Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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WISEWOMAN Best Practices Toolkit:
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Notable Quote from a WISEWOMAN Participant "My eating habits will probably continue to improve because I’m getting used to the fruits and vegetables. I used to grab a Twinkie. Now I grab a banana. That’s what I pack in my lunch. It’s becoming just the way I am.” |
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Project-Level Practice | Local-Level Practice | Page Described | Tool Included on Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long-Term Program Participation | ||||
| 1. Develop strategies to increase re-screening rates in local sites | X | X | 93 | |
| 1A. Send multiple reminders to women about re-screening appointments | X | X | 93 | |
| 1B. Use multiple modes of contact to reach women for re-screening | X | X | 93 | |
| 2. Use incentives to encourage women to return for screening and intervention activities | X | X | 94 | |
| 3. Develop practices that facilitate long-term participation in WISEWOMAN for interested women | X | X | 95 | |
| 4. Update contact information for women during each visit or contact | X | X | 96 | |
| 5. Institute a sense of belonging to the program through the use of membership cards that expire after 12 months | X | X | 97 | |
| 6. Provide opportunities for WISEWOMAN involvement on an ongoing basis | X | X | 98 | |
| 7. Distribute newsletters to all enrolled women | X | X | 99 | |
| 8. Expand program services to meet additional needs of women | X | X | 100 | |
| Long-Term Behavior Change | ||||
| 9. Create strategies that focus on maintaining behavior changes in women | X | X | 101 | |
| 10. Use incentives to promote maintenance of behavior changes | X | X | 102 | |
| 11. Link women to free or low-cost resources that support behavior change | X | X | 103 | |
| 12. Offer women opportunities for support from themselves and others | X | X | 103 | |
| 13. Conduct follow-up through telephone contact or e-mail | X | X | 105 | |
| 14. Identify ways to maintain positive changes and further improve risk factors | X | X | 106 | |
| 14A. Offer positive reinforcements for changes in risk factors | X | X | 106 | |
| 14B. Compare screening results from one year to the next for a longer term perspective | X | X | 106 | |
| 15. Identify resources to provide women access to needed medications | X | X | 108 | |
| Long-Term Program Sustainability | ||||
| 16. Increase the long-term sustainability of the WISEWOMAN program | X | X | 109 | |
| 16A. Integrate the WISEWOMAN program into other programs and into clinic or hospital services | X | X | 109 | |
| 16B. Develop partnerships for program sustainability | X | X | 109 | |
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Practice(s) |
1. Develop strategies to increase re-screening rates in local sites
(Project, Local) 1A. Send multiple reminders to women about re-screening appointments (Project, Local) 1B. Use multiple modes of contact to reach women for re-screening (Project, Local) |
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|---|---|---|
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Description |
Long-term program participation relies on the site’s efforts to both
recapture women at each re-screening appointment and recruit new
women into the program. To facilitate the process of re-enrolling
women, sites can employ several methods, such as reminding women
multiple times using various methods and distributing incentives to
encourage women to return. Reminding women multiple times of upcoming re-screening due dates increases the likelihood that women will return. Staff can offer verbal encouragement during in-person visits and telephone conversations and can send written reminders by mail or e-mail. At the annual screening appointment, sites can also distribute membership cards that expire after 1 year to encourage women to return to receive a new card. In addition, staff can work with other on-site providers, such as clinical staff, to encourage women to return for re-screening. The use of more than one mode of contact to remind women about re-screening helps promote long-term participation. |
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Examples from the Field |
In Nebraska, the Every Woman Matters program provided local sites with a monthly report listing women who required re-screening appointments. Local sites sent standardized letters to remind women that they were due for re-screening. In addition, outreach workers at local sites contacted women by telephone to encourage them to return for re-screening. | |
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Things to Consider |
Staff Level of Effort: |
Contacting women takes time, especially when follow-up is needed with women who do not respond to initial contact efforts or whose contact information has changed. |
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Other Considerations: |
The use of reminders can entail producing and mailing letters, membership cards, or other incentives that target re-enrollment. |
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Staff Skill Level and Training: |
Staff should possess organizational skills to track women for re-screening and strong interpersonal skills to encourage women to attend re-screening appointments. |
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Cultural Adaptability: |
The language and examples used in written reminders can be adapted to the culture and literacy level of program participants. Staff members who call participants to remind them of re-screening should speak the appropriate language and adapt their messages so that they are culturally appropriate. In addition, sites can choose a method of contact that is suitable for contacting targeted women (for example, use telephone calls instead of letters for women with low literacy levels). |
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| Related Practices |
Chapter III, Effectiveness, Practice #8 Chapter III, Effectiveness, Practice #13 |
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Contact Information |
Every Woman Matters, Nebraska WISEWOMAN Project Phone: 1-800-532-2227 |
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| Practice(s) | 2. Use incentives to encourage women to return for screening and intervention activities (Project, Local) | |
|---|---|---|
| Description |
Projects and local sites offer a variety of incentives that
encourage women to return for screening and intervention activities.
