141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

284332
Engaging community voices: An assets-based approach to research and action on healthy foods & safe places to be active

Monday, November 4, 2013

Annie Hardison-Moody, PhD , Department of 4-H Youth Development and Family and Consumer Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Sarah Bowen, PhD , Department of Sociology and Anthropology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Sinikka Elliott, PhD , Department of Sociology and Anthropology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Susan Jakes, PhD , North Carolina Cooperative Extension, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Lorelei Jones, MED , Department of 4-H Youth Development and Family and Consumer Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Kathryn Rosenbaum , Department of 4-H Youth Development and Family & Consumer Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Community engagement is the foundation of viable, community-sustained action. Contrary to participatory methods focused on needs or shortcomings, an asset-based approach highlights the resources and relationships that communities already have in order to identify priorities for future action. This paper describes three community health asset-mapping workshops conducted with over 50 local community members and organizational stakeholders in three North Carolina counties, as part of a multidisciplinary research and outreach project focused on food access and community food environments. The workshops focused on identifying community assets that contribute to the availability of healthy and affordable food in low-income communities. At the workshops, we asked participants (including low-income residents, volunteers, and organizational leaders) to map community assets, create historical timelines, and share experiences and knowledge. These revealed different priorities in each county – ranging from transportation to food pantries – and catalyzed community-led strategies for change that build on existing assets. Importantly, in some cases, our findings identified striking discrepancies between assets identified by residents and those identified by organizational leaders. Asset-mapping is a promising method for academic-community partnership in public health research, in that it is able to discern—from a community-based perspective—the social, cultural, and geographical narratives that shape communities and health. The discussion highlights how the research and outreach team utilized this assets-based approach as a springboard for community-academic partnership and action. We conclude by highlighting relevant lessons learned for researchers employing community-based methods, in order to ensure that our methods challenge, rather than reproduce, inequalities .

Learning Areas:
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Define assets-based approach to community public health research Describe the benefits of an assets-based approach to community public health research

Keywords: Community Assets, Obesity

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I serve as project coordinator for the grant and lead author and trainer for the asset mapping curriculum discussed in this paper.
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.