The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #66602

Kellie L. Anderson, MPH, The Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention, Education Development Center, Inc., 55 Chapel Street, Newton, MA 02458, 617-618-2606, kanderson@edc.org and Robyn Keske, MSW, Partners in Health and Housing Prevention Research Center, Boston University School of Public Health, 715 Albany Street, T5 East, Boston, MA 02118.

Peer advocacy has been shown to improve accessibility and quality of healthcare for public housing residents (Wolff 2001). Recognizing the need for trained peer health advocates in Boston public housing, the Partners in Health and Housing Prevention Research Center provided a 16-session health education program during the Fall of 2002 for twelve women from seven public housing developments in Boston. The primary training goal was to increase utilization of community resources. The training also built community capacity by creating health networks among housing developments, which are often isolated from each other and the outside world. Residents were trained to become “Resident Health Advocates” to serve as sources of health information and advocacy for residents in their developments. Experienced community trainers addressed topics of leadership and cultural competence, and provided overviews and resources for specific health issues such as nutrition, asthma, and drug misuse.

Despite formative research including the target population, program developers neither predicted nor planned for participants’ desire and need for peer support and connection. Training sessions evolved into health discussion groups as participants shared healthcare strategies and healthcare information. Participants received personal validation from both facilitators and peers. Future peer health advocate training programs should aim to balance health education curricula with the fostering of individual and group capacity.

Learning Objectives:

Learning Objectives:
• Describe the complex health education and health promotion programming needs of public housing residents in Boston.
• Define barriers to conducting health education programming in the public housing community, and strategize ways to address such barriers in future program planning.
• Identify multiple positive outcomes of a health education training program, including increased health knowledge, increased individual and community capacity, increased social support and personal validation.
• Illustrate the building blocks of collaboration among community, academia, and state agency.

Keywords: Community Building, Peer Information Network

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.