Kaiser Permanente Funds UCLA Statewide 2007 Health Survey

CHIS and AskCHIS, a free online CHIS data query system, are widelyused by community providers, advocates, and health policy makers inplanning public health programs.

"CHIS is a well-known, well-conducted, and well-used survey,always reaching for relevant data on health links and connections suchas healthy eating/active living, adolescent health and education, andother issues that Kaiser Permanente strongly cares about," said DianaM. Bonta, vice president of public affairs for Kaiser's SouthernCalifornia Region. "Kaiser Permanente strongly supports CHIS becauseall Californians, about 36 million, benefit from this invaluablehealth policy tool."

Kaiser Permanente's Northern and Southern California regions willeach provide $371,913 over the next two years, bringing the healthcare provider's CHIS contributions to more than $1 million since 2002.

"Obesity-related illnesses impact all Californians," said JeanNudelman, director of community benefit programs for KaiserPermanente, Northern California Region. "This research funding ensuresthat Kaiser Permanente's commitment to promoting health and wellnesscan be extended to the community clinics, public health departments,policymakers and all California residents who are working to addressone of the most pressing health concerns of our time."

Kaiser Permanente's grant will also be used to fund technicaltraining through the Center's Health DATA (Data, Advocacy, TechnicalAssistance) program for community-based organizations who want toeffectively use the data to develop best practices, mobilizestakeholders and advocate for programs that will improve the health ofvulnerable populations throughout the state.

"The 2007 survey will provide California communities with data toidentify overweight, obese and at-risk populations," said David Grant,PhD, director of the California Health Interview Survey. "Thisvaluable information will be used to target interventions to relevantpopulation groups and to evaluate their efforts to combat obesity."

CHIS is a telephone survey of adults, adolescents, and childrenfrom all parts of the state. Conducted every two years since 2001, thesurvey provides statewide information on the overall populationincluding many racial and ethnic groups, and local-level informationon most counties for health planning and important comparisonpurposes. The CHIS sample represents the geographic and socio-economicdiversity of California, and the available multi-language interviewsaccommodate the state's rich ethnic diversity.

Researchers will use the data to produce articles and materials toinform the development of policies addressing obesity and identifywhether there is an association between parental behavior and childbehavior. They also will use CHIS geocoded data together with measuresdrawn from other data sources (e.g., proximity to parks, playgrounds,fast food restaurants) to study the effects of these environmentalfactors on individual diet and physical activity or sedentarybehaviors.

CHIS gives health planners, policy makers, advocacy groups, andcommunity providers a detailed picture of the health and health careneeds facing California's diverse population. The American Associationfor Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) presented its 2006 Policy ImpactAward to CHIS as an outstanding example of how surveys can be used toimprove policymaking and society.

"The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research has made a concertedeffort to ensure the CHIS data are accessible and easy to use bynon-academics, including community members, policy makers, publichealth departments, and researchers and students," said E. RichardBrown, Ph.D., director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research,professor in the School of Public Health, and Principal Investigatorof CHIS. "The Center's mission when it was established in 1994 was toimprove the public's health by advancing health policy throughresearch, public service, community partnership, and education. Today,the Center has become the premier source of health policy informationon California's population."

CHIS is conducted by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research incollaboration with the California Department of Public Health, theDepartment of Health Care Services and the Public Health Institute.Other major supporters of the 2007 California Health Interview Surveyinclude the California Department of Public Health, The CaliforniaEndowment, First 5 California, the California Department of MentalHealth, the National Cancer Institute, and the Robert Wood JohnsonFoundation.

Kaiser Permanente, founded in 1945, is America's largestnot-for-profit health care organization, serving 8.1 million membersin nine states and the District of Columbia. The Kaiser PermanenteCommunity Benefit Program is committed to improving the health ofcommunities by addressing health disparities through an integratedmulti-dimensional collaborative approach. Kaiser Permanente partnerswith community groups, schools, and government organizations toprovide social benefit activities that include assistance to theuninsured and special populations; training new health professionals;introducing new delivery and financing methods into the health carearena at large; and through their clinical research efforts,developing and sharing better ways to care for patients. Moreinformation about Kaiser Permanente can be found at.