141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

284758
Translating a global gender analysis framework to improve local community health

Sunday, November 3, 2013

April Keippel, MA , Mission Integration, St. Vincent Healthcare, Billings, MT
Amanda L. Golbeck, PhD , School of Public and Community Health Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT
Elizabeth Ciemins, PhD, MPH , Center for Clinical Translational Research, Billings Clinic, Billings, MT
Diane Duin, PhD, MHA , College of Allied Health Professions, Montana State University Billings, Billings, MT
Dustin Dickerson, MS , Billings Clinic, Billings Clinic, Billings, MT
Tracy Neary, MS , Mission Outreach & Community Benefit, St. Vincent Healthcare, Billings, MT
Heather Fink, MA , Grants Division, St. Vincent Healthcare Foundation, Billings, MT
Background: To better understand how gender influences participation in leisure-time physical activity, so that effective interventions can be designed, a gender analysis framework is needed. The Gender Analysis Framework of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, while focused on breaking down factors affecting illness, has the potential to be applied to wellness activities. The framework consists of three parts: (1) identifying who gets ill, including when and where; (2) identifying factors affecting who gets ill; and (3) identifying factors affecting responses to poor health. Methods: The established framework was translated to focus on wellness instead of illness. The steps to conduct the gender analysis were adapted to include examination of sex-disaggregated data related to wellness behaviors. Factors that had the potential to influence engagement in physical activity were examined. Results: Through translation of the Gender Analysis Framework to study wellness, disparities related to leisure-time physical activity for women in Yellowstone County were identified. The analysis identified gender-based constraints as well as gender-based opportunities for engagement in physical activity influenced by the environment, gender-specific activities, resources and gender norms. Findings were used to develop a physical activity intervention tailored to women. Conclusion: An established global framework for gender analysis can be translated from a focus on disparities related to ill-health to one on disparities related to wellness behaviors such as engagement in leisure-time physical activity in local communities. Such an analysis can then be applied to the development of a gender-specific intervention to promote physical activity in women.

Learning Areas:
Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Program planning
Public health or related research
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
Identify the steps used to conduct a gender-based analysis. Describe how a global gender analysis framework may be translated to improve local community health.

Keywords: Wellness, Gender

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I coordinate the Office on Women’s Health’s Coalition for a Healthier Community grant-funded project. My scientific interests include the role of gender in public health and physical activity promotion strategies.
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.