Community health is a discipline that concerns itself with the study and betterment of the health characteristics of communities. While the term community can be broadly defined, community health tends to focus on geographic areas rather than people with shared characteristics. The health characteristics of a community are often examined using geographic information system (GIS) software and public health datasets. Some projects, such as InfoShare or GEOPROJ combine GIS with existing datasets, allowing the general public to examine the characteristics of any given community in the United States.

Because health lll(broadly defined as well-being) is influenced by a wide array of socio-demographic characteristics, relevant variables range from the proportion of residents of a given age group to the overall life expectancy of the neighborhood. Medical interventions aimed at improving the health of a community range from improving access to medical care to public health communications campaigns. Recent research efforts have focused on how the built environment and socio-economic status affect health.

External links

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• Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action
• InfoShare
• GEOPROJ

More on [ Community health ]

Health Education Research - current issue

Expanding the value of qualitative theories of illness experience in clinical practice: a grounded theory of secondary heart disease prevention
Ononeze, V., Murphy, A.W., MacFarlane, A., Byrne, M., Bradley, C. Thu, 14 May 2009 00:00:00 -0000
Qualitative theories of illness experience are about the individual interpretations of the psychosocial and cultural aspects of living with illness. Thus, they contribute to a better understanding of health and health care provision. In this paper, we examine how a grounded theory (GT) of heart disease experience can inform secondary prevention. In-depth interviews of individual experience of heart disease were conducted with 26 patients, using GT iterative data collection and analysis framework. A GT was compiled from data and examined within a sociocultural framework to ascertain how experience influenced health behaviour. Despite individual contextual variations, the theory of ‘keeping it going’ describes the study sample’s common attitude to living with heart disease. The theory was adequate in explaining secondary cardiac behaviour, because it identified the aspects of patients’ beliefs and attitudes which are key to effective secondary prevention. The assessment of the impact of illness experience on health behaviour within a sociocultural framework helped to articulate the strong influence of social and contextual factors. The study offers an appropriate explanatory framework for encouraging health behaviour change. It emphasizes the importance of interventions being relevant to individual perceptions and interpretations. It provides a framework for designing and evaluating cardiac interventions and the theoretical principles which underpin them.
Effects of episodic variations in web-based avian influenza education: influence of fear and humor on perception, comprehension, retention and behavior
Kim, P., Sorcar, P., Um, S., Chung, H., Lee, Y. S. Thu, 14 May 2009 00:00:00 -0000
In order to provide empirical evidence on the role of a web-based avian influenza (AI) education program for mass communication and also ultimately help young children learn and develop healthy behaviors against AI and all types of influenza, an education program with two episodic variations (i.e. fear and humor) has been developed and examined with 183 fifth-grade elementary students. A quasi-experimental design was employed to find potential differential effects on the context-specific risk perception, AI knowledge acquisition, retention and behavior. The study results reveal that the fear appealed AI web-based education program was much more effective than the humor-based program in improving risk perception and educating the students about healthy behaviors (i.e. against influenza infection). However, a significant behavior change or improvement of health practices was not apparent on the post-tests (i.e. 1 month after the treatment) in either episode of the program.
Developing the IDEFICS community-based intervention program to enhance eating behaviors in 2- to 8-year-old children: findings from focus groups with children and parents
Haerens, L., De Bourdeaudhuij, I., Barba, G., Eiben, G., Fernandez, J., Hebestreit, A., Kovacs, E., Lasn, H., Regber, S., Shiakou, M., De Henauw, S., on behalf of the IDEFICS consortium Thu, 14 May 2009 00:00:00 -0000
One purpose of ‘identification and prevention of dietary- and lifestyle-induced health effects in children and infants’ (IDEFICS) is to implement a standardized community-based multi-component healthy eating intervention for younger children in eight different countries. The present study describes important influencing factors for dietary behaviors among children aged 2–8 years old in order to determine the best approaches for developing the dietary components of the standardized intervention. Twenty focus groups with children (74 boys, 81 girls) and 36 focus groups with 189 parents (28 men, 161 women) were conducted. Only in two countries, children mentioned receiving nutrition education at school. Rules at home and at school ranged from not allowing the consumption of unhealthy products to allowing everything. The same diversity was found for availability of (un)healthy products at home and school. Parents mentioned personal (lack of time, financial constraints, preferences), socio-environmental (family, peer influences), institutional (school policies) and physical–environmental (availability of unhealthy products, price, season) barriers for healthy eating. This focus group research provided valuable information to guide the first phase in the IDEFICS intervention development. There was a large variability in findings within countries. Interventions should be tailored at the personal and environmental level to increase the likelihood of behavioral change.

Public Health News From Medical News Today

CEO Of Black AIDS Institute Discusses HIV/AIDS At Newspaper Conference; Group Releases Report Examining HIV Testing In Black Community
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:00:00 -0700
Phill Wilson, CEO of the Black AIDS Institute (BAI), last week addressed the annual convention of the National Newspapers Publishers Association where he discussed the reasons blacks "were so slow to grasp the severity of the threat" of HIV, the NNPA/Seattle Medium reports.
Developing World Health Care Solutions Help Some U.S. Programs
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:00:00 -0700
The Wall Street Journal examines how some U.S.-based health care programs are improving their treatment capabilities by learning from strategies used in developing countries.
Wellcome Trust To Give $50M To Boost Health Research In Africa
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:00:00 -0700
The Wellcome Trust on Thursday pledged 30 million pounds or about $50 million to support health research at more than 50 African institutions, Nature reports (Nayar, 7/1). The money will fund seven partnerships that aim to boost health research capacity in Africa. It was unveiled at the

Public Health News Headlines from Johns Hopkins

Sightseeing Helicopter Crashes in Hawaii Decrease Following FAA Regulations
paffairs@jhsph.edu (Office of Communications) Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:00:00 -0400
An emergency rule intended to reduce the number of deaths and injuries associated with Hawaiian air tours was followed by a 47 percent reduction in sightseeing crashes, according to a new study by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for Injury Research and Policy.
Cost-Effective Measures Could Stop Child Pneumonia Deaths
paffairs@jhsph.edu (Office of Communications) Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:30:00 -0400
Implementing measures to improve nutrition, indoor air pollution, immunization coverage and the management of pneumonia cases could be cost-effective and significantly reduce child mortality from pneumonia, according to a study led by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Researchers found that these strategies combined could reduce total child mortality by 17 percent and could reduce pneumonia deaths by more than 90 percent.
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Awards Dean's Medal to David Oshinsky
(Office of Communications) Wed, 20 May 2009 16:00:00 -0400
Michael J. Klag, MD, MPH, dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, has awarded the Dean's Medal—the School's highest honor—to historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Oshinsky. The Dean's Medal recognizes individuals who have made a significant contribution to the field of public health. Oshinsky was presented with the Dean's Medal on May 20 at the Bloomberg School of Public Health's convocation ceremony in Baltimore, Md. He also presented the convocation keynote address.

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