Main Content
The Advancing System Improvements to Support Targets for Healthy People 2010 (ASIST2010) program, funded through the Office on Women’s Health (OWH), is a unique program in at least two respects: it places emphasis on sex- and gender-based care, and is designed to improve health outcomes within the selected Healthy People 2010 focus area(s)—cancer, diabetes, heart disease and stroke, access to quality health services, educational and community-based programs, nutrition and overweight, and physical activity and fitness. To accomplish this work, grantees were asked to build on existing collaborative partnerships; use evidence-based strategies to achieve desired outcomes; track progress towards selected Healthy People 2010 objectives using gender-specific data; improve surveillance systems to allow such tracking of progress; and develop a plan to sustain the effort after the end of funding. Grantees were also asked to establish a steering committee to help oversee implementation of the program, comprised of at least one representative from each partner within their collaborative, as well as a representative from the community.
The ASIST2010 program provides an ideal case for evaluating whether the use of a public health systems or other collaborative approach that adds a sex- or gender-based focus can have a positive impact on Healthy People 2010 targets. NORC designed an evaluation that examines how these topics affect structures, processes, and outcomes for achieving improvements in Healthy People 2010 objectives. The evaluation also identifies examples of effective strategies using these approaches. The evaluation places emphasis on how interventions to support women’s health and gender- and sex-based care have influenced these outcomes. To complete the evaluation, NORC conducted a literature review; document reviews; structured telephone interviews, and site visits with the 13 grantees. The evaluation has also incorporated an analysis of BRFSS and surveillance system data.