Healthy Kappas/Health Communities: Learning how to address our brothers' health needs

The purpose of this study was to provide health and wellness information with measurement tools and metrics to African American fraternity members of the Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti-Inkster Alumni Chapter of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. Furthermore, this program also convened a health summit to educate its members on ways to monitor their personal health status as well as to keep personal health a priority. The study methods included administering a men’s health needs assessment and presenting the results at a first African American Men’s Health Summit. Our findings indicate that most fraternity members represented a higher socioeconomic status (SES) in contrast other African American men in their communities. However, despite a higher SES status and access to health insurance, most fraternity members had similar patterns of concerns for chronic health conditions. The significance of this study draws attention to fact that higher income, education and access to health insurance were not protective factors for the fraternity men’s health outcomes. The implications of our findings motivated several men consider establishing a community health advocate program to educate and motivate African American men to be aware of their health status.