High-performing local sites offered women direct reminders, such as
telephone calls and letters, as well as indirect reminders, such as
membership cards that expire after 12 months. Other strategies
involve enlisting clinic providers working for other programs to
remind women about the program. These incentives reduce
participation barriers, commemorate length of program participation,
and enhance women’s enjoyment of the program. Incentives to
encourage women to return can include a token piece of jewelry to
mark each year spent in the program, gas cards to reduce the cost of
transportation to the program, or tote bags and water bottles for
women to use for WISEWOMAN activities. A WISEWOMAN participant described the importance of incentives: “It was so cool because I’d never had [a pedometer] before! And the pen! We do matter! It makes you think, ‘I’m important …, I still count as a person. Somebody out there cares about me.’” |
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| Examples from the Field |
The Michigan WISEWOMAN program provided local sites with a variety
of incentives to encourage ongoing participation. Local staff
informed women of the incentives to be distributed at upcoming
sessions with the intent of motivating women to attend. For example,
during a lifestyle intervention session, the interventionist would
inform the woman that during her next visit she would receive a
pedometer and they would discuss how to use it to encourage her to
increase her level of physical activity. The SEARHC program in Alaska gave women a small piece of jewelry (a pin or necklace) at their initial screening appointment and each time they were re-screened thereafter. A Native artist developed the design for each year’s piece of jewelry, and women knew that if they continued to be screened, they would receive these incentives each year. |
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| Things to Consider | Staff Level of Effort: | Time might be spent selecting appropriate incentives as well as ordering, purchasing, and distributing them to sites. |
| Other Considerations: | The project or local site might be responsible for purchasing incentives, and projects might consider distributing incentives to sites. | |
| Staff Skill Level and Training: | Understanding the community and the program is necessary to choose incentives that will encourage women to continue with the program. Specific skills or training are not required to distribute incentives. | |
| Cultural Adaptability: | Incentives should be targeted toward women in a culturally appropriate manner, ensuring that they will be of value and not offensive to recipients. | |
| Related Practices |
Chapter II, Reach, Practice #6B Chapter III, Effectiveness, Practice #22 Chapter IV, Maintenance, Practice #10 |
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| Contact Information |
Michigan WISEWOMAN Project Phone: 517-335-1178 SEARHC WISEWOMAN Project |
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| Practice(s) | 3. Develop practices that facilitate long-term participation in WISEWOMAN for interested women (Project, Local) |
|---|---|
| Description |
Facilitating long-term WISEWOMAN participation involves keeping
current contact information for women and catering to their needs
and interests as they participate in program activities. Sites can
choose to use multiple strategies to make program participation
appealing to women. The five strategies listed below, which are
described in the tables, were identified as best practices to
facilitate long-term participation:
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| Examples from the Field | Examples from the field of best practices that facilitate long-term participation are described in the tables for strategies 4–8. |
| Things to Consider | Things to consider for best practices that facilitate long-term participation are described the tables for strategies 4–8. |
| Contact Information | Contact information for programs with best practices that facilitate long-term participation is provided the tables for strategies 4–8. |
| Practice(s) | 4. Update contact information for women during each visit or contact (Project, Local) | |
|---|---|---|
| Description | In some locations, women’s mobility makes tracking them a challenge. To maintain records with women’s current contact information, the site can gather updated information on a regular basis. For WISEWOMAN programs that have frequent contact with women, updated information can be obtained during some rather than all contacts, whereas programs with infrequent contact might want to ask women for updated information at most or all contacts. | |
| Examples from the Field | At the Every Woman Matters program in Kearney, Nebraska, outreach workers gathered updated contact information from participants during the last call in a series of intervention sessions. This increased the likelihood that outreach workers would connect with women to schedule the next re-screening appointment. | |
| Things to Consider | Staff Level of Effort: | Projects might spend a small amount of time encouraging local staff to obtain updated information on their participants. Little time is needed for local staff to gather updated information because this is done while they are providing regular program services to women. |
| Other Considerations: | Additional considerations are not anticipated. | |
| Staff Skill Level and Training: | If regularly updating participant contact information is part of the project protocol, staff should be trained on doing this. | |
| Cultural Adaptability: | N/A | |
| Contact Information |
Every Woman Matters, Nebraska WISEWOMAN Project Phone: 1-800-532-2227 |
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| Practice(s) | 5. Institute a sense of belonging to the program through the use of membership cards that expire after 12 months (Project, Local) | |
|---|---|---|
| Description | Membership cards offer women a sense of belonging to the program because they are a tangible reminder of the program. The cards can also be used to provide women access to free and reduced-cost activities associated with WISEWOMAN. When the cards expire, women are encouraged to re-enroll by participating in a re-screening visit to avoid forfeiting their access to certain program activities. | |
| Examples from the Field | The SEARHC WISEWOMAN program encouraged local sites to use membership cards. In some sites, the membership card provided women access to program activities (e.g., free swimming pool use and discounts for other physical activity programs). In one site, some women who lacked a valid card scheduled a re-screening appointment to take advantage of these discounts. | |
| Things to Consider | Staff Level of Effort: | Staff might spend some time designing, developing, and distributing membership cards. Time might also be spent forming relationships with organizations that offer free or reduced-free services to card holders. |
| Other Considerations: | Printing or laminating cards is a consideration. | |
| Staff Skill and Level of Training: | No special skills are required to develop membership cards. | |
| Cultural Adaptability: | Cards can be written in the language of the women served by the program. | |
| Contact Information |
SEARHC WISEWOMAN Project Phone: 907-966-8710 (ask for WISEWOMAN Project Director) |
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| Practice(s) | 6. Provide opportunities for WISEWOMAN involvement on an ongoing basis (Project, Local) | |
|---|---|---|
| Description | To encourage program participation, projects and sites can offer enrollees access to activities such as support groups, walking groups, fitness and stress-reduction sessions, tobacco cessation counseling, and other ongoing activities that are supplemental to the project’s lifestyle intervention. Because they are ongoing activities, they might increase the likelihood that women will remain engaged in the program. | |
| Examples from the Field | The SEARHC WISEWOMAN program made educational and experiential activities available to women in addition to the standard lifestyle intervention provided during the annual screening visit. In Haines, Alaska, the health educator organized many types of activities that took place at least twice a month, including strength training classes twice a week, weekly swimming at the community pool, yoga classes, low-impact aerobics, gathering local fruits and vegetables, and community gardening during the summer. | |
| Things to Consider | Staff Level of Effort: | Staff might spend considerable time organizing and coordinating activities on an ongoing basis as well as brainstorming new ideas and testing participation. |
| Other Considerations: | Staff might arrange venues or provide food. | |
| Staff Skill Level and Training: | Staff should possess strong organizational and networking skills as well as related content knowledge or training to provide activities. | |
| Cultural Adaptability: | Activities can be adapted to meet the cultural preferences of participants. | |
| Contact Information |
SEARHC WISEWOMAN Project Phone: 907-966-8710 (ask for WISEWOMAN Project Director) |
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| Practice(s) | 7. Distribute newsletters to all enrolled women (Project, Local) | |
|---|---|---|
| Description | Distributing newsletters is a strategy to maintain contact with women. High-performing local sites mailed newsletters on an ongoing basis to all women who had ever enrolled in WISEWOMAN, rather than limiting distribution to those current with their screening. Newsletters can keep women informed about upcoming program events and provide educational information on heart-healthy nutrition and physical activity. To increase their appeal, newsletters can be formatted in a reader-friendly way using colorful and fun designs. | |
| Examples from the Field |
In Juneau, Alaska, the WISEWOMAN program distributed a monthly
newsletter that announced one-time and ongoing community events such
as health fairs, walks, and fitness programs. The newsletter also
listed the contact information of WISEWOMAN participants who would
like an exercise partner, as well as available fitness resources
such as gym discounts and free swimming programs. At Public Health Delta and Menominee Counties in Escanaba, Michigan, the WISEWOMAN program distributed a colorful quarterly newsletter that highlighted program events, health department and community events of interest to participants, and success stories of participants. Some women enrolled in the program who did not participate in the lifestyle intervention chose to return to the program because of the activities described in the newsletter. |
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| Things to Consider | Staff Level of Effort: | Staff might spend time writing newsletters and formatting them to be reader friendly. |
| Other Considerations: | Printing and mailing newsletters are considerations. | |
| Staff Skill Level and Training: | Staff should have strong writing skills and possess some ability to format newsletters in a fun, reader-friendly way. | |
| Cultural Adaptability: | Newsletter images and content can be adapted to the culture(s) of the priority population. | |
| Contact Information |
SEARHC WISEWOMAN Project Phone: 907-966-8710 (ask for WISEWOMAN Project Director) Michigan
WISEWOMAN Project |
