Toward a Health Promotion Research Agenda: “State of the Science” Reviews

The DataBase section of the Journal was established to highlight the most significant studies published in the field of health promotion. Its purpose is to build a high quality database of research that will help shape the research agenda for the field. During the past eight years, the DataBase contributing editors have reviewed more than 160 studies. These reviews are organized on the basis of the seven questions (see Table 1) posed our Research Agenda~-s and summarized in tabular form? An examination of the DataBase clearly suggests some directions for the future research agenda. For example, only four studies were identified over the past eight years that address Research Question #6: How long lasting are the changes in underlying health conditions, productivity, health care costs, and other positive outcomes that result from health promotion programs?TM The DataBase is not the result, however, of a systematic review of the health promotion literature. Rather, it is the product of the combined knowledge and interests of a limited number of contributing editors and the section editor. Additionally, the focus of