Oral

Partnerships between community-based organizations and academic institutions in integrative health programs provide a unique platform for multiple stakeholders in the community to increase their sustainable in-house capacity for program evaluation and their ability to make evidence-based decisions in program strategies. Community-based interventions are increasingly required to develop collaboratives (a structure or group working together to achieve a shared vision) to affect change across the socio-ecological model. However, as most public health professionals are acutely aware there are challenges in sustaining collaborative efforts, and although there is greater push for collaboration, collaboratives don't always succeed (NAACHO 2007). Presentations in this session address these issues and more, such as utilizing a novel approach to educate communities about targeted issues in limited resource environments, collaborating to compile a compendium of health information on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders in CA, investigating non-medical interventions linked with measurable health improvements, exploring how organizational network analysis can assist future collaboratives understand the effect of identified hurdles throughout the life cycle of the effort, and creating an integrative health program with local churches to address the growing medical needs in the rural, underserved populations.

Session Objectives: Identify 4 ways to improve the health of all Americans through non-medical sector policies. Demonstrate the use of social network analysis in diagnosing the success and failure of collaboratives. List three benefits of using a conceptual framework in evaluation training.

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH)