Spring is right around the corner, and we can't wait for the sunshine, blossoms, and new beginnings. We have lots of exciting preconception health news and updates to share with you to start the season off right.
This month we have an article that highlights the health needs of LGBT young people - a group easily forgotten by traditional preconception health outreach. We also have a piece from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment on their evaluation of a Reproductive Life Planning Tool, information on a new funding opportunity for local health departments, and two exciting opportunities to learn more about and keep updated on the topic of preconception health.
|
LGBT Health Awareness
With National LGBT Health Awareness Week coming up in March, it is the perfect time to make sure we remember to include Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) people in our conversations about preconception health. Sexual minority youth are at increased risk for a number of negative outcomes; notably, teen pregnancy is more prevalent among adolescent LGBT girls than their heterosexual peers (CDC).
It is vitally important to be inclusive of these populations in our programs, policies and dialogues around preconception health. The Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA) in collaboration with the Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is currently offering a Cultural Competence Webinar Series on Quality Healthcare for LGBT People, available here. There are a number of fantastic resources on LGBT health available for you to explore, including: |
|
Spotlight On...
Evaluation of a Reproductive Life Planning Tool in CO
by Mandy Bakulski, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
Preconception health with a focus on reducing unintended pregnancy is one of nine priorities selected by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment's Maternal and Child Health program. In alignment with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendation to improve preconception health by promoting individual responsibility across the lifespan, the department's Maternal Wellness team developed, piloted, and evaluated a customized paper Life Plan Booklet. The objective fordeveloping the tool was to provide women of reproductive age with an informative booklet that translates preconception health concepts into easy-to-understand steps for healthy behaviors, including pregnancy planning.
Although the CDC recommends individual reproductive life plans as an intervention for improving preconception health, there are limited examples in peer-reviewed literature of how public health practitioners have operationalized and evaluated this intervention at an individual or population-based level.
 Therefore, once the booklet was drafted, the Epidemiology, Planning and Evaluation Branch at the department developed a process and outcome evaluation of the booklet. To read the report on the Formative Evaluation of a Reproductive Life Plan Tool click here. The report discusses results from the process evaluation, documents the methods and challenges of the outcome evaluation, and summarizes the feasibility of a paper-based preconception health tool.
Is your organization doing exciting work in preconception health? Email pchhcnews@gmail.com if you'd like to be featured in an upcoming edition of Spotlight On...
|
Linked by Life Webinar in April
Linked by Life: The Case for Collaboration of MCH and Chronic Disease to Improve Infant & Women's Health will be held on Tuesday, April 2, 2013 from 3:00 - 4:30 p.m. EST. Details and registration link available here.
This webinar will highlight the best practices within the state health department in Ohio for curbing the growth of gestational diabetes throughout the state. The webinar will showcase how MCH and chronic disease department heads and infrastructure linked together to combine their core competencies to address this problem. Speakers will present a conceptual framework that will guide how these two departments can move from silo status to fully integrate data, clinical and public health assets to improve women's and infants' health. They will also present a theoretical, life course, strategic, organizational and funding case for collaboration.
This webinar is part one of a series being offered in part by the PCHHC Public Health Workgroup.
|
|
Get Updates on Preconception Health!
We are excited to share this great new way to stay on top of the current literature and news coming out about preconception health. The Maternal and Infant Health Branch of the Division of Reproductive Health at the CDC recently initiated biweekly media and literature updates on preconception and inter-conception health. They will conduct routine, comprehensive searches of the PubMed database, as well as a media search for scientific and news articles, and send updates biweekly or monthly. Please contact Meg Bertram at the CDC to be added to the distribution list.
|
About the Newsletter
Thanks for reading! Is your organization doing exciting work to promote preconception health? We would love to feature you in an upcoming newsletter! Please email pchhcnews@gmail.com for details, or if you have any questions about the newsletter.
|
|
|
|
Funding Opportunity for Local Health Departments!
| |
NACCHO invites local health departments to submit applications to participate in The Winnable Battles Collaboration Project.
This project will foster collaboration between MCAH and chronic disease prevention staff, and enhance their capacity to carry out projects that support the CDC Winnable Battles related to tobacco and obesity prevention.
Applications are due Monday, March 11, 2013.Request for Applications available here.
|
|
Show Your Love Campaign
| 
cdc.gov/showyourlove
cdc.gov/quierete
Hashtag #SYLToday
|
|
Newsletter
| This e-newsletter is archived. Find back issues of the newsletter and more information about improving preconception health and health care here.
|
|
