The mission of the Policy, Practice and Prevention Research Center (P3RC) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) is to collaborate with communities, agencies, state and local government, and other partners to engage in interdisciplinary health prevention research to develop, implement and evaluate evidence-based public health (EBPH) policy, program, systems and environmental (PPSE) approaches aimed at improving child well-being, and nutrition, physical activity, and risky health behaviors to reduce chronic disease risk and related health disparities. The P3RC will build partner capacity through the provision of technical assistance, education and training programs and provide a comprehensive translation agenda to effectively translate EBPH research findings into PPSE changes. The unifying theme of the proposed P3RC is building evidence, leadership and capacity for PPSE change aimed at improving health behaviors and reducing disparities and will be reflected in all P3RC activities. The P3RC proposed activities are guided by the CDC Prevention Research Center Program Logic Model and will address five overarching aims: 1) Engage researchers and community partners in expert multi-disciplinary applied health promotion and health prevention community- based research and public health practice aimed at improving health behaviors and reducing chronic disease through effective evidenced-based PPSE changes; 2) Effectively disseminate and translate evidence-based research findings into best practices and policies for sustainability and wide-spread scale-up; 3) Conduct community and student training, provide technical assistance, and serve as a resource at the local/state level to increase researcher, practitioner, stakeholder, and community capacity to conduct community-based health prevention research and PPSE evaluations and effectively implement evidence-based changes; 4) Communicate and support information sharing about programmatic, educational and scientific activities and products for a variety of audiences including the public health practice community; local, state and national health coalitions, advocacy groups, and policy-makers; prevention researchers; and, the public; and, 5) Identify and address racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, and rural disparities in all aspects of the P3RC's research, community engagement, training, communication, and translation activities to improve health behaviors and reduce related disease risks and outcomes among disadvantaged populations. The P3RC evidence-based public health practice core research project will provide evidence on the effectiveness of a health-related initiative that provides a school network-based Specialist who will coordinate health-related services, programming, and instruction for schools within the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) framework. Working with local school and state-level partners, the project capitalizes on an identified need to evaluate WSCC strategies for improving children's health, health behaviors, and academic outcomes that are critical for children's long-term health and well-being.
The Policy, Practice and Prevention Research Center (P3RC) will engage in interdisciplinary community-based prevention research to develop, implement and evaluate evidence-based public health (EBPH) policy, program, systems and environmental (PPSE) approaches aimed at improving child well-being, nutrition, physical activity, and risky health behaviors to reduce chronic disease risk and related health disparities. The P3RC will build partner capacity through the provision of technical assistance, education and training programs and provide a comprehensive translation agenda to effectively translate EBPH research findings into PPSE changes. The P3RC community-engaged EBPH practice core research project will evaluate an Initiative that provides a school network-based Specialist who will coordinate health-related services, programming, and instruction for schools as part of the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) framework and meet an identified need to evaluate WSCC strategies that are critical for children's long-term health and well-being.
