Table 1 - uploaded by Kristen Chossek Malecki
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Importance:
A comprehensive obesity surveillance system monitors obesity rates along with causes and related health policies, which are valuable for tracking and identifying problems needing intervention.
Methods:
A statewide obesity dashboard was created using the County Health Rankings model. Indicators were obtained through publicly available...
Citations
Introduction: Public health is not only threatened by diseases, pandemics, or epidemics. It is also challenged by deficits in the communication of health information. The current COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates that impressively. One way to deliver scientific data such as epidemiological findings and forecasts on disease spread are dashboards. Considering the current relevance of dashboards for public risk and crisis communication, this systematic review examines the state of research on dashboards in the context of public health risks and diseases.
Method: Nine electronic databases where searched for peer-reviewed journal articles and conference proceedings. Included articles (n = 65) were screened and assessed by three independent reviewers. Through a methodological informed differentiation between descriptive studies and user studies, the review also assessed the quality of included user studies (n = 18) by use of the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT).
Results: 65 articles were assessed in regards to the public health issues addressed by the respective dashboards, as well as the data sources, functions and information visualizations employed by the different dashboards. Furthermore, the literature review sheds light on public health challenges and objectives and analyzes the extent to which user needs play a role in the development and evaluation of a dashboard. Overall, the literature review shows that studies that do not only describe the construction of a specific dashboard, but also evaluate its content in terms of different risk communication models or constructs (e.g., risk perception or health literacy) are comparatively rare. Furthermore, while some of the studies evaluate usability and corresponding metrics from the perspective of potential users, many of the studies are limited to a purely functionalistic evaluation of the dashboard by the respective development teams.
Conclusion: The results suggest that applied research on public health intervention tools like dashboards would gain in complexity through a theory-based integration of user-specific risk information needs.
Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=200178, identifier: CRD42020200178.
Background/Significance: Obesity rates have increased dramatically, especially among children and
disadvantaged populations. Obesity is a complex issue, creating a compelling need for prevention
efforts in communities to move from single isolated programs to comprehensive multisystem interventions.
To address these issues, we have established a childhood Obesity Prevention Initiative (Initiative)
for Wisconsin. This Initiative seeks to test community change frameworks that can support multisystem
interventions and provide data for local action as a means for influencing policies, systems, and environments
that support individuals’ healthy eating and physical activity.
Approaches/Aims: The Initiative is comprised of three components: (1) infrastructure to support a statewide
obesity prevention and health promotion network with state- and local-level public messaging and
dissemination of evidence-based solutions (healthTIDE); (2) piloting a local, multisetting community-led
intervention study in 2 Wisconsin counties; and (3) developing a geocoded statewide childhood obesity
and fitness surveillance system.
Relevance: This Initiative is using a new model that involves both coalition action and community
organizing to align resources to achieve health improvement at local and state levels. We expect that
it will help lead to the implementation of cohesive and sustainable policy, system, and environment
health promotion and obesity prevention strategies in communities statewide, and it has the potential
to help Wisconsin become a national model for multisetting community interventions to address obesity.
Addressing individual-level health through population-level changes ultimately will result in reductions in
the prevalence of childhood obesity, current and future health care costs, and chronic disease mortality.
