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(Circulation. 1996;93:1768-1772.)
© 1996 American Heart Association, Inc.

Articles

Report of the Expert Panel on Awareness and Behavior Change to the Board of Directors, American Heart Association

Richard A. Carleton, MD, Chair; Terry Bazzarre, PhD; John Drake; Andrea Dunn, PhD; Edwin B. Fisher, Jr, PhD; Scott M. Grundy, MD, PhD; Laura Hayman, PhD, RN; Martha N. Hill, PhD, RN; Edward W. Maibach, PhD, MPH; James Prochaska, MD; Tom Schmid, PhD; Sidney C. Smith, Jr, MD; Mervyn W. Susser, MB, DrPH, FRCP; John W. Worden, PhD

	Introduction

 
The Board of Directors of the American Heart Association charged the Expert Panel on Awareness and Behavior Change to:

Evaluate the available data on the strengths and limitations of health education strategies targeted at increasing awareness of the benefits of cardiovascular risk factor management compared with strategies that specifically promote behavioral change.

Consider the relative role of alternative strategies such as policy making and media campaigns in achieving the AHA's educational mission. The panel was asked to evaluate the AHA Strategic Plans for Consumer Nutrition Education and Promoting Physical Activity.

Address the following questions: How can the AHA best invest its finite resources? Should the AHA's educational goals focus on and measure success through public knowledge and awareness of cardiovascular risk factors or behavioral change related to specific risk factors?

Develop recommendations on how the AHA can best allocate its limited resources for health education and identify appropriate new methods of evaluating the effectiveness of its programs.

Panel members reviewed background material on the structure and function of the AHA, then met in Dallas on October 17, 1995. Extensive discussions and the subsequent deliberations clarified the purpose of the decisions to be made by the Board of Directors. The panel spent a substantial amount of time and effort evaluating alternatives and assessing the strengths and risks or limitations of each. These alternatives are presented in Tables 1 through 5. This report presents the recommendations of the Expert Panel to the Board of Directors.

View this table: [in this window] [in a new window]   Table 1. Awareness and Knowledge as . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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