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

Abstract #112349

Karen Hye-cheon Kim, PhD¹, Veronica L. Carlisle, MPH², Kacey Hanson, MPH², Margaret E. Bentley, PhD³, and Laura A. Linnan, ScD, CHES⁴. (1) Health Behavior and Health Education, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 323B Rosenau Hall, CB #7440, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7440, 919-966-0246, kkim@email.unc.edu, (2) Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, CB #7440, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7440, (3) Nutrition, UNC-Chapel Hill, CB 7400, McGavran Greenberg, School of Public Health, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, (4) Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, UNC Chapel Hill School of Public Health, CB #7440, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7440

The relationship between beauty and health was examined across the life span among African American women age18-29; 30-49; and 50+ who attend beauty salons and were recruited into six focus groups designed to explore meanings of beauty and health, and to help facilitate intervention planning and development. Focus group transcripts were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed with NVivo 2.0. A thematic analysis of the content of the transcripts was conducted using an iterative process based on grounded theory. Two general dimensions of beauty—inner and outer—were identified by women of all age groups. Outer beauty focused on the practice of beauty (e.g. grooming, clothes, make-up) and the body (i.e. overall and specific parts), while inner beauty comprised of knowing oneself (e.g. confidence, maturity, self-esteem) and a general disposition, feeling, or personality (e.g. energy, strength, happy, consistent). Younger women perceived beauty as consisting more of the outer dimension, whereas older women emphasized the inner dimension. Health was conceptualized broadly as physical health (e.g. health behavior, body) and non-physical health (i.e. disposition, relating with others). A universal theme that emerged was the need to consider beauty “from the inside out,” where inner aspects of beauty and health were connected with physical health and outer beauty. Participants made specific suggestions for creating effective, culturally appropriate interventions using targeted health magazines and educational displays, as well as how to best stimulate conversations about health and beauty between stylists-customers. Using these results, we will share sample interventions targeting African American women who frequent beauty salons.

Learning Objectives: Participants who attend this session will be able to

• Describe a unique focus group method designed to elicit both group and individual feedback on perceptions of beauty and health
• Describe at least three ways that African American women link beauty and health
• Describe at least two differences between younger and older women regarding perceptions of beauty and health
• Describe at least two ways that these results were applied when developing salon-based interventions

Keywords: Communication, African American

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation