Health and well-being are shaped from a very early age. Factors such as stress, tobacco use, sleep, nutrition, and physical activity play a role in determining how children grow and develop, their health as adults, and even the health of future generations. With support from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, we developed our RAISE Families for Health Program to meet the pressing challenge of interrupting the intergenerational cycle of poor health and disease within the most vulnerable populations. Trainees of the RAISE Families for Health Program (healthcare providers and professionals, peer specialists) receive up-to-date and comprehensive information on coping with stress, getting healthy sleep, nutrition, physical activity, tobacco fundamentals, nicotine addiction and cessation interventions, and promoting positive behavior change through motivational engagement. As well, trainees are prepared to facilitate the RAISE Families for Health Group curriculum – an 8-week group designed for parents and caregivers focused on creating healthy families
Evaluating RAISE Families for Health at Sheridan Health Services
With support from CDPHE, BHWP is piloted and evaluated RAISE Families for Health in partnership with Sheridan Health Services, a federally qualified integrated-care clinic operated through the CU School of Nursing. In addition to examining the reach, efficacy, and sustainability of the program as a whole, we are particularly interested in assessing costs and benefits of embedding tobacco prevention and cessation programming into an intervention focused more generally on “whole health and wellness” for families. Through interviews, focus groups, surveys, EMR records, and attendance records, our mixed methods evaluation focuses on outcomes at multiple levels: 1) organizational (i.e. changes in organizational readiness to implement tobacco cessation and wellness services, initiatives, and policies) 2) provider (i.e. changes in self-reported attitudes, knowledge and behaviors related to tobacco cessation and wellness services, EMR records of cessation services provided) and 3) client (i.e. RAISE group referrals and attendance, engagement, and satisfaction, self-reported progress meeting tobacco and wellness goals, reported family-level impacts of group participation).
Evaluating RAISE Families for Health in Larimer County
With support from the Larimer County Behavioral Health Services, BHWP piloted RAISE Families for Health in partnership with The Matthews House and The Center for Family Outreach. These agencies provide direct family and youth services across Larimer County guided by a trauma-informed, recovery-oriented framework. RAISE Families for Health complements existing services by providing a manualized 8-session curriculum focused on caregiver and intergenerational health, while explicitly considering social determinants of health. While many of the evaluation components described above are also included in the Larimer County pilot project, we have incorporated additional evaluation components based on lessons learned from the Sheridan pilot project. For example, participants are offered incentives to complete pre and post program interviews with BHWP staff, which gives individuals the opportunity to share program goals and feedback in a relatively informal, unstructured way compared to a survey format.