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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Leticia Gomez¹, Mirasol Bravo¹, Deborah Jean McClelland, MLS², and Jill De Zapien². (1) Migrant Health Promotion, Inc., P.O. Box 337, Progreso, TX 78579, 956-565-0002, rgarza@migranthealth.org, (2) Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, P.O. Box 210228, Tucson, AZ 85724

Over the past six years, the REACH 2010 Promotora Community Coalition has employed promotora-led, targeted actions in education, outreach and support to reduce diabetes-related health disparities among Hispanic residents in three rural communities in the Texas Rio Grande Valley. The coalition is coordinated by Migrant Health Promotion (MHP), a promotora-based program addressing health issues among migrant farmworkers. REACH promotoras from MHP and participating clinics worked with people with diabetes and their families, and with the broader community - to improve nutrition, increase physical activity, and provide culturally appropriate diabetes prevention and health promotion education. The program used multiple strategies and interventions to accomplish these objectives, including community-based health education and outreach, home visits, cooking classes and walking groups, and clinic-based health education and outreach in three REACH Coalition community health centers. Outcomes measured by means of Pre-, post- and follow-up questionnaires in the community-based intervention demonstrate improvement in self-reported nutrition and physical activity among participants. Measures of the clinic-based intervention also show improvements in self-reported nutrition but not in physical activity. An MHP promotora and contract partners will discuss the program and how it has evolved in response to evaluation results and environmental change, as well as planned future efforts.

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

• Identify three effective approaches to designing and implementing promotora-led interventions addressing diabetes.
• Assess environmental challenges faced by promotoras and community members in implementing effective healthy lifestyle changes.
• Discuss strategies for sustaining positive health behaviors and addressing health disparities at the community level through multi-component approaches.

Keywords: Physical Activity, Nutrition

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation