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Evidence Based Health Promotion

The movement to develop 'evidence based practice' which first began in the field of medicine has spread to all parts of the health sector and other public sector activity. It is now widely accepted that activities to improve health should be supported by sound evidence.

What is evidence?

• At the most basic level, evidence involves 'the available body of facts or information indicating whether a belief or proposition is true or valid'.

• Evidence based public health and policy is an exercise in constructing realities and interventions within particular contexts. For policy-decision makers, evidence may be defined as 'anything that establishes a fact or gives reason for believing something'.

Evidence Based Population Health

Evidence-based population health refers to the development, implementation, and evaluation of effective programs and policies in population health through application of evidence, including systematic appraisal of research and appropriate use of program planning models. From this perspective, population health practice is directly linked with evidence that demonstrates effectiveness.

Effective, high quality health promotion policy and practice depends on the availability of information from existing research and evaluation, statistical sources and expert knowledge. Evidence based practice relies on the findings of sound evaluation research to determine whether an intervention is likely to be effective.

The following sites are organisations involved with the assessment of the effectiveness of population health interventions.

• The Cochrane Collaboration
  Preparing, maintaining and promoting the accessibility of systematic reviews of the effects of health care and population health interventions.

• National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)
  (UK) (formerly The Health Development Agency). Supporting evidence based practice in clinical and population health.

• Centre for Reviews and Dissemination
  Aims to provide research-based information about the effects of interventions used in health and social care.

• The Sax Institute
  Builds partnerships between researchers and health policy and service delivery agencies for better health. The Institute has at its foundation a coalition of University and research groups undertaking population health and health services research in NSW.