Expanding the evidence for health promotion: developing best practices for WISEWOMAN

Implementing effective programs to prevent chronic disease holds the promise of reducing morbidity and mortality, reducing health disparities, and promoting health. Yet many programs have demonstrated success only in highly controlled research settings and few address the needs of low-income, uninsured, minority women. Well-Integrated Screening and Evaluation for Women Across the Nation (WISEWOMAN), a demonstration program funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), that provides chronic disease risk factor screening and lifestyle interventions for low-income, 40-64-year-old women is learning from our own successful programs but is also charting new territory. As the CDC, state health departments, tribal organizations, and other WISEWOMAN partners approach the end of the first decade of WISEWOMAN demonstration projects, we are seeking to understand what has worked and what has not. This paper describes the rationale and proposed methodology for assessing best practices in the WISEWOMAN program through a participatory process that will examine scientific evidence and quantitative and qualitative program data. By emphasizing practicality in addition to scientific rigor, we are expanding the base of evidence considered to identify effective approaches for reducing cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in financially disadvantaged, ethnically diverse women. Results of the 3-year project will be disseminated in a format intended to encourage programs to select and adapt those strategies best suited to their particular contexts.