Educational and Community‐Based Programs

Goal

Increase the quality, availability, and effectiveness of educational and community-based programs designed to prevent disease and injury, improve health, and enhance quality of life.

Overview

Educational and community-based programs play a key role in:

• Preventing disease and injury.
• Improving health.
• Enhancing quality of life.

Health status and related health behaviors are determined by influences at multiple levels: personal, organizational/institutional, environmental, and policy. Because significant and dynamic interrelationships exist among these different levels of health determinants, educational and community-based programs are most likely to succeed in improving health and wellness when they address influences at all levels and in a variety of environments/settings.

Why is Education and Community-based Programs Important?

Educational and community-based programs and strategies played an important role in reaching Healthy People 2010 objectives. Over the next decade, they will continue to contribute to the improvement of health outcomes in the United States.

Education and community-based programs and strategies are designed to reach people outside of traditional health care settings. These settings may include:

• Schools
• Worksites
• Health care facilities
• Communities

Each setting provides opportunities to reach people using existing social structures. This maximizes impact and reduces the time and resources necessary for program development. People often have high levels of contact with these settings, both directly and indirectly. Programs that combine multiple—if not all 4—settings can have a greater impact than programs using only 1 setting. While populations reached will sometimes overlap, people who are not accessible in 1 setting may be in another.¹

Using nontraditional settings can help encourage informal information sharing within communities through peer social interaction. Reaching out to people in different settings also allows for greater tailoring of health information and education.

Educational and community-based programs encourage and enhance health and wellness by educating communities on topics such as:

• Chronic diseases
• Injury and violence prevention
• Mental illness/behavioral health
• Unintended pregnancy
• Oral health
• Tobacco use
• Substance abuse
• Nutrition and obesity prevention
• Physical activity

Additional Resources

HP2020's National Objectives for Educational and Community-Based Programs

References

1. Gamm L, Castillo G, Williams L. Education and community-based programs in rural areas: A literature review. In: Rural Healthy People 2010: A companion document to Healthy People 2010, Volume 3. Gamm L, Hutchison L, editors. College Station, TX: The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center, School of Rural Public Health, Southwest Rural Health Research Center; 2004. p.167-86. Available from: http://www.srph.tamhsc.edu/centers/rhp2010/Volume_3/Vol3Ch4LR.pdf

Objectives

Download all Educational and Community‐Based Programs Objectives