Office of Primary Prevention

Primary Prevention Resources

Root Cause Analysis Toolkit

The Office of Primary Prevention developed the Root Cause Analysis Toolkit to aid health department staff and partners in identifying and addressing the social drivers of health outcomes.  The toolkit is designed to incorporate upstream prevention and systems thinking into existing processes, or to help brainstorm more holistic and interconnected approaches to public health. The toolkit can be adapted easily for a variety of processes, and can be used in virtual, in-person, or hybrid settings.

The toolkit includes: 1) the exercise outline and visual templates, 2) a facilitator's guide, and 3) a PowerPoint slide deck for introducing the exercise.

Toolkit Materials

OPP Resource Guide

Root Cause Analysis Exercise Materials

Root Cause Analysis Facilitation Guide

Root Cause Analysis Presentation Slide Deck

Health Professions Schools Competencies

The Office of Primary Prevention's Clinical Advisory Committee created a competency framework for health professions students (2024) in Tennessee, aimed at enhancing knowledge, skills and attitudes related to population and community health, the non-biologic drivers of health, and the larger health ecosystem.  We hope that they will be helpful for health professions educators as they plan, develop, and improve their curricula.

Healthy Parks Healthy Person

Founded on the national Healthy Parks Healthy People initiative, Tennessee’s Healthy Parks Healthy Person program aims to help Tennesseans to get outdoors to improve physical and mental health. People can use the app to record time spent outdoors and earn rewards at state parks such as kayak rentals and stays in a state park lodge. Health care providers can prescribe time outdoors using the Parks Rx. The program is working toward an app/health record connection so that people can use the app to record their activities and providers can track patients’ progress in meeting their health goals.

Built Environment and Health

A well-designed built environment can decrease obesity, heart disease, and diabetes rates while increasing physical, mental, and social health and building community resilience.

The Tennessee Department of Health recognizes the link between the built environment and public health and supports the creation of healthy built environments to protect, promote, and improve the health and well-being of all Tennesseans.

Built Environment and Public Health Core Competencies

Officials with the Tennessee Department of Health, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials collaborated to develop a set of core competencies, Built Environment and Public Health Core Competencies (August 2025) for practitioners working at the intersection of public health and the built environment.

Built Environment Evaluation Guide

The Tennessee Department of Health’s Office of Primary Prevention developed a Built Environment Evaluation Guide (2017) as a resource for Healthy Built Environments grantees. The guide provides a practical approach to evaluating built environment projects through a public health lens.

Tennessee Livability Collaborative

The Tennessee Livability Collaborative is a working group of 24 Tennessee state agencies, departments, commissions, and academic institutions. The Collaborative's mission is to improve the prosperity, quality of life, and health of Tennesseans through state-level collaboration in the areas of policy, funding, and programming. 

For more information about the Tennessee Livability Collaborative please contact John Vick at john.vick@tn.gov.

Membership

The Collaborative is facilitated by John Vick with the Office of Primary Prevention and Sarah Elliott with the Division of Health Planing at the Tennessee Department of Health. The Collaborative is jointly-owned by all participating state agencies and meets bi-monthly. If your agency is interested in joining the Collaborative please reach out to John Vick at john.vick@tn.gov.

Livability Indicators

The Tennessee Livability Collaborative developed the Livability Indicators Dashboard as a new data resource for government, non-profits, and communities in Tennessee. The group identified the need for a public resource with data on topics foundational to livability in both rural and urban communities to assess assets and opportunities at the county level. The Collaborative partnered with East Tennessee State University’s (ETSU) Center for Rural Health and Research to develop a dashboard and interactive map with indicators on housing, food security, transportation, transportation, aging, healthcare, employment, and others.