245166 Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?: Building momentum for health equity in Connecticut

Monday, October 31, 2011

Karen A. D'Angelo, MSW , NIH EXPORT Center for Eliminating Health Disparities among Latinos, Hispanic Health Council & CT Multicultural Health Partnership Awareness and Outreach Committee, Hartford, CT
Stacey Brown, PhD , Community Based Education, UConn School of Medicine & CT Multicultural Health Partnership Awareness and Outreach Committee, Farmington, CT
Kelson Ettienne-Modeste, MD , NIH EXPORT Center for Eliminating Health Disparities among Latinos, Hispanic Health Council & CT Multicultural Health Partnership Awareness and Outreach Committee, Hartford, CT
Rasy Mar, MPH , Community Based Education, UConn School of Medicine & CT Multicultural Health Partnership Awareness and Outreach Committee, Farmington, CT
Phyllis Osterman, MA, MPS , The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society—Connecticut Chapter & CT Multicultural Health Partnership Awareness and Outreach Committee, Wilton, CT
Jennifer McGarry, MS , The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society—Connecticut Chapter & CT Multicultural Health Partnership Awareness and Outreach Commi, Meriden, CT
Grace Damio, MS, CDN , NIH EXPORT Center for Eliminating Health Disparities among Latinos, Hispanic Health Council, Hartford, CT
Rafael Perez-Escamilla, PhD , NIH EXPORT Center for Eliminating Health Disparities among Latinos / School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, CT
In an effort to promote health equity, eleven viewings of the film Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? were hosted with over 600 participants in clinical, community and academic settings throughout Connecticut. The Unnatural Causes documentary highlights how the environments in which we live affect our health. Pre/post assessments were administered to measure participant knowledge, satisfaction, and commitment to health equity. Preliminary findings indicate that after these events, participants: 1) Have a better understanding of the social determinants of health and health inequities; 2) are better able to identify how environmental factors impact the health of populations; and 3) are committed to addressing health inequities. Overwhelmingly, participants reported that the information learned from the event will be useful to their work and communities. While these events have targeted a variety of participants including students, community members, and educators, we believe that they are the first in Connecticut utilizing Unnatural Causes in hospital grand rounds.

The lessons learned from hosting such viewings were: Healthcare providers and the general public are eager to learn about the social determinants of health and welcome additional educational opportunities involving health equity; use of existing partnerships facilitates expedited and successful implementation of health equity events; providing concrete examples of and suggestions for improving health equity may increase optimism about participants' ability to impact this problem; pre/post evaluation measures may not be the most effective method for measuring changes in knowledge and commitment.

Additional Unnatural Causes events are planned for 2011.

Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health education
Diversity and culture
Public health or related education
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
Identify the overall objectives of the Unnatural Causes health equity project; Describe the major components of the project’s grand rounds, university workshops, and community lunch and learn sessions; Identify strategies for teaching social determinants of health; Describe the results of the project; List three or more “lessons learned” from the Unnatural Causes health equity events; Analyze assessment techniques for health equity work.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the cross-cultural trainer for the Center for Eliminating Health Disparities among Latinos, as well as co-chair of the Awareness & Outreach Committee of the Connecticut Multicultural Health Partnership. I have led much of the planning and implementation of this health equity project.
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.

See more of: Social Determinants and Environment
See more of: Public Health Education and Health Promotion