Healthy People for the 21st Century: Understanding Use of Healthy People 2020 as a Web-Based Initiative.

Objective: This study assesses how the nation's preeminent health promotion and disease prevention initiative, Healthy People, is utilized by key stakeholders.

Methods: A Web-based survey was administered to assess awareness and use of Healthy People among state, local, tribal health organizations and other key stakeholder groups. Follow-up interviews were conducted with a subset of respondents.

Results: Awareness and use of Healthy People have remained high among state, local, and tribal stakeholders. Healthy People 2020 is most frequently used as a data source. The Leading Health Indicators (LHIs) are an important element of the initiative, and nearly 90% of organizations that use the LHIs found them valuable. Awareness and use of other tools and resources are more limited.

Conclusions: Healthy People continues to be a valued resource among public health stakeholders; however, continued outreach is needed to promote the use of tools and resources available on healthypeople.gov for this decade and beyond. Healthy People is a national initiative used most frequently as a data source by state and local health departments, tribal organizations, and other public health practitioners.