Federal reports

Description: One in every four women and one in every thirteen men have experienced domestic violence during their lifetimes, 2.3 million each year. The Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) provides the primary federal funding stream dedicated to the support of emergency shelter and related assistance for victims of domestic violence and their dependents. This report highlights the use of these funds within the Department of Health and Human Services.

Description: A new report is now available for the June 2010 Bringing Gender Home: Implementing Gender-Responsive HIV/AIDS Programming for U.S. Women and Girls forum. OWH convened the forum in partnership with UNAIDS. Participants recommended strategies to make HIV/AIDS prevention programs more responsive to the needs of women and girls. UNAIDS sponsored international gender experts who presented lessons learned and internationally-developed models of gender-responsive programming that can be adapted for use in the U.S. The final recommendations were aligned with the National HIV/AIDS Strategy goals of reducing new HIV infections, increasing access to care and improving health outcomes for people living with HIV, and reducing HIV-related health disparities.

Description: The Call to Action describes specific steps people can take to participate in a society-wide approach to support mothers and babies who are breastfeeding.

Description: One in every four women and one in every thirteen men have experienced domestic violence during their lifetimes, 2.3 million each year. The Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) provides the primary federal funding stream dedicated to the support of emergency shelter and related assistance for victims of domestic violence and their dependents. This report highlights the use of these funds within the Department of Health and Human Services.

Description: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women’s Health, supports the Prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls Initiative to respond to the problem of violence against women and girls in the United States. Through this nationwide Initiative, the Regional Offices on Women’s Health funded community level projects to conduct activities and events that educate and bring awareness to aspects of violence against women and girls. These Regional OWH project emphasize that violence encompasses intimate partner violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, sexual abuse, stalking, emotional and verbal abuse; as well as teen violence, bullying, human-trafficking, and other forms of trauma or abuse. Violence against women and girls is perpetrated in all types of personal and family relationships and crosses economic, educational, cultural, racial, age, and religious lines.

Description: In September 2008, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Coordinating Committee on Women’s Health (CCWH) embarked on a year-long multi-phase initiative to identify opportunities and strategies to advance the status of the health of women and girls beyond 2010. The process included getting feedback from more than 1,000 key informants including experts from government, academia, health services, consumers, research, and advocacy groups. The culmination of this year-long initiative was a Summit for Action: The Health of Women and Girls Beyond 2010. On July 16 and 17, 2009, an invitational Summit of 100 national, state, and community leaders were brought together to develop the framework for a nationwide action agenda focused on the health, wellness, and safety of women and girls. This report provides a summary of the Summit discussion and recommendations.

Description: Federally funded health and human services initiatives represent a substantial investment of scarce resources. However, initiatives that are unsustainable beyond the period of initial funding significantly limit the country's return on this investment and its ability to improve health outcomes. While the long-term viability of initiatives has been widely recognized as integral to their effectiveness over time, there has been a lack of research defining sustainability and guidance for organizations on how to achieve it. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office on Women's Health (OWH) is examining the issue of sustainability through an assessment of the sustainability of its previously funded Multidisciplinary Health Models for Women (MHMW) initiative. To further explore this important issue, OWH convened a forum titled "Sustaining Momentum for Effective Change: Lessons Learned from the Office on Women's Health Programs" on December 16, 2009, in Bethesda, MD. The agenda, participant list, and a summary report on the participant's evaluation of the meeting are included in the appendices to this report.

Description: In support of interdisciplinary Women’s Health training programs, the Journal of Women’s Health is pleased to publish the Directory of Interdisciplinary Women’s Health Residencies and Fellowships. The Directory was initially developed from a national survey of 1,355 hospitals conducted in September 1995. Information from the Association of American Medical Colleges, the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, and the American Hospital Association was used to identify institutions approved for Women’s Health residency and fellowship programs.

Description: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the United States government's principal agency for protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services, especially for those who are least able to help themselves. With more than 59,000 employees, HHS improves the lives of women and girls through the administration of over 300 programs in research, direct clinical service delivery, educational and training programs, disease prevention and health promotion strategies, advocacy, and policy development.

Description: One in every four women and one in every thirteen men have experienced domestic violence during their lifetimes, 2.3 million each year. The Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) provides the primary federal funding stream dedicated to the support of emergency shelter and related assistance for victims of domestic violence and their dependents. This report highlights the use of these funds within the Department of Health and Human Services.

Description: BodyWorks focuses on helping parents and caregivers teach, facilitate, and support healthy eating and exercise habits for their 8- to 17-year-old daughters and other family members. The program aims to reach individual adolescent girls at home and within the context of their particular cultural, linguistic, social, and physical environments by tapping directly into the parent/caregiver-child link around eating and exercise behaviors.

Description: The OWH Strategic Plan FY 2010-FY 2015 was developed by OWH staff in response to the 2007 restructuring of the Office and recommendations from the 2008 staff retreat. It provides an overarching framework to guide OWH’s efforts to improve the health and well-being of women and girls.

Description: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health (OWH), commissioned this literature to provide an up-to-date review of women's and men's health.

