The connection between risk factors and disease prevention are fundamental to the public health purpose. As the prevalence of cardiovascular disease was rising at alarming rates, public health professionals at Stanford University sought to clarify the most influential risk factors and most effective prevention techniques. They designed a program that analyzed well-supported risk factors, and employed a variety of communication channels. Their goal was to find both the risk factors and intervention methods that would produce the most dynamic effect on cardiovascular disease. The Stanford Five-City Project was a monumental public health program that gained a wealth of information about CVD prevention and prevention campaigns in general.
[...] The Stanford Five-City Project had the objectives of increasing awareness and knowledge of personal risk for CVD, increasing positive attitudes and self-efficacy concerning CVD prevention, and actually reducing risky behavior prevalence and intensity. More specifically, the program promoted reducing cholesterol levels through diet changes, reducing blood pressure through regular exercise, regular blood pressure checks, reducing weight and increasing exercise as necessary, maintaining full adherence to antihypertensive medications, and reducing smoking. The primary source for measuring impact was medical records of cardiovascular incidents and related deaths. [...]
[...] The Stanford Five-City Project also explored an extremely broad and comprehensive range of educational channels and components. This program was one of the first to encompass such a multi-dimensional intervention, and was able to offer sound evidence as to which media and educational methods were most effective. For example, one element of the project was the “Health Living Program,” which involved bimonthly newsletters, self- help behavior change kits, contests, lectures, and TV programs, and program logos on various newspaper ads, posters, and TV PSAs. [...]
[...] The impact of the Stanford Five-City Project is best felt in its overall contribution to public health promotion. Innovative and ambitious, the program targeted an enormous range of risk behaviors, populations, channels, and community outlets. Its results were not as concrete as desired, yet its effort demonstrated the appropriate strengths and weakness of a public health program, allowing future interventions to better equip themselves. Through its sensitive and well-articulated design, the Stanford Five-City Project attempted to make an impact on CVD severity, and in turn had an even greater influence on the field of health promotion. [...]
[...] The Stanford Five-City Project touched on a few different theories that are significant to its development. The framework of the Stanford Five-City Project was primarily based on the ecological model, with definite undertones of the precede-proceed model. The development of the program's campaigns included a great deal of information seeking about the social, political, cultural, environmental and work-related attitudes and habits. Learning about the ecological climate and how that relates to risky behavior was a fundamental component of the Stanford Five-City Project's design. [...]
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