Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #107991

J. DeWitt Webster, PhD, MPH, Health Management and Policy, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Room 3224, 109 Observatory, Ann Arbor, MI 48105, 734 936 1298, dewittw@umich.edu and Collins O. Airhihenbuwa, MPH, PhD, Professor of Biobehavioral Health, Penn State University, 304 Health and Human Development, University Park, PA 16802.

Culture plays a vital role in determining the level of health of the individual, family and community. It can be understood in terms of positive qualities that should be promoted, unique qualities that should be examined and negative qualities that should be changed (Hall, 1999). The PEN-3 Model (Airhihenbuwa, 1995, 1999) was developed to centralize culture in health promotion and disease prevention interventions, assisting public health interventionist and communities with the planning, implementation and evaluation of relevant culturally-based health interventions. Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) in health is a collaborative approach to research that equitably involves all partners in the research process and recognizes the unique strengths that each brings (Israel et al, 1998). This presentation will describe how the 3 domains of PEN - 3 , 1) Relationships and Expectations, 2) Cultural Empowerment, and 3) Cultural Identity, intersect with CBPR's principles, including those of community as a unit of identity, collaboration, and capacity-building. Both CBPR and PEN-3 also emphasize the importance of highlighting community assets, as a form of cultural strength rather than focusing only on barriers or community liability, throughout the collaborative process and ecological approaches to addressing health and social inequities. PEN -3 has been used to frame several HIV/AIDS prevention and control efforts. An analysis of an evaluation of a peer-led community-wide female condom initiative is used in this presentation as an example of how PEN-3 can be used as an organizing framework to guide a CBPR-focused initiative.

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