266189
A public health care plan's innovative community-driven prevention approach to improve physical activity and healthy eating behaviors among low-income communities of color in Los Angeles County
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
: 3:30 PM - 3:50 PM
Jammie Hopkins, MS
,
Wellness Consulting, WORK IT OUT Wellness Services, North Hollywood, CA
Auleria Eakins, MPA
,
Community Outreach and Education, L.A. Care Health Plan, Los Angeles, CA
Peter Prampetch, MPH
,
Community Outreach and Education, L.A. Care Health Plan, Los Angeles, CA
Judy Hsieh, MA, MFTI
,
Community Outreach and Education, L.A. Care Health Plan, Los Angeles, CA
Health care providers serving underserved populations must push forward innovative prevention efforts to address persistent health disparities. L.A. Care Health Plan created the Nutrition and Zumba Project in response to HEDIS performance measures and community input suggesting a need to address diabetes and obesity in its subscriber communities. This session will describe key elements of the project, report significant outcomes, and offer lessons learned for other community-driven prevention efforts. Participants were recruited by a coalition of L.A. Care subscribers, community advocates, and health care providers operating in 11 designated areas throughout LA County. Participants engaged in six two-hour nutrition and exercise sessions throughout a 12-week period. Participants were weighed, completed a physical activity and nutrition behavior questionnaire, and completed a nutrition knowledge quiz at the first and last session. Outreach efforts covered 3,813 sq. mi. (93% of LA County) and yielded 415 participants. Participants were predominantly female, Latino, foreign-born, had two or more children, and classified as overweight or obese (BMI >25). Weight loss among participants in each cohort averaged 0.2 – 12.6 lbs. Average knowledge scores improved 9 percentage points. Over 95% of participants rated their experience in the project as “good” or “excellent” and would recommend the project to others. These findings suggest that Nutrition and Zumba Project was readily accepted by community members and has potential to elicit significant improvements in weight and lifestyle behaviors. Efforts are currently underway to recruit a more diverse participant pool and create more robust curriculum and learning activities for future participants.
Learning Areas:
Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Chronic disease management and prevention
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Provision of health care to the public
Learning Objectives: 1) Participants will identify creative strategies to engage community advocates in outreach and decision-making efforts for programs and policies that directly impact their community.
2) Participants will be identify at least 4 key lessons learned for facilitating large community-based behavioral interventions to underserved communities in large geographic areas.
3)Participants will evaluate the significance of measurable outcomes resulting from a multidisciplinary physical activity and nutrition promotion program tailored for low-income, multilingual participants.
Keywords: Community Outreach, Community-Based Health Promotion
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been intimately involved in the development, execution, and evaluation of the proposed project since its inception. I am a published scholar in physical activity and obesity prevention research, and have a vested interest in community-driven prevention efforts in underserved communities.
Any relevant financial relationships? Yes
Name of Organization |
Clinical/Research Area |
Type of relationship |
L.A. Care Health Plan, Inc. |
Health Care Services |
Consultant |
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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