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An Academic, Business, and Community Alliance to Promote Evidence-based Public Health Policy: The Case of Primary Seat Belt Legislation
- Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 24, Number 3, August 2013
- pp. 1364-1377
- 10.1353/hpu.2013.0138
- Article
- Additional Information
An academic, business, and community alliance comprising 285 organizations, including 43 national groups represented on a Blue Ribbon Panel organized by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, targeted Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Minnesota, Tennessee, and Wisconsin for high involvement/intervention consisting of community organization and other political action to support passage of primary seat belt laws. State-level alliance activities began in January 2003. All six states enacted a primary seat belt law between 2004 and 2009. From January 2003 to May 2010, passage of primary legislation was 4.5 times as likely (95% CI 1.90, 10.68) in states with high versus low alliance involvement. Positive interaction between high alliance involvement and offers of federal incentives may have occurred as well. This evidence of success suggests that academic-business-community alliances for action to promote evidence-based public health policy may be effective.