Altman David G
Center for Creative Leadership, Greensboro, NC 27438-6300, USA.
Health Educ Behav. 2009 Feb;36(1):24-8; discussion 29-30. doi: 10.1177/1090198107299788.
Sustainability remains a key challenge in public health. The perspective article by Fagen and Flay adds to our understanding of technical factors associated with sustaining health interventions in schools. In this commentary, the Fagen and Flay article (2009) is considered within the broader literature on sustainability. By taking a broad view, public health theory and practice might be advanced further. Fagen and Flay illustrate that we have much to learn about sustainability. Questions for future research include: (a) what can we put into place at the systems level to ensure that the short-term efficacy of interventions have a fighting chance to be sustained? (b) considering the challenges inherent in sustainability, what are realistic goals against which to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of interventions found effective in the short-term? and (c) what theories, methods, and strategies in fields outside of public health can be drawn upon to improve work in public health?
可持续性仍然是公共卫生领域的一项关键挑战。费根和弗莱撰写的观点文章增进了我们对与在学校维持健康干预措施相关的技术因素的理解。在这篇评论中，费根和弗莱的文章（2009年）是在关于可持续性的更广泛文献背景下进行考量的。从更广阔的视角来看，公共卫生理论与实践或许能得到进一步推进。费根和弗莱表明，我们在可持续性方面还有很多需要学习的地方。未来研究的问题包括：（a）我们在系统层面可以采取哪些措施来确保干预措施的短期效果有机会得以维持？（b）考虑到可持续性所固有的挑战，评估在短期内被证明有效的干预措施的成本效益时，现实的目标是什么？以及（c）公共卫生领域之外的哪些理论、方法和策略可用于改进公共卫生工作？
