Bright Futures for Women’s Health and Wellness:
Overview
Bright Futures for Women’s Health and Wellness (BFWHW)
is a new Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) initiative that
builds on the successful approach used in the Bright Futures for Infants,
Children, and Adolescents Program.
 The mission of BFWHW is to plan, develop, implement,
and evaluate a variety of culturally competent consumer, provider, and
communitybased products to increase awareness and use of preventive health
services for all women across their lifespan. BFWHW identifies opportunities
for integrating prevention into self-care, culturally competent health care,
and community action to achieve better physical, mental, social, and spiritual
health through:
- Increasing women’s use of preventive services
- Empowering women to share in health care decision making
- Encouraging women to practice prevention in their daily
lives
- Increasing practitioner utilization of preventive health
guidelines
- Supporting communitywide health promotion
Activities
The development of an organizational and conceptual
framework for Bright Futures for Women’s Health and Wellness began in
2001. Several guidelines, including those for osteoporosis screening, heart
disease prevention, and depression screening, have been analyzed to compare age
and periodicity of the recommended interventions. Professional and consumer
preventive health literature for women and adolescent girls has been collected
and analyzed. Further analyses of the literature, development of communications
and evaluation strategies, and the creation of BFWHW products is underway.
BFWHW product development is guided by a Federal executive
management committee chaired by Peter C. van Dyck, M.D., M.P.H., Associate
Administrator for Maternal and Child Health, HRSA, and a non-Federal steering
committee. Members of the steering committee represent multiple disciplines and
include consumer representatives. Federal and private organizations will be
partners throughout the initiative.
A variety of resources are being created for consumers,
community organizations, and health care providers. Evidence-based
recommendations for age appropriate preventive health services delivery are the
cornerstone of these tools. Communitywide health promotion activities to
improve women’s health are addressed as well.
Resources
Additional information on BFWHW will be available in the
future from the HRSA Women’s Health Web page:
www.hrsa.gov/womenshealth.
The HRSA Information Center offers a wealth of women's
health publications and resources. To see a complete list of offerings, visit
www.ask.hrsa.gov or call toll-free, (888) ASK HRSA (275-4772).
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