What is the Community
Guide?
The Guide to Community Preventive Services (Community Guide) serves as
a filter for scientific literature on specific health problems that can
be large,
inconsistent, uneven in quality, and even inaccessible. The Community
Guide summarizes what is known about the effectiveness, economic efficiency,
and feasibility of interventions to promote community health and prevent
disease. The Task Force on Community Preventive Services makes recommendations
for the use of various interventions based on the evidence gathered in
the rigorous and systematic scientific reviews of published studies conducted
by the review teams of the Community Guide. The findings from the reviews
are published in peer-reviewed journals and also made available on this
Internet website.
Who is developing the Community Guide?
The Community Guide is being developed by the nonfederal Task Force on
Community Preventive Services (the Task Force), whose members are
appointed by the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC). Although convened by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
the Task Force is an independent decision-making body. Task Force members
have expertise in:
- Behavioral and social sciences
- Communications sciences
- Decision and cost-effectiveness analysis
- Dentistry
- Epidemiology
- Information systems
- Managed care
- Management and policy
- Primary care medicine
- Quantitative policy analysis
- State and local health departments
The Task Force receives guidance from consultants with experience in
creating evidence-based guidelines, liaisons from federal agencies, and
representatives of professional organizations involved in public health.
What has been published?
Findings from the Task Force are published when systematic reviews are
completed. Summaries are published in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly
Report (MMWR) Recommendations and Reports series. Broader reviews of the
evidence on which the findings are based are published in supplements
to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (AJPM).
To date, the Task Force has published over 100 findings across nine topic areas:
- vaccine-preventable diseases
- tobacco use prevention and control
- reducing motor vehicle occupant injury
- diabetes
- physical activity
- oral health
- social environment
- prevention of injuries due to violence
- cancer
Developing
the Guide to Community Preventive Services - Overview and Rationale.
Benedict I. Truman, C. Kay Smith-Akin, Alan R. Hinman et al., Am J Prev Med 2000;18(1S):18-26.
At a Glance
Published Findings to Date
by Topic
Overview Slide Set
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