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| Practice(s) | 8. Expand program services to meet additional needs of women (Project, Local) | |
|---|---|---|
| Description | Projects and local sites can encourage long-term participation by adding activities that supplement the lifestyle intervention, such as classes, counseling, or peer support. To promote long-term engagement, high-performing local sites offered services on a frequent and ongoing basis and focused services in all targeted areas of behavior change (nutrition, physical activity, and tobacco cessation). | |
| Examples from the Field | In Ware, Massachusetts, the site expanded on the standard lifestyle intervention— PACE and risk reduction education—that all women received. They provided women access to a hospital-based nutrition education program, coordinated smoking cessation classes, and made community resources available by offering women gift certificates to fitness and yoga facilities. The site also coordinated a monthly support group for interested women to discuss successes and challenges associated with making behavior changes. Women chose whether or not to participate in these additional services. | |
| Things to Consider | Staff Level of Effort: | Staff might spend considerable time organizing and coordinating activities on an ongoing basis. |
| Other Considerations: | Additional considerations are not anticipated. | |
| Staff Skill Level and Training: | Staff should possess strong organizational and networking skills as well as related content knowledge or training to provide activities. | |
| Cultural Adaptability: | Activities can be adapted to meet the cultural preferences of participants. | |
| Related Practices |
Chapter III, Effectiveness, Practice #4 Chapter III, Effectiveness, Practice #12B Chapter III, Effectiveness, Practice #18 |
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| Contact Information |
Women’s Health Network, Massachusetts WISEWOMAN Project Phone: 617-624-5434 |
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| Practice(s) | 9. Create strategies that focus on maintaining behavior changes in women (Project, Local) |
|---|---|
| Description |
Four strategies, which are described in the following tables, were
identified as best practices to assist women in maintaining behavior
change:
A focus group participant explained,“[Women] are more interested in having a listener and motivator. The majority of women know what it is they are supposed to do, but they need help and motivation to do it.” |
| Examples from the Field | Examples from the field of best practices that focus on maintaining behavior change are described in the tables for strategies 10–13. |
| Things to Consider | Things to consider for best practices that focus on maintaining behavior change are described in the tables for strategies 10–13. |
| Contact Information | Contact information for programs with best practices that focus on maintaining behavior change is provided in the tables for strategies 10–13. |
| Practice(s) | 10. Use incentives to promote maintenance of behavior changes (Project, Local) | |
|---|---|---|
| Description | Projects can provide incentives to local sites, which in turn can distribute them to women. The incentives are specifically designed to help women maintain their behavior changes. For example, pedometers encourage women to walk and cookbooks with heart-healthy recipes teach women alternative ways to prepare favorite foods. Women described the incentives as “gifts” and reported feeling special when they received them. | |
| Examples from the Field | The WISEWOMAN program at Public Health Delta and Menominee Counties in Michigan provided incentives to women that related to identified goals and encouraged women to maintain positive behavior changes. For example, the site encouraged the maintenance of physical activity by giving women water bottles, walking reflectors, pedometers, and, in some cases, walking shoes for women who could not afford them. | |
| Things to Consider | Staff Level of Effort: | Some time might be spent planning the types of incentives to use as well as ordering, purchasing, and distributing them to sites. |
| Other Considerations: | Projects and sites can distribute a variety of incentive types. Ordering in bulk ensures that the project or local site has a sufficient supply to target incentives appropriately to women. | |
| Staff Skill Level and Training: | Some understanding of the community and the program is required to choose incentives that will be most effective in encouraging women to maintain their behavior changes. Little skill and training are needed to distribute incentives. | |
| Cultural Adaptability: | Culturally appropriate incentives can be selected. | |
| Related Practices |
Chapter II, Reach, Practice #6B Chapter III, Effectiveness, Practice #22 Chapter VI, Maintenance, Practice #2 |
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| Contact Information |
Michigan WISEWOMAN Project Phone: 517-335-1178 |
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| Practice(s) |
11. Link women to free or low-cost resources that support behavior
change (Project, Local) 12. Offer women opportunities for support from themselves and others (Project, Local) |
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|---|---|---|
| Description |
Women benefit from supportive resources as they face the challenge
of maintaining lifestyle behavior changes. Access to free or
low-cost services in the community, support from an encouraging
staff member, and opportunities to share experiences with those
facing similar challenges are all forms of support that projects and
local staff can provide to women. Projects and local sites can form
partnerships with community organizations to increase the number of
