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

Abstract #119380

Lorraine Dillon, MS(c), Community & Environmental Health, Old Dominion University, 136 Barn Swallow Ridge, Yorktown, VA 23692, (757) 810-0042, ldill003@odu.edu

There is a growing interest on how environmental and social conditions affect the underprivileged and contribute to health disparities. Research correlating social capital with health status show that the higher the level of social capital in a community, the better the health. The environmental health of a community is everyone's concern, not just the politically active people who demand change, but also those that are typically unheard, poor, and underserved. An understanding of why some persons exhibit more social capital than others is important to improving the public health system.

The purpose of this study is twofold. First, to assess whether formal, politically active members of an underserved urban community demonstrate superior levels of social capital (i.e., trust, reciprocity, and civic engagement) compared with members of the same community as an informal group, and second, to assess the community's role in neighborhood health and the ways in which social capital can involve citizens in community-level decision making in order to identify and solve their environmental health problems. This will be accomplished by comparing a convenience sample of two specific groups from the Lambert's Point community in Norfolk, Virginia; members of the politically active Lambert's Point Civic League, and adults who currently reside within the geographic boundaries. A qualitative method, the focus group interview, will be used for collection of data and demographic information on each participant will be collected. Transcriptions of tape-recorded interviews will be categorized and systematically coded. Data will be analyzed using the constant comparative method.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) will be able to

• Enhance their understanding of health disparities and advancement of environmental justice.
• Appreciate that social capital fosters cooperation and information exchange.
• Recognize that social, economic, and physical environments work together to create or hinder a healthy environment.

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.