WISEWOMAN Program Locations
Illinois

Background: Since 2001, the Illinois Department of Public Health has been funded as an enhanced research project. Beginning with 2008, the Illinois Department of Public Health is being funded as a standard project.

Lifestyle Interventions: The Illinois WISEWOMAN program uses the Be Wise Lifestyle curriculum, which has been adapted from the Illinois WISEWOMAN Lifestyle Intervention templated by the Center of Excellence for Training and Research Translation (http://www.center-trt.org/). Be Wise is designed to empower participants to modify their lifestyle behaviors, such as improving their diet, increasing physical activity, enhancing interpersonal relationships through social networking, and increasing awareness of personal cardiovascular risk status. Be Wise is a fun behavior-change intervention that consists of four group sessions led by trained facilitators.

Screening: Risk factor screening includes blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol and other lipids, as well as assessments of weight, medical history, family history, tobacco use, eating habits, and physical activity habits.

Sites: Illinois currently provides WISEWOMAN services through six county health departments and two hospitals that represent urban, suburban, and rural areas of the state. Illinois now covers 15 counties and plans on expanding the program to other locations throughout the state as funding allows.

Key Partners: Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program, Illinois Cardiovascular Health Program in cooperation with the American Heart Association, Illinois Tobacco Control Program in conjunction with the Illinois Tobacco Quitline, and the Illinois Diabetes Prevention and Control Program.

For more information, contact: Sarah O’Connor-Bennett WISEWOMAN Program Director Phone: (217) 524-9297 E-mail: sarah.oconnor@illinois.gov Carol Gvazdinskas WISEWOMAN Program Coordinator Phone: (217) 524-6088 E-mail: carol.gvazdinskas@illinois.gov

Program Highlights

Direct Services

• The Illinois WISEWOMAN program screening services are conducted by 286 providers and coordinated through seven lead agencies. The program conducted 2,037 screenings during the 2009–2010 reporting period, exceeding its screening goal by 13%.¹
• The Illinois WISEWOMAN program conducted 2,229 lifestyle intervention sessions during the 2009–2010 reporting period.

Partnerships

• In an effort to strengthen the Illinois WISEWOMAN program’s relationship with the Health Educators at the Office of Women’s Health Toll-free Call Line, the WISEWOMAN staff conducted training sessions for Call Line staff on WISEWOMAN eligibility requirements and provided them with referral phone numbers for WISEWOMAN Lead Agencies. Any interested person may now call the toll-free number and obtain current and accurate information on the Illinois WISEWOMAN program.

Evaluation

• Illinois WISEWOMAN program evaluation identified key characteristics of the women who participated in its intensive four-session lifestyle intervention (LSI) program. While 92% of the women completed one LSI session, only 8% participated in the full four-session program. The data collected through the evaluation was used to design alternative strategies to meet the needs of women who are less likely to participate in the four-session program but have one or more risk factors. Evaluation of behavior changes in physical activity, nutrition, and smoking for women participating in the different LSI options is being planned.

Reference

1. Data are reported from the preliminary WISEWOMAN Minimum Data Elements report (October 2010). Screening includes any WISEWOMAN-funded screening (blood pressure, cholesterol, or diabetes) provided from July 1, 2009, to June 30, 2010. Lifestyle interventions refer to the number of lifestyle intervention sessions conducted from July 1, 2009, to June 30, 2010.