The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #50648

Judith A. Hager, MA, MPH¹, Jennifer Rienks, MS², Don Rowe, MPA³, and Geraldine Oliva, MD MPH². (1) Family and Community Medicine, Family Health Outcomes Project, University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California St., Suite 365, San Francisco, CA 94118, 415 502-3247, jhager@itsa.ucsf.edu, (2) Family Health Outcomes Project, Dept. of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California St, Suite 365, San Francisco, CA 94118, (3) Multi-cultural Health Improvement Project, Solano Coalition for Better Health, 360 Campus Lane, Suite 110, Suisun City, CA 94585

The mission of the Solano County Multi-cultural Health Improvement Initiative (MCHII) is to eliminate health disparities in colon, breast and prostate cancers and diabetes between African Americans and Latinos and Whites. The MCHII project aims to develop and evaluate culturally appropriate health promotion and disease management intervention strategies that can then be adapted to address other health disparities in the County and to inform other efforts. The Family Health Outcomes Project, University of California, San Francisco worked collaboratively with the project staff to develop a community survey that would assist in assessing current knowledge, perceptions, use of community supports, use of health care and life style practices associated with the prevention and / or treatment of these cancers and diabetes in African American and Latino populations. The survey findings will inform the development of promising interventions. This presentation will describe the survey design, the administration of the survey by community advocates, the analysis of the data and survey results. We will also report findings from additional analyses aimed at investigating if and how knowledge, perceptions, health care use, and life style practices differ by age and gender within both Latino and African American samples. The strengths and weaknesses of the instrument, as well as problems encountered in the administration of the evaluation, will be discussed. Implications of the findings for program development will be presented.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this presentation, participants will be able to

1)articulate the advantages of using a community survey to gather information specific to a target group or local community 2)describe various options and the respective strengths and weakness of each for administering the survey
• Consider the implication of the survey findings presented to African Americans and Latinos in other communities
• Assess whether a survey approach would be useful in your work

Keywords: Assessments, Survey

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Employed by Family Health Outcomes Project, University of California, San Francisco