253898 Integrating Principles of Community-Based Participatory Research with Intervention Mapping to Reduce Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in a Firefighter Community

Monday, October 31, 2011

Anthony Delisle, MS, PhD Candidate , Department of Health Education and Behavior, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
Alexis Delisle, MS , Department of Epidemiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) constitutes the leading cause of on-duty death and disability in firefighters. Community involvement in shaping research processes is a promising strategy for effective delivery of CVD health promotion programs in firefighters. This study describes the methods a Community Academic Partnership (CAP) used to engage firefighters in the participatory processes of planning, implementing, and evaluating a CVD intervention. Researchers integrated principles of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) into the steps of Intervention Mapping (IM), thus creating specific strategies relevant to the socio-cultural norms of firefighters. Key elements included: establishing department wide annual CVD health screenings; training firefighters to serve as health mentors; individually-tailoring CVD interventions for high risk firefighters; validating instrumentation for measuring cardiorespiratory health; incorporating environmental modifications for promoting physical activity; improving access to equipment for physical activity; and instituting policy changes to mandate on-duty physical activity. The CAP created and delivered a CVD health program resulting in an 8% increase in cardiorespiratory fitness (p=0.001) in high-risk firefighters, while capitalizing on the community capacity, thus, requiring minimal financial resources. Community academic partnerships are an efficacious and economical approach for engaging firefighters in the participatory processes of applying Intervention Mapping to CVD prevention efforts.

Learning Areas:
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
1) 1. Participants of this presentation will identify the specific principles of CBPR and explain how they were integrated into each of the six steps in IM. 2) Participants of this presentation will be able to describe the specific methods and strategies used to engage the community of firefighters in every phase of the research process. 3) Participants of the presentation will be able to explain how Intervention Mapping was used to guide the participatory process between firefighters and researchers for developing, implementing, and evaluating health promotion efforts.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I completed the research as outlined in the abstract.
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.