links to resources and opportunities for support. High-performing local sites promoted maintenance of behavior change by offering multiple links to community resources to better match women’s individual needs. Some links, such as fitness program discounts, sought to reduce cost barriers to behavior change maintenance and others, such as the supportive environment at ongoing walking groups, strived to be motivational for women. Staff members can provide support directly to women by actively listening when women describe their challenges and progress and by providing encouragement when women are less motivated to practice healthy behaviors. High-performing local sites encouraged women to receive peer support by organizing support groups or informing women of existing groups in the community. Community support opportunities are valuable because they might be available to women who are no longer participating in WISEWOMAN, and they can offer the encouragement of peers in the community rather than staff members who might not identify with women’s personal challenges. |
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| Examples from the Field | The Women’s Health Network program in Plymouth, Massachusetts linked women to multiple community resources to support their behavior changes. For example, the site offered women a free 3-week membership in a local health club and sessions with a personal trainer who designed an at-home workout. The site also offered opportunities for support groups. Women who had recently been diagnosed with diabetes or who are noncompliant with their treatment were offered the opportunity to participate in a diabetes support group through the hospital. The group provided education about nutrition and physical activity aimed at lowering blood glucose levels. The site also offered women individual and group sessions in a tobacco cessation treatment program. | |
| Things to Consider | Staff Level of Effort: | Identifying resources that offer support to women and establishing linkages to these resources might take time to initiate and sustain. |
| Other Considerations: | Additional considerations are not anticipated. | |
| Staff Skill Level and Training: | Staff who identify and establish linkages to sources of support should have strong networking and organizational skills. Staff who provide support to women should have strong interpersonal skills. | |
| Cultural Adaptability: | Supportive resources can be culturally targeted, such as using counselors who speak the appropriate language or referring women to support groups with women from similar backgrounds. | |
| Related Practices |
Chapter III, Effectiveness, Practice #20 Chapter III, Effectiveness, Practice #23 Chapter VI, Maintenance, Practice #15 |
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| Contact Information |
Women’s Health Network, Massachusetts WISEWOMAN Project Phone: 617-624-5434 |
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| Practice(s) | 13. Conduct followup through telephone contact or e-mail (Project, Local) | |
|---|---|---|
| Description | Follow-up contact plays a key role in maintaining women’s behavior change because it shows women that staff are invested in their continued practice of healthy behaviors. Site staff are also able to address the individual needs of women in a supportive and caring way through these contacts. Staff members listen to women and stay current on their progress in adopting healthy lifestyle behaviors. Staff also function as a resource by offering information to help address women’s barriers to maintaining behavior change, encouraging women who have lost motivation, or providing tips related to maintaining behavior change goals. | |
| Examples from the Field | The lifestyle intervention in Michigan was structured so that local site staff contacted women three to six times each year, often by telephone. Lifestyle counselors used these contacts as an opportunity to receive updates on women’s personal situations that could affect their maintenance of behaviors. Lifestyle counselors listened carefully to women’s progress toward goals and offer encouragement, support, and creative approaches to help women sustain healthy behaviors. | |
| Things to Consider | Staff Level of Effort: | Follow-up contact might take a substantial amount of time, depending on the number of times needed to reach women and the length of telephone calls or e-mail messages. |
| Other Considerations: | Additional considerations are not anticipated. | |
| Staff Skill Level and Training: | Staff members who contact women should have strong interpersonal skills and knowledge of how to encourage women to maintain behaviors related to nutrition, physical activity, and smoking cessation and to address associated barriers. | |
| Cultural Adaptability: | Staff who contact women should speak the appropriate language. | |
| Contact Information |
Michigan WISEWOMAN Project Phone: 517-335-1178 |
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| Practice(s) |
14. Identify ways to maintain positive changes and further improve
risk factors (Project, Local) 14A. Offer positive reinforcements for changes in risk factors (Project, Local) 14B. Compare screening results from one year to the next for a longer term perspective (Project, Local) |
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|---|---|---|
| Description |
Projects and local sites can offer women encouragement and support
to maintain positive changes in blood pressure, cholesterol levels,
and other risk factors. Specifically, sites can discuss changes in
risk factors with women, compare screening results from one year to
the next, and provide women with positive reinforcement for changes.
