141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

290124
Ohio's LOCAL conversations on ending health disparities

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Angela Dawson, M.S., MRC, LPC , Ohio Commssion on Minority Health, Columbus, OH
Joann Mawasha, Psy.D. , School of Professional Psychology, Wright State University, Dayton, OH
PROBLEM/ISSUE TO BE CONSIDERED: In response to the National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities (NPA), the Ohio Commission on Minority Health (OCMH), an autonomous state agency created in 1987 to address health disparities and improve the health of minority populations in Ohio, sponsored a statewide initiative to help guide health equity efforts at the local and state levels. UNDERLYING ISSE/KEY FACTORS: To address the issue of health equity, OCMH sponsored a series of nineteen Local Conversations on Minority Health throughout the state. The purpose of these gatherings was to carry out community-wide discussions on local health disparities in which health needs could be identified and prioritized from the community's perspective, and strategies could be generated toward local action plans to address minority health needs. Sixteen of the Local Conversations were geographically-based and were held in the state's large and small urban regions. In addition, three statewide ethnic health coalitions convened ethnic-specific Local Conversations for Latino, Asian American, and Native American groups which brought in representatives from these populations across the state. RECOMMENDATIONS: Based on evaluation results, OCMH's willingness to engage residents in the process of identifying their perceived health issues through dialogue is a model that can be replicated because it has proven to be a positive and productive approach to engage communities in culturally specific conversations and actions through Community Based Participatory Research, policy development, and making systemic changes by involving the key stakeholders in meaningful ways in all stages of the process.

Learning Areas:
Diversity and culture
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Describe the health disparities research agenda for Ohio developed through community meetings and local conversations held throughout the state. Discuss the evaluation systems used for assessing the outcomes of ethnic/cultural health promotion, disease prevention, and health education projects. Describe current health disparities research initiatives conducted by OCMH in Ohio. Discuss opportunities/challenges for partnerships between researchers, health practitioners, community leaders, and grantmakers interested in health disparities research and prevention initiatives.

Keywords: Community Involvement, Health Disparities

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the Executive Director for the Ohio Commission on Minority Health. My office is responsible for funding programs which will end health disparities for all minority populations. I have been the principal of federally funded grants focusing on drug use and treatment. My office also funds the Research Evaluation and Enhancement Program whose mission is to develop health outcomes for all programs funded through the Ohio Commission on Minority 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.