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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Afi Mansa Semenya¹, Necole Brown², Ernestine Delmoor², and Nicole A. Vaughn, PhD³. (1) Drexel University School of Public Health, 245 N. 15th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102, 2155537159, ams96@drexel.edu, (2) Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, 450 Clarkson Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11203, (3) Center for Health Equality, Drexel University School of Public Health, 1505 Race Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102

Background: The Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, Brooklyn NY, partnered with local community based organizations in West and North Philadelphia with training and support from academic partners. The Black Pearls and Nuestra Belleza projects are beauty salon based health education programs designed to deliver health education to urban African American and Latina women through the accepted and trusted community venue--salons that women of color frequent regularly. Methods: For 2 weeks prior to the start of the program each salon distributed a baseline survey and for 1-4 weeks hosted 2 education programs that highlighted asthma or diabetes through culturally appropriate videos, brochures, and discussions. After these programs participants completed a post survey. Results: Preliminary results show that the percent correct on the baseline survey was already high with the exception of a few questions. For example, “Childhood diabetes can be caused by secondhand smoke” was answered correctly by 29% of the 400 respondents in the baseline survey. Although the two groups were different (but of comparable demographics), when looking at the post surveys there was a noticeable increase to 94.4% answering correctly. Additional analysis needs to be performed to see how family history, health insurance, and beliefs affect knowledge. Discussion: Beauty salon based health education programs offer a unique way of reaching underserved women of color with life saving health information in an environment that is familiar and trusted.

Learning Objectives: These programs were implemented to

• Adapt materials developed in Brooklyn NY to Philadelphia communities and health issues.
• Build the capacity of local indigenous community partners to deliver the salon based health education program.
• Assess the participant’s knowledge, experience, and any behavioral changes that may result from receiving health information in the salon environment.

Keywords: Education, Minority Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered