Community Approaches to Cardiovascular Health (CATCH): A participatory model for community assessment and planning to address health disparities

Residents of economically challenged urban communities experience a disproportionate burden of cardiovascular disease. Because African Americans and Latinos are more likely to live in such urban environments, these structural conditions likely contribute to longstanding racial and ethnic disparities in health. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is needed to conduct community assessment and planning to improve cardiovascular health in urban communities.

Community Approaches to Cardiovascular Health is a CBPR health assessment and planning project of the Healthy Environments Partnership designed to involve communities in developing multilevel interventions to promote environments conducive to cardiovascular health in Detroit, Michigan. We will describe the CBPR process that engaged partners from community-based organizations, health service providers, and academic institutions, as well as community residents, in a year-long planning process to assess social and physical environments, identify potential individual, social network, organizational, community, and policy change strategies, and design a pilot intervention. Methods used to identify community level strengths, barriers, and facilitators of heart health, and potential interventions included: compiling and presenting results from existing data; focus groups; Youth Photovoice; Town Hall meetings; and an Intervention Planning Team comprised of partners and key community leaders. We further describe how community identified priorities, including improved access to healthy food, physical activity, and clean air, were matched with evidence based reviews to plan a multilevel intervention strategy that built on and enhanced existing community resources. We discuss lessons learned, and implications for participatory community assessment and planning for public health and policy change.