Comienzo Sano: Creating university and public partnerships to promote Latina maternal child health

The Comienzo SanoProject was created to form academic and community partnerships between a large urban Hispanic Serving Institution located in Los Angeles County and the local Women Infants and Children's Supplemental Nutrition Program (WIC). Comienzo Sano is multifaceted and seeks to develop student community-based experiential learning opportunities, university curriculum focusing on Latino nutrition and chronic disease, and community based alliances with local WIC programs and participants. Latina Student Community Health Educators (SCHEs) are matched with Latina WIC mothers who receive four-two part classes focusing on nutrition and exercise during the perinatal period, breastfeeding, infant feeding and care, recognizing and managing infant illnesses, vaccination, and other relevant topics. Using Community Based Participatory Research techniques including results from focus group of Latina WIC participants, a contextually-relevant bilingual/bicultural curriculum and portable tool kit were developed. The SCHEs are trained in CBPR and motivation interviewing and then tasked to recruit WIC mothers interested in the intervention. Classes are delivered in whatever setting the participant deems more comfortable and conducive to learning, most often as home visits. Participants are asked questions pre and post visit and also participate in a final follow-up survey. The presentation will discuss the program components, showcase the curriculum and tool kit and reveal the preliminary outcome data for the project's first 150 participants in terms of breastfeeding intention, duration and exclusivity, changes in participant knowledge, and other project indicators. In addition, student and participant perceptions regarding the relationships that develop over the course of the intervention will also be shared.