title: Guiding the way to public health improvement: exploring the connections between The Community Guide's Evidence-Based Interventions and health department accreditation standards.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recent years have seen rising interest in initiatives that focus on public health improvement. This includes support for accreditation of public health departments-administered by the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB)-and increasing expectations that health departments should use evidence-based programs, services, and policies (interventions) such as those described in The Guide to Community Preventive Services (The Community Guide).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This project was initiated to explore the potential connections between Community Guide interventions and PHAB domains, standards, and measures.
  
  
  METHODS
  The project team focused on developing a Crosswalk tool to assist health departments in identifying evidence-based interventions from The Community Guide whose implementation could help document conformity with PHAB domains, standards, and measures. All Community Preventive Services Task Force-recommended interventions were reviewed to determine whether they reflect the intent and requirements of the PHAB standards and measures.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three types of connections were defined through which Community Guide interventions could be relevant to the required documentation for a PHAB measure. All instances of these connections were identified and included in the Crosswalk.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The Crosswalk tool consists of 2 tables. The first table cross-references individual PHAB domains, standards, and measures with interventions from The Community Guide that could help provide documentation for accreditation. The second table can help accreditation preparation staff to engage with program staff. It is searchable by Community Guide topic, identifying the PHAB measures that relate to each Community Guide intervention within that topic. The type, location, and extent of connections between Community Guide interventions and PHAB domains, standards, and measures are presented and discussed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Tools such as the Crosswalk can be instrumental in advancing the use of evidence-based interventions in public health practice.
authors: Community Guide Branch, Division of Epidemiology, Analysis, and Library Services (Proposed), Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology and Laboratory Services (Proposed), Office of Public Health Scientific Services (Proposed) (Dr Mercer and Ms Banks), and Division of Public Health Performance Improvement (Mss Corso and Carlson), Office for State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Support, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia; and Accreditation and Quality Improvement (Ms Verma) and Public Health Programs (Ms Fisher), National Association of County & City Health Officials, Washington, District of Columbia.
authors: Shawna L
authors: SL
authors: Mercer
authors: Starr M
authors: SM
authors: Banks
authors: Pooja
authors: P
authors: Verma
authors: Jessica Solomon
authors: JS
authors: Fisher
authors: Liza C
authors: LC
authors: Corso
authors: Valeria
authors: V
authors: Carlson
mesh_terms: D000068:Accreditation; D001364:Awareness; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D011314:Preventive Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D011635:Public Health Administration / Q000592:standards*; D015980:Public Health Practice / Q000592:standards*; D058996:Quality Improvement / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards