Glossary
The Community Health Assessment Clearinghouse Glossary has definitions from a variety of sources. Additional terms, that need to be defined to be used in the context of community health in New York, have been inserted as appropriate.
A
Access
APEX-PH
Assessment
Asset Mapping
Assurance
ASTHO
B
Behavioral Risk Factors
Benchmarks(local peer, state and national)
Biological Agent Outbreak
Board of Health
Body Mass Index
BRFSS
C
Capacity
Capacity building
Coalition
Cause of Death
CDC
Communicable Disease
Community
Community Assets
Community Collaboration
Community Health
Community Health Assessment
Community Health Improvement Process
Community Health Needs
Community Health Profile
Community Health Status
Community Partnerships
Community Support
Constituency
Constituency Development
Constituents of the LPHS
Continuing education and training
Contributing Factors(Direct and Indirect)
Core Public Health Functions
Core Indicators-MAPP
Core public health competencies
Credentialling
CSTE
Cultural competence
D
Death, Illness and Injury
Demographic Characteristics
Determinants (or Risk Factors)
Dialogue
Distance Learning
E
Effectiveness
Emergency Response Plan
Environment
Environmental Equity
Environmental Health
Environmental Health Indicators
Environmental Justice
Environmental Risk
Epidemiology
Essential Public Health ServicesEthnicity
Evaluation
Evaluation of the local public health system
Evaluation of personal health care services
Evaluation of population-based health services
EventsExposure
Extended Indicators
External cause of Death
F
Forces
G
Geocode
Geographic Information System (GIS)Goals
Governmental presence in health at the local level
Guide to Community Preventive Services
H
Health
Health Assessment
Health belief model
Health Care Provider
Health communication
HCFA
Health education
Health Hazard
Health Problem
Health Promotion
Health Promotion Activities
Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS)
Health Resources
Health Resource Availability
HRSA
Health Status Indicator
Health Status objectives
Healthy People 2010
I
Incidence
Indicator
Infant Mortality Rate
Infectious disease measures
Injury
International Classification of Disease 10th Revision Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM)
L
Laboratory Support
Local Control
Local Health Department
Local Public Health System
M
MAPP
Maternal and Child Health
Maternal and Child Health measures
Measures
Mentoring
Morbidity
Mortality
N
NACCHO
NAHDO
APEX-PH
NAPHSIS
NCHS
NDI
National Public Health Leadership Institute
NHTSA
NIOSH
O
Objectives
Outcomes
Outcome Objective
Impact Objective
Process Objective
P
PACE-EH
Partnership
Personal Health Services
Performance Indicators
Performance Management
Performance Measurement
Performance Measures
Performance Targets
Performance Standards
Policy Development
Population Health Registries
Primary data
Process measure
Program planning and evaluation
Public Health
Public Health Director
PHF
Public Health Leadership
Public health leadership institutes
Public Participation
Public Health Services
Public Health Surveillance - See Surveillance
Public Health System
Q
Qualitative Data
Qualitative Data
Quality Improvement
Quality Improvement plan
Quality of Life
R
Research
Registration area
Risk Assessment
Risk Communication
Risk Factors
Risk Management
S
Secondary Data
Sentinel events
Sentinel Health Event
Self-Help
Social Capital
Socioeconomic Characteristics
Social and Mental Health
Social marketing
Social and mental health measures
Sponsors
SSA
Stakeholders
Strategic alignment
Strategic Planning
Strategies
Surveillance
Sustainability
T
Technical assistance
U
Underlying cause of death
U.S.Standard Certificates
U.S.Preventive Services Task Force
V
Values
Vision
Vital events
Vital Statistics
W
Workforce assessment
Workforce standards
Y
Year
A
(3)
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Asset Mapping:1)
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B
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C
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3) . Assessment: the process of regularly and systematically collecting, assembling, analyzing, and making available information on the health needs of the community, including statistics on health status, community health needs, and epidemiologic and other studies of health problems. Assessment is one of the three core functions of public health agencies as identified by the Institute of Medicine. (4)
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2)
1) . A cooperative relationship formed between two or more organizations to achieve a shared goal or pursue a common interest.(4)
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1) . A risk factor (causative factor) that is associated with the level of a determinant. Direct contributing factors are linked with the level of determinants; indirect contributing factors are linked with the level of direct contributing factors.(3) .
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"The Future of Public Health".(4)
1) . An element used to measure health status, risk or outcome.(4) . A measure of health status or a health outcome.(3) .
3) . The ability to communicate acceptance, understanding, and responsiveness to the needs and concerns of members of diverse cultural populations. A thorough knowledge of the values, traditions, and customs of diverse cultures is often required to communicate effectively with members of these cultures.(4) .
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D
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1) . Characteristic data such as size, growth, density, distribution, and vital statistics, that are used to study human population.(3) . Demographic characteristics of your jurisdiction include measures of total population as well as percent of total population by age group, gender, race and ethnicity, where these populations and sub populations are located, and the rate of change in population density over time, due to births, deaths and migration patterns. (2) .
1) . Broad causal factors involved in influencing health and illness, including social, economic, genetic, perinatal, nutritional, behavioral, and environmental characteristics.(4) . A primary risk factor(causative factor)associated with the level of health problem:i.e., the level of the determinant influences the level of the health problem.(3) .
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E
2) . The extent to which a program or other intervention produces intended outcomes in actual practice settings rather than under optimal conditions.(4) . The improvement in health outcome that a strategy can produce in typical community-based settings. Also, the degree to which objectives are achieved.(3) .
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2) . The application of multiple scientific disciplines to investigate the relationship between environmental factors and human health, and to prevent adverse health events that result from environmental exposures.(4) . The interrelationships between people and their environment that promote human health and well being and foster a safe and healthful environment. (1) .
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1) ..The study of the distribution of determinants and antecedents of health and disease in human populations; the ultimate goal is to identify the underlying causes of a disease and then apply findings to disease prevention and health promotion.(3) . The study of disease mechanisms and health processes in populations, including disease etiology, disease transmission, disease prevention, and disease control. The discipline of epidemiology focuses on the interaction of host factors, disease agents, and environmental conditions in determining disease transmission and progression.(4) ..
2) ..A descriptive categorization of core activities used by public health organizations and professionals in carrying out population-based health promotion and disease prevention efforts. The categorization, identified by a work group convened by the U.S.Department of Health and Human Services, includes 10 essential services.(4) . A formulation of the processes used in public health to prevent epidemics and injuries, protect against environmental hazards, promote healthy behaviors, respond to disasters, and ensure quality and accessibility of health services;10 essential services have been identified:-monitoring health status to identify community health problems,-diagnosing and investigating health problems and health hazards in the community,-informing, educating, and empowering people about health issues,-mobilize community partnerships to identify and solve health problems,-developing policies and plans that support individual and community health efforts,-enforcing laws and regulations that protect health and ensure safety,-linking people to needed personal health services and ensuring the provision of health care when otherwise unavailable,-ensuring a competent public health and personal health care work force,-evaluating effectiveness accessibility, and quality of personal and population-based health services,-research for new insights and innovative solutions to health problems.(3) .A list of ten activities that identify and describe the core processes used in public health to promote health and prevent disease. The framework was developed in 1994. All public health responsiblities (whether conducted by the local public health agency or another organization within the community) can be categorized into one of the services. (1) .
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2) . The process of critically examining the inputs, processes, outputs, and outcomes of a program or other intervention-usually in relation to established goals, objectives, and standards-to determine its operational strengths and weaknesses. Evaluations produce information about which programs work and also which program componenets work most effectively. Information obtained from evaluations is most often used for program appraisal, management, and improvement.(4) .
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F
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G
2) . The process of assigning geographic location information to attribute data that are to be used for analytic purposes.(4) .
2) . Geographic information systems that are computer based processes for capturing, lining, summarizing, and analyzing data containing geographical location information. These systems are particularly useful in supporting visual analysis and communication of data using maps that display the geographic distribution of data. (4) .
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H
1) . The state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. It is recognized, however, that health has many dimensions(anatomical, physiological, and mental) and is largely culturally defined. The relative importance of various disabilities will differ depending on the cultural milieu and on the role of the affected individual in that culture. Most attempts at measurement have been assessed in terms of morbidity and mortality.(3) .
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1) . The government agency within the U.S.Department of Health and Human Services that directs the Medicare and Medicaid programs(Titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act) and conducts the research to support those programs.(3) .
2) . Any combination of learning opportunities designed to facilitate voluntary adaptations of behavior (in individuals, groups, or communities) conducive to good health. Health education encourages positive health behavior.(3) .
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1) . A situation or condition of people (expressed in health outcome measures such as mortality, morbidity, or disability) that is considered undesirable and is likely to exist in the future.(3) .
2) . An intervention strategy that seeks to eliminate or reduce exposures to harmful factors by modifying human behaviors. Any combination of health education and related organizational, political, and economic interventions designed to facilitate behavioral and environmental adaptations that will improve or protect health. This process enables individuals and communities to control and improve their own health. Health promotion approaches provide opportunities for people to identify problems, develop solutions, and work in partnerships that build on existing skills and strengths.(3) . Any combination of educational, organizational, environmental, and economic interventions designed to encourage behavior and conditions of living that are conducive to health.(4) .
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2) . An update of the Healthy People 2000 document, establishing national health promotion and disease prevention goals and objectives to be accomplished by the year 2010. (4) . The national disease prevention and health promotion agenda that includes some 300 national health objectives to be achieved by the year 2000, addressing improved health status, risk reduction, and utilization of preventive health services.(3) .
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I
1) . A measure of the disease or injury in the population, generally the number of new cases occurring during a specified time period. (3) . The number of new cases of disease occurring in a defined population during a specified time period.(4) .
1) . A measure of health status or a health outcome.(3) . An element used to measure health status, risk, or outcome.(4) .
1) . The annual number of live-born infants who die during their first year of life, expressed per 1,000 live births.(4) . The number of live-born infants who die before their first birthday per 1,000 live births; often broken into two components, neonatal mortality (deaths before 28 days per 1,000 live births) and postneonatal mortality (deaths from 28 days through the rest of the first year of life per 1,000 live births).(3) .
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L
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1) . Functionally, a local(county, multicounty, municipal, town, other) health agency, operated by local government, often with oversight and direction from a local board of health, that carries out public health's core functions throughout a defined geographic area. A more traditional definition is an agency serving less than an entire state that carries some responsibility for health and has at least one full time employee and a specific budget.(3) .
1) . A system that includes all public, private, and voluntary entities, as well as individuals and informal associations that contribute to the delivery of public health services within a jurisdiction. (2) .
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Performance measures(5)
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1) . A measure of disease incidence or prevalence in a given population, location, or other grouping of interest.(3) . Characteristics of disease severity, progression, and burden, including the disease's biomedical, functional, and psychological effects on health status. (4) .
1) . Expresses the number of deaths in a population within a prescribed time. Mortality rates may be expressed as crude death rates(total deaths in relation to total population during a year) or as death rates specific for diseases and sometimes for age, sex, or other attributes (e.g., the number of deaths from cancer in white males in relation to the white male population during a given year).(3) .
N
1) . National Association of County and City Health Officials, a membership organization composed of the administrators of local public health agencies throughout the nation. (4) .
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1) . National Association of Local Boards of Health, a membership organization representing individuals appointed to serve on governing and advisory boards for local public health agencies. (4) .
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1) . Supports scientific investigations of workplace health threats and designs prevention and control programs to improve safety and wellness and reduce health risks within occupational settings.(4) .
O
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1) . The level to which a health problem is to be reduced as a result of an intervention. Outcome objectives are often long term(two to five years), measurable, and realistic.(3) .
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P
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4) .1) . Health services delivered to individuals, including primary care, specialty care, hospital care, emergency care, and rehabilitative care. Personal health services may include health promotionand health education services that are delivered on an individual basis. (2) .
5)
Program planning and evaluation, Strategic planning, and Quality improvement. (6)
Program planning and evaluation and Quality improvement. (5)
Example: The incidence of TB shall be minimized. (5)
Program Planning and Evaluation. (5,6)
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2) . One of public health's three core functions. Policy development involves serving the public interest in the development of comprehensive public health policies by promoting the use of the scientific knowledge base in decision making and by leading in developing public health policy. (3) . Processes by which public health organizations formulate policies and plans to address priority health issues for the populations they serve, and advocate for the adoption and implementation of these policies by legislative and regulatory bodies and by private sector institutions. Policy development processes typically involve planning and priority-setting efforts that include broad participation by community members as well as health-related professionals and institutions.(4) .
