describe the basic steps needed for successful project planning.
– Create a clear project definition, including specific goals.
– Design an effective and practical project timeline.
– Identify roles and plan communication with people involved in a project.
– Plan for needed resources and budget.
– Identify possible problems with a project and ways you can deal with them.
– Plan to use tracking, effective problem-solving, and ongoing communication during the implementation phase to bring a project to a successful conclusion.
Today’s public health professionals must be able to strategically consider research results, political interests, and community requests when leading program and policy work. The evidence-based public health framework is an effective model for this type of decision-making.
This Evidence-Based Public Health Training Series consists of nine modules that cover core concepts, such as defining public health issues, conducting community assessments, prioritizing options, and evaluating program and policy impacts. You may take each of the modules individually and receive a certificate for each one. If you choose to complete all nine modules, you will also receive a certificate for the series as a whole.
Each module consists of several videos, followed by a short quiz. You must watch the videos and take the quiz in order to pass the module. To aid in your understanding, optional activities and questions for reflection or discussion are also included with each module. You may discuss these questions in a forum with other module participants or with peers or colleagues, or you may reflect on them individually.
Module 1: Evidence-Based Public Health Overview
Module 2: Community Assessment
Module 3: Quantifying the Issue
Module 4: Developing a Concise Statement of the Issue
Module 5: Searching and Summarizing the Literature
Module 6: Developing and Prioritizing Program and Policy Options
Module 7: Economic Evaluation
Module 8: Developing an Action Plan
Module 9: Evaluation
Good planning is an essential part of successful evidence-based interventions. This module will help you understand and use key planning tools for public health, including strategic planning, logic models, and work plans.
This is module 8 of the Evidence-Based Public Health Training Series. It is meant to stand alone, but you may also take it together with the other modules in this series to receive a certificate in Evidence-Based Public Health. Learning objectives are:
– Identify key characteristics of planning
– Describe the purpose and use of logic models
– Describe key elements of work plans
“This course provides guidance to facilitate selection and implementation of one of the many evidence-based programs related to prevention and treatment that are publicly available today. You will learn how to (1) select the program that best matches your organization’s needs and (2) carry out the steps necessary to implement the program you choose.
Intended Audience
Individuals who may benefit from this course include members of an organization working collaboratively to identify and implement an evidence-based program.
Whether you’re looking for a program that addresses bullying, underage drinking, drug abuse, or treatment of a specific mental health disorder, the information here can help you in the selection and implementation of a suitable program. Those who may find the course useful are:
Administrators, program directors, or clinicians charged with identifying, selecting, and implementing a program to meet the needs of their target population, funders, community, etc.
Individuals interested in learning more about best practices and strategies for successful program selection and implementation”
Understanding Evidence is the first online tool of its kind. This free, online resource offers local practitioners and others working to prevent violence knowledge and resources for using evidence in their decision-making processes. Understanding Evidence is meant to support critical thinking skills in practitioners to help them make evidence-informed decisions around violence prevention.
Specifically, upon completion of Understanding Evidence the learner will be able to:
– define the three types of evidence involved in evidence based decision-making;
– identify standards of rigor across the key dimensions that make up the best available research evidence;
– identify sources of and ways to collect best available research evidence, contextual evidence, and experiential evidence; and
– identify key stages and characteristics of an evidence based decision-making process.
A complimentary resource is CDC’s “Understanding Evidence Tool” Series: Webinar 1 — Injury & Violence Prevention. See resource list below.
