An approach to the development of practice guidelines for community health interventions

The Community Health Practice Guidelines (CHPG) project was initiated to develop a systematic approach to the critical evaluation of evidence on the effectiveness and efficiency of community health interventions and to the formulation of evidence-based practice recommendations. Three community health interventions--immunization delivery methods, partner notification for sexually transmitted diseases and the combination of restaurant inspection and education of food handlers--were used as prototypes to develop a standardized approach. The CHPG process consists of three components: a review of scientific evidence, a practice survey and formulation of practice guidelines. Imperatives for further development of the CHPG and define research priorities process include creating a coalition of public health organizations to sponsor the process and refining the consensus process so that the practice guidelines accurately reflect both the scientific basis of public health practice and the values of those affected.