• Appendix A – Sustaining Grassroots Community-Based Programs: A Toolkit for Community- and Faith-Based Service Providers (PDF, 2.6 MB)
• Appendix B – Toolkit for Program Sustainability, Capacity Building, and Volunteer Recruitment/Management (PDF, 1.8 MB)

Description: This report presents findings of a literature review on sustainability of programs/initiatives as well as the conceptual frameworks, specific assessment methods, tools, and strategies used to increase the likelihood of achieving sustainability.

Description: Providing extended and/or short-term care to an aging or sick parent, sibling, child, a person with a disability, or assisting with the care of a neighbor or friend is a reality for about 50 million Americans. Serving as a caregiver to these individuals can lead to stress, depression, fatigue, lack of exercise, lack of time for family and friends, and sacrificing one's own health. This literature review outlines the programs/supports that exist for single parent caregivers.

Description: The objective of this summary is to summarize research pertaining to work disability in lupus patients, discuss challenges patients face applying for federal disability assistance in the US, and make recommendations for clinical and health policy research.

Description: This report summarizes the proceedings of the Charting New Frontiers in Rural Women's Health Conference. Held August 13 — 15, 2007, at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC, the conference was hosted by the Office on Women's Health (OWH) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The conference brought together approximately 300 representatives from health departments and rural health agencies, associations, academic institutions, hospitals, clinics, and other providers, in order to increase awareness and replication of best practices that address the needs of women and families living in rural and frontier areas.

Description: This report has three main purposes. Its first purpose is to provide a synthesis of literature on successful systems change initiatives within health care organizations and related best practices. Its second purpose is to review how these best practices were incorporated into the National Community Centers of Excellence in Women's Health (CCOEs) systems change effort, and to describe the specific steps required to implement and evaluate systems change efforts. Its final purpose is to discuss challenges met and addressed in successful change initiatives, including examples and lessons learned from the CCOE program, and to describe methods to sustain long-term systems change.

Description: The Report Card includes 34 status indicators and 63 policy indicators. The status and policy indicators address a broad range of women's health issues, allowing the national and state report cards to provide a detailed assessment of government performance in promoting and advancing women's health. An array of demographic information (e.g., the number of women in the state by age, by race, by ethnicity, in linguistic isolation, in rural and urban areas) is included to place the status and policy indicators in context, in recognition of the many factors that can affect women's health.

Description: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health (OWH), commissioned this literature review to provide an up-to-date review of effective sex- and gender-based systems/models of healthcare. The review investigated seven main research questions.

Description: In September 2000, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Office on Women's Health (OWH) implemented the National Community Centers of Excellence in Women's Health (CCOE) program in partnership with the DHHS Office of Minority Health (OMH) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC) Office of Minority and Special Populations (formerly the Office of Minority and Women's Health). The intent of the CCOE program is to integrate, coordinate, and strengthen linkages between programs and activities that already exist in the community to improve service delivery to underserved women. The coordination of these activities should reduce fragmentation in women's health services. Community- based organizations serve as the hub for the implementation of this new model of care. (Federal Register, Volume 66, Number 14). Currently, 12 CCOEs serve underserved communities across the United States in locations ranging from densely populated urban settings to very rural and isolated communities.

Description: The 2004 Minority Women's Health Summit was held on August 12-15, 2004 at the JW Marriott Hotel in Washington, DC. More than 550 individuals attended and participated in the three-day conference. Participants attended four plenary sessions, two luncheon presentations, thirty-nine workshop sessions, and two poster presentation sessions. Participants also had an opportunity to visit the exhibit room and wellness center to learn more about minority women's health programs and tools for self/family health promotion. The purpose of this report is to provide a brief synopsis of the sessions held at the conference.

Description: This executive summary provides a synopsis of the National Community Centers of Excellence in Women's Health (CCOE) program evaluation, sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Office on Women's Health (OWH). The CCOE program is an initiative to implement a unique, interdisciplinary, community-based model to provide services to underserved women, a historically marginalized population. The CCOE model also addresses the historical disparities in health care that have long placed women's wellness at risk.

Description: In the 20th century, we witnessed the most dramatic improvements in women's health in human history. At every level, the quality of women's health care was enhanced and strengthened through advances in research, behavioral patterns, diet, pre- and post-natal care, new drug and surgical treatments, immunizations, and the general commitment of millions of Americans to lead healthier lives. This publication highlights the advancements in women's health that have been archived in the last century.

Description: This publication summarizes key findings from AAHP's assessment of eight health plans that have implemented innovative programs to promote breastfeeding among enrollees. It also highlights three health plans that have demonstrated their commitment to breastfeeding promotion through programs for their own employees.

• African American Women and Smoking (PDF, 130 KB) (archive)
• American Indian or Alaska Native Women and Smoking (PDF, 118 KB) (archive)
• Asian or Pacific Islander Women and Smoking (PDF, 108 KB) (archive)
• Hispanic Women and Smoking (PDF, 118 KB) (archive)

Description: Women now account for 39 percent of all smoking-related deaths each year in the United States, a proportion that has more than doubled since 1965, according to a report on women and smoking released March 27, 2001 by former Surgeon General David Satcher. The report concludes that the increased likelihood of lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, and reproductive health problems among female smokers makes tobacco use a serious women's health issue.

Description: The Blueprint for Action introduces an action plan for breastfeeding based on education, training, awareness, support and research. The plan includes key recommendations that were refined by the members and reviewers of the Subcommittee on Breastfeeding during their deliberations of science-based findings.