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2) . Steps in a program logically required for the program to be successful.(3) .
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Strategic planning and Quality improvement. Generally, Strategic planning and Quality improvement occur at the level of the overall organization, while Program planning and evaluation are program specific activities that feed into the Strategic plan and into Quality improvement. Program evaluation alone does not equate with Quality improvement unless program evaluation data are used to design program improvements and to measure the results of the improvements as implemented. (5)
1) . Activities that society undertakes to assure the conditions in which people can be healthy. This includes organized community efforts to prevent, identify, and counter threats to the health of the public.(3) .
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2) .(WGTOOL_9.6 6/99)
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1) . U.S. Public Health Service as reorganized in 1996; now includes the Office of Public Health and Science(whic is headed by the Assistant Secretary for Health and includes the Office of the Surgeon General), eight operating agencies(Health Resources and Service Administration, Indian Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, Food and Drug Administration, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and Agency for Health Care Policy and Research), and the Regional Health Administrators for the 10 federal regions of the country.(3) .
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Q
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R
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1) . A systematic approach to quantifying the risks posed to individuals and populations by environmental pollutants and other potentially harmful exposures.(4) .
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1) . A factor associated with the occurrence of disease. This is an association and not necessarily causal.(4) . A behavior or condition that, on the basis of scientific evidence or theory, is thought to influence susceptibility to a specific health problem.(3) .
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S
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1) . Socioeconomic characteristics that have been shown to affect health status include income, education, and employment,and the proportion of the populationrepresented by various levels ofthese variables. (2) .
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2) . The development and implementation of information dissemination activities designed to influence changes in individual health behavior.(4) .
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1) . Organizations and individuals that are involved in a specific activity because they participate in producing, consuming, managing, regulating, or evaluating the activity.(4) .
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5) A disciplined effort to produce fundamental decisionsand actions that shape and guide what an organization (or other entity) is,what it does, and why it does it. Strategic planning requires broad scale information gathering, an exploration of alternatives, and an emphasis on the future implications of present decisions.It can facilitate communication and participation, accommodate divergent interests and values, and foster orderly decision making and successful implementation. (1) .
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1) . Systematic monitoring of the health status of a population.(3) . The process of collecting health related data that are representative of a population of interest, for use in assessing trends in disease and other health conditions, measuring the prevalence of health risk factors and health behaviors, and monitoring the use of health services.(4) .
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1) . Information compiled by state health agencies concerning births, deaths, marriages, divorces, fetal deaths, and abortions.(4) .
W
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Y
1) . A measure of the years of life lost from premature death before a specific age (usually 75), which provides a measure of the impact of specific diseases and injuries on the population of interest.(4) . A measure of the impact of disease or injury in a population that calculates years of life lost before a specific age (often age 65 or age 75). This approach places additional value on deaths that occur at earlier ages.(3) .
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Glossary Resources
- Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP)MAPP is a communitywide strategic planning tool for improving communityhealth developed by National Association of County and City Health Officials(NACCHO) in partnership with CDC. It builds on information learned from Assessment Protocol for Excellence in Public Health (APEXPH),a internal organizational assessment tool for local healthdepartments.
- NationalPublic Health Performance Standards Program (NPHPSP): This partnership effort focuses on 1) developing performance standards for public health practice as defined by the Essential Services of Public Health, 2) collect and analyze performance data, and 3) improve system-wide performance. Comprehensive performance measurement tools for the assessment of public health practice at both the state and local levels are being designed in partnership with other national public health organizations.Additionally, a surveillance instrument has been prepared as a rapid assessment toolto provide local, state, and federal public health officials with a snapshot of local public health capacity and performance.
- Public Health Administration: Principles for population-based management.Ed. L.F.Novick and G.P.Mays; Gaithersburg, MD:Aspen Publishers, Inc, 2001.
- Public Health Accreditation Board. Glossary of Terms, 2009.
- Turning Point. From Silos to Systems: Using Performance Management to Improve the Public's Health.
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