Recorded presentation

Stephanie Farquhar, PhD, School of Community Health, Portland State University, PO Box 751, Portland, OR 97207-0751, 503-725-5167, farquhar@pdx.edu and Yvonne Michael, ScD, Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Oregon Health and Sciences University, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd, CB 669, Portland, OR 97239-3098.

This presentation will describe the process used to gather preliminary data for the evaluation of Poder es Salud/Power for Health, one of the Community-based Participatory Prevention Research projects funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2002. The project’s principal goal is to address health disparities by increasing social capital in the African American and Latino communities in Multnomah County, Oregon. Specifically, the project selected to work directly with four African American faith communities, one Latino faith community, and four primarily Latino apartment buildings in very close geographic proximity to each other. The project seeks to build on existing social capital by drawing on the skills and experiences of seven Community Health Workers (CHWs) selected from participating communities.

A baseline survey was administered to over 100 adults randomly selected from the participating communities to assess baseline social capital and general health. In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted with selected community members to contribute a deeper understanding of the creation and function of social capital in the African American and Latino communities and to examine differences in the creation and function of social capital in these two communities. We will briefly discuss the participatory process used to design and administer the baseline data collection instruments. We will present results and highlight differences and similarities across the multiple communities. The presentation will conclude with a description of how the community, agency, and academic partners will use the data to inform CHW activities and other aspects of the intervention.

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