Edith G. C. Wolff, JD, MPH, was a Community Health Scholar at The Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, 1998 - 1999. She began work with colleagues at The Hopkins Center for American Indian Health in the Fall of 1998 on The Fathers Project, a new arm of a teen pregnancy project the Center was already operating. The program, Changing Our Lives Through Sharing Our Strength, is a home-visiting teen pregnancy education program in operation at four sites on the Navajo and White Mountain Apache reservations in the Southwest. The Center trains native fieldworkers in the basics of healthy pregnancy and pre-natal care. The fieldworkers then deliver that information to pregnant teens through the use of a curriculum designed by Hopkins staff. The program has been highly successful, as determined by data collected during the operation of the program. Dr. Wolff will describe the planning and implementation phases of The Fathers Project. This project represents a successful collaboration between The Hopkins Center for American Indian Health, several generous foundations and the communities involved. Dr. Wolff is currently a faculty member at Johns Hopkins and continues her work on The Fathers Project. The project has moved into the implementation phase and is in the process of creating the training manual for fieldworkers, and also the materials for the program itself. The community-based nature of this project is demonstrated by the decision making and leadership by senior fieldworkers from the communities served.
Learning Objectives: 1. Describe examples of community-based participatory research. 2. Discuss how to use findings for program planning and policy work in a program for American Indian teen fathers. 3. Identify lessons learned in post-doctoral program about the process of conducting community-based participatory research. 4. Discuss the impact of the Community Health Scholars Program experience in current work/research
Keywords: Community Research, American Indians
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.