| Abstrakt: |
Aim: Health impact assessment (HIA) is a systematic tool for policy-makers to identify the potential health effects of proposed new laws and programs. We examined HIA implementation trends from 2007 to 2014 and explored whether factors such as state government ideology, legal provision, educational attainment, and poverty were associated with HIA implementation across the United States. Subjects and methods: This was a retrospective, longitudinal study of HIA implementation among the 50 US states from 2007 through 2014. We developed a regression model to assess our outcome. Results: Between 2007 and 2014, HIA implementation increased by 300%. Planning and implementation of most HIAs was led by government agencies (50%), non-profit organizations (27%), and educational institutions (21%). California, Oregon, Minnesota, and Washington were states with the highest number of completed HIAs. Characteristics associated with a significantly higher rate of HIA implementation were high educational attainment level (defined as the percentage of the population with a minimum bachelor's degree or higher) and high poverty level (defined as the percentage of the population living below the Federal Poverty Level). Government ideology or legal provision was not significantly associated with the rate of HIA implementation. Conclusions: HIA-supportive legal provisions could potentially provide unprecedented opportunities for the promotion of public health and health equity and, although HIA implementation has been increasing, such mechanisms are possibly highly underutilized. Educational institutions are in a unique position to bridge the gap between knowledge and practice of HIAs by facilitating HIA awareness among policy-makers in health and non-health sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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