Policy and Environmental Change, Executive Summary

New Directions for Public Health

Traditional health promotion interventions focus on changing the behavior of a single individual or small group of individuals. (For instance, helping individual smokers quit.) However, health problems are heavily influenced by societal policies and environments that either sustain the behaviors that contribute to health problems, or fail to foster healthier choices that could prevent them. In the past decade, there has been growing interest in policy and environmental changes that affect the chronic disease risks of many people simultaneously. (For instance, eliminating exposure to secondhand smoke in public buildings.)

This report of a collaborative study by the Directors of Health Promotion and Public Health Education (DHPE) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) looks at two types of public health interventions:

• Policies, which include laws, regulations, and rules (both formal and informal). Examples: organizational rules that provide time off during work hours for physical activity; laws that require physical education classes in schools.
• Environmental interventions, which include changes to the economic, social, or physical environments. Examples: incorporating recreation areas into new community developments; making low-fat choices available in school cafeterias.

Policy and Environmental Change: New Directions for Public Health is a valuable resource in designing and implementing interventions that simultaneously impact large segments of the population. It presents a snapshot of how health agencies and states are grappling to influence such policies. It includes:

• Information about the use of policy and environmental change interventions by public health agencies across the United States.
• Recommendations developed through a review of literature, key informant interviews, review of Internet sites, and a nationwide written assessment.