141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

284330
Promoting immigrant women's health: Cape verdean community health workers' perspectives and practice

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Maria De Jesus, PhD , School of International Service and Center for Health, Risk, and Society, American University, Washington, D.C., DC
Public health care researchers, policy makers, and providers are increasingly interested in developing more effective and culturally responsive health promotion theories and interventions for diverse immigrant populations. The purpose of this study was to develop health promotion theory that validates the local knowledge and experiences of Cape Verdean women health promoters who work with immigrant women in their community. Adopting the Glaserian grounded theory approach, we developed the relational theory of health promotion practice, which reflects the dynamic processes, properties, and stages through which Cape Verdean women health promoters develop mutually engaging relationships with immigrant women. These findings challenge health care professionals to broaden the repertoire of health promotion strategies to include relationship-building between health promoters and community women. Through these relationships health promoters can understand the complex structural, cultural, and community factors that influence immigrant women's health and incorporate that knowledge into more effective health promotion practices.

Learning Areas:
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Describe key components of the health promotion practice of Cape Verdean Community Health Workers who serve immigrant women

Keywords: Immigrant Women, Community Health Promoters

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have authored several papers on community health workers and immigrant women's health.
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.