142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

309526
Neighborhood Self-Efficacy and Control among African Americans

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Sunday, November 16, 2014

Brenda Hughes, MPH , SCDHEC, Walterboro, SC
Stacy Grundy, MPH, CLC , Missouri Bootheel Healthy Start, Sikeston, MO
Chanita Hughes-Halbert, Phd , Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC
Vanessa Briggs, MBA , Health Promotion Council of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
Melanie Jefferson, MPH , Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC
Ernestine Delmoor, MPH , National Black Leadership Initiative on Cancer, Philadelphia, PA
Jerry Johnson, MD , Center of Excellence on Minority Health, Division of Geriatric Medicine, University of Pennslyvania, Philadelphia, PA
Background: A key principle of community-based participatory research (CBPR) is that interventions developed will be used to promote positive change. Limited empirical data exists on the extent community residents are confident in the ability to make changes in their neighborhood and how much control individuals believe they have over what happens in their neighborhood.

Objective: To evaluate perceived control over neighborhood change and confidence to make these changes in a community-based sample of African American men and women ages 18-75 and identify socioeconomic and social factors having significant independent associations with these perceptions (n=487).

Results:  Most participants reported a little or a lot of control (64%) over what happens in their neighborhood and confidence they can improve their neighborhood (84%).  Participants who had some college or were college educated had a significantly greater likelihood of reporting a little/lot of control (OR=1.69, 95% OR=1.09, 2.60, p=0.02). Greater collective efficacy was associated with an increased likelihood of reporting control over what happens in their neighborhood (OR=2.25, 95% CI=1.59, 3.20, p=0.001).  Greater collective efficacy was associated with an increased likelihood of confidence to make neighborhood change (OR=2.00, 95% CI=1.19, 3.37, p=0.001).  Participants who belonged to at least one community organization were about three times more likely to be confident compared to those who belonged to none (OR=2.88, 95% CI=1,86, 4,46, p=0.01).      

Conclusions: The majority of African Americans are confident they can make changes and have control over what happens where they live.  Greater collective efficacy and involvement in community organizations were important to perceived confidence and control.      

Learning Areas:

Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Describe perceived control over things that happen in one’s neighborhood and perceptions of confidence to make neighborhood changes among African American adults. Identify socioeconomic and social factors that have significant independent associations with neighborhood self-efficacy and control.

Keyword(s): Community-Based Research (CBPR), Underserved Populations

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a Public Health Practioner with experience working with rural and urban populations. I have experience in using constructs from Community Based Participatory Research in order to engage communities. I also have experience in using evidence-based practices to promote community development and address health inequities.
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.