146561 Developing program infrastructure for community health promotion and education in African American communities

Monday, November 5, 2007

Mark A. Colomb, PhD, CRA , CBA 2 Project, My Brother's Keeper, Incorporated, Ridgeland, MS
Natille Duncan, MSEd, MIT , The CBA 2 Project, My Brother's Keeper, Incorporated, Ridgeland, MS
Angela Johnson, MPPA , Center for Community Based Health Disparities, My Brother's Keeper, Incorporated, Ridgeland, MS
Issues: There is very little strategic planning at the local level related to health promotion and disease prevention, especially for population-based health issues regarding disparities in cancer and cardiovascular disease. Many local organizations that serve African Americans participate in program implementation, but their involvement is in response to a state agency's request for proposals that are categorical and unlikely to contribute to development of a basic public health-oriented infrastructure that can enhance community response to continually evolving health issues affecting African Americans.

Description: This poster session will address the skills building intervention, “Program Infrastructure and Management for Community Health Promotion and Education”, that is designed to build the capacity of community-based organizations to develop health program infrastructure for cancer and cardiovascular disease prevention. Using a planned approach, participants practice skills of defining/assessing a community's health problems/needs from a national, state, and local level perspective; analyzing governmental health policies, setting goals and objectives, developing and implementing action plan/strategies, and evaluating results.

Lessons Learned: Utilizing a program planning process can improve community-based health education programs because change may be difficult both on a personal and organizational level. Empirical evaluation data from similar interventions using a planned approach to program planning have indicated that approximately 83% of participants agree that utilizing a systematic process enhanced their ability to more effectively plan and manage health promotion initiatives.

Recommendations: When developing or enhancing a community health promotion and education program, whether at the national, state, or local level, a planned approach is essential for success.

Learning Objectives:
By the end of this session participants will be able to: 1. Analyze the political context of cancer and cardiovascular disease prevention programming for African Americans 2. Describe the steps in assessing and planning health promotion initiatives 3. Define and discuss the best methods of evaluating health promotion and education initiatives

Keywords: African American, Community-Based Health Promotion

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: http://apha.confex.com/apha/135am/phehp/papers/index.cgi

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.