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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Kate Shirah, MPH1, Eugenia Eng, DrPH1, Karen Moore, MPH2, Scott D. Rhodes, PhD, MPH, CHES3, and Michael O Royster, MD, MPH4. (1) Health Behavior and Health Education, University of North Carolina, CB #7440, Chapel Hill, NC 27759, 919 966-3761, mkshirah@email.unc.edu, (2) Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of North Carolina School of Public Health, 323 Rosenau Hall, CB #7440, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7440, (3) Department of Health Behavior and Education, University of North Carolina School of Public Health, 319D Rosenau Hall, Campus Box #7440, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, (4) School of Public Health, Dept. of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of North Carolina, CB 7440, Chapel Hill, NC 27599
The training of public health specialists to be positive community-builders is not possible without the participation of skilled practitioners and community leaders, who are willing to guide students in: uncovering the structure and function of a community’s natural helping system, examining associations between social relationships and health, and recognizing that health is culturally defined. Through learning to conduct an “action-oriented community diagnosis” (AOCD), students begin to understand not just the culture of a community itself, but how cultural “insiders” construct reality and meaning. At the same time that students gain this “insider’s view,” they retain an “outsider’s view” as agents of change. It us upon this duality of cultural understanding and planned social change that the MPH program in health education at UNC is built.
This paper describes the five distinct but related components of AOCD, as conducted by student field teams in communities of various incomes and ethnicities in North Carolina. The methodology and broad inclusion of social factors as determinants of health trace their origins to the pioneering work in South Africa by Kark, Cassel, and Steuart. We will highlight the lessons learned about teaching approaches and activities, using AOCD findings to trigger a dialogue between insiders and outsiders and generate next action steps, and sustaining community-academic partnerships.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Community-Based Partnership, Participatory Action Research
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.