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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Patti Herring, PHD, RN1, Susanne Montgomery, MS, MPH, PhD2, Elizabeth Holzhauser, MPH, CHES1, Crystal Bieterman, BS1, Elizabeth Castillo, BS1, Eileen Guerrero, BS1, Cheri Haasch, BS1, Gwen Moore, BS1, Vicki Walker, BS1, and Virginia Diane Woods, RN, MSN3. (1) School of Public Health Department of Health Promotion & Education, Loma Linda University, Nichol Hall Room 1508, Loma Linda, CA 92350, 900-559-8729, pherring@sph.llu.edu, (2) School of Public Health, Department of Health Promotion and Education, Loma Linda University, Nichol Hall room 1511, Loma Linda, CA 92354, (3) School of Public Health, Department of Health Promotion & Education, Loma Linda University, 10970 Parkland Ave, Loma Linda, CA 92350
Compared to other racial/ethnic groups Blacks generally suffer disproportionately from cancer, have higher incidence of various cancers, the worst survival rates, have higher rates of hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and HIV/AIDS. In an effort to address Healthy People 2010 goal of narrowing the health disparities among Americans, the San Bernardino County Medical Society organized the African American Health Initiative (AAHI), thus partnering with several community organizations to address this widening health disparity in the County. LLU SPH is a collaborating and active partner. To assist them in their endeavors graduate students conducted a needs assessment to determine the best model for successfully recruiting and retaining Blacks in preventive health programs and for the best strategies of encouraging the utilization of existing services. They also looked at what others have done successfully or unsuccessfully. The endpoint would be to replicate, modify, improve their model, or develop their own. They performed three windshield surveys, 14 key informant interviews, and two focus groups, thoroughly researched the literature, and included other secondary data sources in their final report. The results revealed that Blacks traditionally do not participate in health promotion programs for a variety of reasons, with the number one reason being a lack of cultural sensitivity, followed by poor choices of service location (inconvenience). The church was found to form the nucleus of the Black family and thus the ideal location for preventive health interventions. The Black clergy was also found to be beneficial in motivating the compliance of recommended positive health behavioral practices.
Learning Objectives: By the end of the session participants will be able to
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
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.