The Importance of Data Frameworks
Dynamics driving health and well-being are complex. For those working to advance equitable well-being, “frameworks”—a basic structure underlying a system, concept, or text—are a powerful tool that aid in understanding and sense-making. Frameworks provide conceptual infrastructure and help us understand the complex nature of health and well-being. “Framing” is a way of structuring or presenting a problem or an issue; it involves explaining, describing, and adding context. Frameworks are a powerful way to frame data, helping us to describe conditions in communities and focus on what matters for well-being instead of generalizing or making assumptions about what is needed.
Frameworks can be applied to quantitative data to help us more effectively use data to inform our work. Data on the IP3 ASSESS platform are organized by frameworks to analyze and present data in a digestible, actionable way. When leveraging data to advance equitable well-being, long lists of indicators aren’t helpful because they fail to spotlight big opportunities to improve your community. IP3 data frameworks comprise a set of domains (categories) populated by a selection of key indicators.
New Health Risk and Enabling Factors Framework
The Health Risk and Enabling Factors framework sheds light on important health risks and enabling factors that contribute to the burden of disease in a community. Health risks and enabling factors refer to behaviors that increase or decrease risk for poor health outcomes.
Use of this framework exposes individual and community-level behaviors to promote and prevent in order to advance equitable well-being in communities.
This framework was designed to be used alone or in combination with the Burden of Disease framework to highlight opportunities and priorities for public health interventions and health promotion. Domains in this framework reflect categories of health-related behaviors that contribute to leading causes of morbidity, mortality, disability and quality of life.
Explore the six domains in the Health Risk and Enabling Factors Framework below.
Chronic Disease Management
Measures chronic disease patient adherence to treatments that can improve quality of life and reduce healthcare costs. Indicators include medication adherence for patients with high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and receipt of care for patients with HIV. Adherence to prescribed medications and treatment schedules is critical for long-term success of patients living with chronic diseases.
Diet and Exercise
Measures healthy eating behaviors, physical activity levels, food access and security, and lifestyle-related diseases. Indicators include physical activity rates, healthy eating rates, diet-related diseases, and food security and access. Eating healthfully and being active reduce risk of chronic disease and are associated with good overall health.
Accident and Injury Prevention
Measures behaviors that impact risk for accidents and injuries that result in poor health outcomes. Indicators include sleep, traffic safety measures, employment in accident-prone occupations, and firearm safety. Safety measures and behaviors that reduce risk for accidents and injuries prevent morbidity, mortality, and disability.
Preventive Care
Measures utilization of preventive health services and associated factors that impact uptake. Indicators include use of primary care, disease screenings, vaccinations, and health care access. Routine, preventive health services facilitate early detection of disease and prevent illnesses.
Risky Sexual Behavior
Measures sexual behaviors that impact risk for sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies. Indicators include condom use, early sexual intercourse, and STI outbreaks. Risky sexual behavior can lead to infections including chlamydia, syphilis, and HIV, as well as unintended pregnancy.
Tobacco, Alcohol and Substance Use
Measures tobacco, alcohol, and substance use behaviors, and factors that impact substance use. Indicators include history of cigarette smoking, problem drinking, drug use, secondhand smoke exposure, and access to controlled substances. Use of tobacco, alcohol, and substances is associated with acute and chronic diseases, including cancers, cardiovascular diseases, mental illness, and more.
We encourage you to check out the IP3 suite of data frameworks, and if you’re interested in learning more how IP3 can support your team in using data to drive community change work, please get in touch today!
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