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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Rajiv Bhatia, MD, MPH¹, Jenny Chacon, MPH², Carolina Guzman, MPH¹, Anamaria Loya, JD³, and Karen Yu, MPH, REHS². (1) Program on Health, Equity and Sustainability, San Francisco Department of Public Health, 1390 Market Street, Suite 910, San Francisco, CA 94102, (2) Program on Health Equity & Sustainability, San Francisco Dept. of Public Health, 1390 Market St, Suite 910, San Francisco, CA 94102-5404, (415) 252-3957, karen.yu@sfdph.org, (3) San Francisco Day Laborer Program, La Raza Centro Legal, 474 Valencia Street, Suite 295, San Francisco, CA 94103

As a part of a proposed session called “United with The Community to Recognize Occupational Health and Safety Rights As Human Rights”, this presentation will discuss lessons learned from communication between partners of diverse cultures, such as those in government, occupational health, community organizing, and day labor.

Day laborers are predominantly immigrants who are vulnerable to poor working conditions and poor governmental enforcement interventions because of the temporary nature of their employment, their often limited English fluency, their unfamiliarity with accessible services, and their limited economic resources. In response, the health department, the day laborers, a legal aid agency, and an economic development organization have formed an alliance to improve the working conditions of day laborers in San Francisco. This partnership has resulted in the creation of models and tools for communicating amongst alliance members of different backgrounds and disciplines. The presentation will provide descriptions of and suggestions for the adaptation of these models and tools that address the following issues of communication and partnership: 1) Contextualizing the topic of occupational health and safety for each partner; 2) Utilizing the “Insider” (i.e., a member who is indigenous to the community) approach to overcome the challenges associated with developing culturally appropriate working paradigms, interactions, and project products; 3) Obstacles to effective cooperation and communication that arise and how to overcome those obstacles; and 4) Utilizing work and power-sharing strategies familiar to partners to structure the project.

Learning Objectives: By the end of this session, the participants will be able to

• Describe four models that may be used to enhance communication and partnership between research partners from diverse cultures
• Identify at least one possible application of each of the four models to enhance their (the learners') work with partners

Keywords: Community Collaboration, Occupational Health

Related Web page: www.sfdph.org/phes/phes_worker.htm

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation