222767 Effect of the MedStart program on increasing awareness of community health conditions in East Harlem middle school students

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Edward Chu , Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY
Melissa Schneiderman , Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY
Lucy Chen , Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY
Julia Chen , Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY
Greg Serrao , Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY
Jonatan Hernandez Rosa , Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY
Daniel Sanchez , Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY
Andrew Weissman, PhD , Department of Community and Preventive Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY
Stephanie H. Factor, MD, MPH , Department of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY
Romit Bhattacharya , Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY
Samantha Zuckerman , Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY
BACKGROUND: East Harlem residents are at higher risk for asthma, obesity, and diabetes compared to other New York City residents. MedStart, a week-long summer enrichment program at Mount Sinai Hospital, was designed to increase East Harlem middle school students' knowledge of these and other prevalent diseases in East Harlem. We hoped that this increased awareness would lead to healthier behavior choices amongst the participants.

METHODS: On the first and last day of MedStart, a self-administered, multiple-choice survey was given to East Harlem middle school students (n=39) to determine before and after knowledge about asthma, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, emphysema, and hypertension. Topics covered in the program curriculum and assessed on the survey included disease epidemiology, pathophysiology, clinical signs and symptoms, and treatment and prevention.

RESULTS: Thirty-six students (92.3%) completed the initial survey and 34 (87.2%) students completed the final survey. Survey performance scores increased by 29% in disease epidemiology (p=0.0019), 19% in pathophysiology (p=0.0013), 42% in clinical signs and symptoms (p<0.00005), and 17% in treatment and prevention (p=0.00717). Twenty students (56%), eleven students (31%), and eight students (22%) were able to correctly identify East Harlem as having the highest rates of asthma, diabetes, and obesity, respectively, in New York City.

CONCLUSION: The MedStart program was able to significantly improve student knowledge of prevalent diseases in East Harlem across all tested categories. The majority of students were unaware of the high prevalence of these diseases in their community. Future research should assess the effectiveness of the program in changing student behaviors.

Learning Areas:
Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Chronic disease management and prevention
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Diversity and culture

Learning Objectives:
Assess the ability of the MedStart enrichment program to increase East Harlem middle school students’ knowledge of prevalent diseases in the East Harlem community. Evaluate the percentage of MedStart students who knew that their East Harlem community had the highest rates of asthma, diabetes, and obesity in all of New York City.

Keywords: Public Health Education and Health Promotion, Underserved Populations

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I worked extensively on the MedStart project, and am the current co-director for the ongoing MedStart program.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

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.

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