A strategy used by high-performing local sites was to have women
identify their desired approach to behavior change. Depending on the
structure of service delivery, staff have varied opportunities to
discuss screening results with women. One frequently available
opportunity is at the re-screening appointment. When local staff discuss screening results with women, they can take the opportunity to compare results from previous screenings to assess changes. High-performing local sites used past screening results to guide future intervention discussion and goal-setting activities. If staff identify improvements, they can capitalize on the moment by providing positive reinforcement. Also, staff might praise women for improvements in screening results and help women connect adopted behavior changes to their screening results. |
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| Examples from the Field | The health educators at the WISEWOMAN program in Ludington, Michigan, focused on positive changes in screening results, which pleased women and encouraged them to complete the lifestyle intervention in the coming year. Women appreciated discussing these changes and enjoyed learning when they had made progress. The health educators noticed that women who did not change their annual re-screening results became discouraged. In these cases, the educators made an effort to focus on positive results and outcomes while attributing the lack of change to behaviors unrelated to women’s current goals. Women were then able to identify the behaviors they would need to adopt to experience improved screening results and with this knowledge they were able to choose behavior goals to work on in the future. | |
| Things to Consider | Staff Level of Effort: | Incorporating extra comments is not expected to take additional time; however, staff should have previous screening results available during their encounters with women. |
| Other Considerations: | Additional considerations are not anticipated. | |
| Staff Skill Level and Training: | Staff should have a clinical background or training in the interpretation of screening results, and they should possess strong communication skills to help women understand the results and ways to address them on an individual basis. Re-training might be necessary because clinical guidelines change over time. | |
| Cultural Adaptability: | N/A | |
| Contact Information |
Michigan WISEWOMAN Project Phone: 517-335-1178 |
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| Practice(s) | 15. Identify resources to provide women access to needed medications (Project, Local) | |
|---|---|---|
| Description | WISEWOMAN serves women who are uninsured or underinsured, which often means that women face financial challenges, such as not being able to afford needed medications to control chronic diseases. Sites can address this challenge by identifying prescription assistance programs in the community, such as hospitals, clinics, and nonprofit programs that offer free or low-cost medications. High-performing local sites actively sought out multiple resources that provided ongoing assistance because these provided a longer term benefit to women. | |
| Examples from the Field | In Fayetteville, North Carolina, the WISEWOMAN staff informed women about the Medication Access Program, a source of free medications in the area. To ensure that women accessed the resource, staff proactively assisted women in completing the application and navigating the program’s waiting list. | |
| Things to Consider | Staff Level of Effort: | Staff time will be dedicated to identifying an initial list of resources and maintaining the list over time, as well as cultivating relationships with the programs. |
| Other Considerations: | Additional considerations are not anticipated. | |
| Staff Skill Level and Training: | Staff who identify resources should have strong networking and organizational skills. | |
| Cultural Adaptability: | N/A | |
| Related Practices |
Chapter III, Effectiveness, Practice #20 Chapter VI, Maintenance, Practice #11 |
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| Contact Information |
North Carolina WISEWOMAN Project Phone: 919-707-5301 |
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| Practice(s) |
16. Increase the long-term sustainability of the WISEWOMAN program
(Project, Local) 16A. Integrate the WISEWOMAN program into other programs and into clinic or hospital services (Project, Local) 16B. Develop partnerships for program sustainability (Project, Local) |
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|---|---|---|
| Description |
Multiple factors contribute to a program’s sustainability, namely
resources, caseload, and capacity. Projects and local sites can also
contribute to the program’s sustainability using other means, such
as integrating WISEWOMAN into other programs and forming
partnerships to solidify the program’s foundation in the community. WISEWOMAN services complement other services provided in hospitals and clinics. When WISEWOMAN is integrated into other programs and services, the program stops being a stand-alone service, which promotes sustainability within the clinic or hospital. In addition, integrating WISEWOMAN into other programs or services benefits women because they might receive a more comprehensive package of medical services. By forming community partnerships, sites can receive assistance in providing services that the program might not be able to offer alone, such as support groups or fitness activities. Developing community partnerships also increases awareness of the program by motivating organizations and providers to actively promote the program to their clients. High-performing local sites developed multiple community partnerships to increase program sustainability. |
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| Examples from the Field |
At the SEARHC clinic in Juneau, Alaska, WISEWOMAN program staff
recognized the value of integrating the WISEWOMAN screening into
other medical care services provided at the clinic. To promote the
integration of WISEWOMAN and other services, staff informed clinic
providers about the similarity of their services and developed a
streamlined system for completing the WISEWOMAN screening without
imposing an extra burden on the clinic providers. Through this
integration, women benefited from less frequent visits to the clinic
and WISEWOMAN benefited by developing a solid grounding within the
clinic. In Sitka, Alaska, the WISEWOMAN program partnered with a variety of community organizations to increase its resources and capitalize on successful community programs. Partnerships with local schools, religious groups, nonprofit organizations, and native tribes have helped the program host events, provide incentives, and sponsor activities. |
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| Things to Consider | Staff Level of Effort: | It can take time to identify and establish relationships with appropriate and interested programs and partners. |
| Other Considerations: | As projects and local sites coordinate with other services and develop partnerships, they might engage in telephone communication or travel to other locations. | |
| Staff Skill Level and Training: | Staff who identify and establish partnerships should have strong networking skills and a solid understanding of the WISEWOMAN program. | |
| Cultural Adaptability: | Partnerships can be formed with community organizations that target women of cultural groups that are also served by WISEWOMAN. | |
| Related Practices |
Chapter II, Reach, Practice #7 Chapter II, Reach, Practice #8 Chapter II, Reach, Practice #9 Chapter V, Implementation, Practice #7 Chapter VI, Implementation, Practice #8 |
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| Contact Information |
SEARHC WISEWOMAN Project Phone: 907-966-8710 (ask for WISEWOMAN Project Director) |
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Is the Project or Site Interested in Adopting this Strategy? |
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| Long-Term Program Participation | |
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1. Develop strategies to increase re-screening rates in local sites |
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1A. Send multiple reminders to women about re-screening appointments |
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| 1B. Use multiple modes of contact to reach women for re-screening | |
| 2. Use incentives to encourage women to return for screening and intervention activities | |
| 3. Develop practices that facilitate long-term participation in WISEWOMAN for interested women | |
| 4. Update contact information for women during each visit or contact | |
| 5. Institute a sense of belonging to the program through the use of membership cards that expire after 12 months | |
| 6. Provide opportunities for WISEWOMAN involvement on an ongoing basis | |
| 7. Distribute newsletters to all enrolled women | |
| 8. Expand program services to meet additional needs of women | |
| Long-Term Behavior Change | |
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9. Create strategies that focus on maintaining behavior change in women |
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10. Use incentives to promote maintenance of behavior changes |
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11. Link women to free or low-cost resources that support behavior change |
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| 12. Offer women opportunities for support from themselves and others | |
| 13. Conduct follow-up through telephone contact or e-mail | |
| 14. Identify ways to maintain positive changes and further improve risk factors | |
| 14A. Offer positive reinforcements for changes in risk factors | |
| 14B. Compare screening results from one year to the next for a longer term perspective | |
| 15. Identify resources to provide women access to needed medications | |
| Long-Term Program Sustainability | |
| 16. Increase the long-term sustainability of the WISEWOMAN program | |
| 16A. Integrate the WISEWOMAN program into other programs and into clinic or hospital services | |
| 16B. Develop partnerships for program sustainability | |
Page last reviewed: July 10, 2007
Page last modified: July 10, 2007
Content source: Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
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