The Use of the CDC Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant to Address Social Determinants of Health to Advance Health Equity.

Objective: State public health departments use federal funding to examine and address social determinants of health (SDOH) within their communities to improve health and advance health equity. Yet, most federal funding is categorical (ie, funding used for a specific program or narrow purpose), which can create barriers to addressing social and structural drivers of inequity. The Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant (PHHS Block Grant) is a flexible funding mechanism that provides health departments the latitude to identify and fund initiatives that address local public health needs.

CDC's Prevention Status Reports: Monitoring the Status of Public Health Policies and Practices for Improved Performance and Accountability.

Context: Increasing the adoption and implementation of evidence-based policies and practices is a key strategy for improving public health. Although there is widespread agreement about the importance of implementing evidence-based public health policies and practices, there are gaps between what has been shown to be effective and what is implemented at the state level.

Objective: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed the Prevention Status Reports (PSRs), a performance measurement system, to highlight evidence-based public health policies and practices and catalyze state performance and quality improvement efforts across the nation.

Comparing GPS, Log, Survey, and Accelerometry to Measure Physical Activity.

Objectives: We explored how objectively measured global positioning system (GPS) and accelerometer data match with travel logs and questionnaires in predicting trip duration and physical activity (PA).

Methods: 99 participants wore GPS devices and accelerometers, and recorded all trips in a log for 5 consecutive days. Participants also completed a self-administered questionnaire on PA and travel behaviors.

Federal Public Health Workforce Development: An Evidence-Based Approach for Defining Competencies.

Objective: This study reports the use of exploratory factor analysis to describe essential skills and knowledge for an important segment of the domestic public health workforce-Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) project officers-using an evidence-based approach to competency development and validation.

Design: A multicomponent survey was conducted. Exploratory factor analysis was used to examine the underlying domains and relationships between competency domains and key behaviors.

Building performance-based accountability with limited empirical evidence: performance measurement for public health preparedness.

Efforts to respond to performance-based accountability mandates for public health emergency preparedness have been hindered by a weak evidence base linking preparedness activities with response outcomes. We describe an approach to measure development that was successfully implemented in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Public Health Emergency Preparedness Cooperative Agreement. The approach leverages insights from process mapping and experts to guide measure selection, and provides mechanisms for reducing performance-irrelevant variation in measurement data.

Changes in physical activity and travel behaviors in residents of a mixed-use development.

Background: Mixed-use developments may be especially promising settings for encouraging walking and other types of physical activity.

Purpose: This study examined the physical activity and travel behaviors of individuals before and after they relocated to Atlantic Station, a mixed-use redevelopment community in metropolitan Atlanta.

Methods: A survey study was conducted to compare the behaviors, experiences, and attitudes of Atlantic Station residents before and after moving to a mixed-use neighborhood.

A model curriculum for a course on the built environment and public health: training for an interdisciplinary workforce.

Despite growing evidence of the direct and indirect effects of the built environment on public health, planners, who shape the built environment, and public health professionals, who protect the public's health, rarely interact. Most public health professionals have little experience with urban planners, zoning boards, city councils, and others who make decisions about the built environment. Likewise, few planners understand the health implications of design, land use, or transportation decisions.

Land use, spatial scale, and stream systems: lessons from an agricultural region.

We synthesized nine studies that examined the influence of land use at different spatial scales in structuring biotic assemblages and stream channel characteristics in southeastern Minnesota streams. Recent studies have disagreed about the relative importance of catchment versus local characteristics in explaining variation in fish assemblages. Our synthesis indicates that both riparian- and catchment-scale land use explained significant variation in water quality, channel morphology, and fish distribution and density.