CALL FOR ABSTRACTS — 143rd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Community-Based Public Health Caucus

Meeting theme: Health in All Policies

Submission Deadline: Wednesday, February 11, 2015

The Community-Based Public Health Caucus invites abstracts related to the science and practice of community-based public health for the 143rd American Public Health Association Meeting and Exposition to be held in Chicago, IL. We have particular interest in abstracts and proposals that reflect the meeting's theme.

OVERVIEW of the COMMUNITY-BASED PUBLIC HEALTH CAUCUS:
The Community-Based Public Health Caucus, approved by the APHA Executive Board in 2001, is guided by the belief that community lies at the heart of public health, and that research protocols and interventions work best when they are rooted in the values, knowledge, expertise, and interests of the community. We believe that health encompasses the physical, mental, spiritual, social, environmental, and economic well-being of a community and its members. We recognize the power of equal partnerships connecting community members, community-based organizations, academic institutions, and health agencies in order to address the myriad of health issues affecting communities today. We understand that, in order for these partnerships to be equal, and for interventions and research to be community-based, community members must participate fully in the identification of health issues as well as in the selection, design, data collection and analysis, implementation and evaluation of programs that address these issues. Further information about the Caucus and its guiding principles can be found at www.cbphcaucus.org.

CALL for ABSTRACTS for the 2015 ANNUAL MEETING:
We invite abstracts that advance our knowledge of community-academic partnering in multi-disciplinary collaboration and a diversity of community-based public health activities, including basic and applied research projects, interventions, teaching and service learning projects. Of particular interest are presentations of initiatives that put community-based organizations in the lead position. Presentations that provide participants with enhanced knowledge and skills to conduct community-based public health activities as well as those that explicitly describe the application of community-based participatory research (CBPR) to promoting healthy communities especially through policy change and decision-making at the local, state and federal levels, are also of great interest.

Abstract text is limited to 250 words.

We are particularly interested in abstracts that address:

  • Benefits & power of partnerships
  • Capacity building for CBPR
  • Community voices: Community member perspectives on community-academic partnerships and CBPR (presenting author must be a community member)
  • Global community-based public health
  • Lessons learned from CBPR projects
  • Measures, methods, and evaluation in CBPR
  • Policy and CBPR
  • The role of community partners in community based public health
  • The scholarship of CBPR (presenting author must be an alumni of the Kellogg Health Scholar Post-doctoral Program or antecedent programs)
  • Youth Roundtable: Youth leading the way to healthier communities (presenting author must be a student/youth)
We are also looking for abstracts on efforts to use community-university partnerships or other types of collaborations, the development of partnerships, capacity-building, dissemination approaches for CBPR findings, and innovative strategies, programs, models, and best practices to address community-based public health issues.

ABSTRACT REVIEW PROCESS:
All abstracts are peer-reviewed by both community and academic members of the Caucus. They will be considered for oral, poster or roundtable presentation, unless authors indicate a preference. Abstracts are evaluated for their quality and the degree to which their content is consistent with the principles of the Community-Based Public Health Caucus and the 2015 APHA Meeting theme. If your abstract is accepted for presentation, you are required to present material as stated in the peer-reviewed abstract.

INSTRUCTIONS for FULL SESSION PROPOSALS:
We also invite submissions of PROPOSALS FOR FULL SESSIONS (90 minutes). These sessions will consist of four to five presentations (plus a moderator if necessary) that share a common theme, ideally related to the meeting theme. Please note that each individual abstract to be included in a full session must be submitted through the APHA electronic abstract submission process. Each abstract will be reviewed independently, and be subject to the same blind peer-review process as other abstracts. Due to a very limited number of sessions available for oral presentations, in order for a full session proposal to be considered, each individual abstract from the proposed full session must be accepted on its own merit. If all abstracts are not accepted, the full session will not be considered. However, the individually accepted abstracts will be considered for presentation together within another topic area session. In addition to each individual abstract submission, a one-page overview of the proposed full session must be submitted directly to the planners via electronic mail at: khk@uams.edu and adesuwaak@yahoo.com.

This one-page overview should include:

1. Full session title
2. Name of the lead facilitator and the contact person for the full session
3. Brief overview of the full session and how the individual abstracts are integrated
4. List the individual abstracts for the full session in presentation order, including the following information: abstract number; abstract titles; author(s); time allocated for each presentation (including discussion).

SUGGESTIONS FOR FUNDRAISING
We are most interested in abstracts submitted for presentation by community-academic partners. We know that co-authors from community-based organizations whose abstracts are accepted for presentation during the 2015 meeting may face challenges with the costs of attending APHA. Unfortunately, the CBPH Caucus currently does not have funding for travel scholarships, but we are looking to raise such funds.  We encourage authors to review, “Suggestions for Fundraising for APHA,” a guide compiled by other Caucus members on ways to fundraise which includes templates for writing letters to funders and calculating your expenses. Download the guide on our website:  www.cbphcaucus.org.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH INVOLVED IN CBPH ENDEAVORS!!! We value young people as the next generation of CBPH activists. True to our vision, we work to support young activists and encourage their attendance to APHA. We ask community-academic partnerships that involve students to please support these students in co-presenting especially, but not limited to, roundtable or poster-sessions (e.g., high school students participating in community-based public health research or activism). Young people 13-25 can participate and become active in the CBPH Caucus Youth Council (see www.cbphcaucus.org for more information). Students under 17 who attend must be accompanied by a chaperone. Please see above, “SUGGESTIONS FOR FUNDRAISING” for more information about youth attending APHA.

CONTINUING EDUCATION CREDIT:
APHA values the ability to provide continuing education credit to physicians, nurses, health educators and those certified in public health at its annual meeting. Please complete all required information when submitting an abstract so members can claim credit for attending your session. These credits are necessary for members to keep their licenses and credentials.

For a session to be eligible for Continuing Education Credit, each presenter must provide:

1) an abstract free of trade and/or commercial product names

2) at least one MEASURABLE objective (DO NOT USE “understand” or “to learn” as objectives, because they are not measureable).

Examples of Acceptable Measurable Action Words:
Explain, Demonstrate, Analyze, Formulate, Discuss, Compare, Differentiate, Describe, Name, Assess, Evaluate, Identify, Design, Define or List.

3) A signed Conflict of Interest (Disclosure) form with a relevant Qualification Statement. See an example of an acceptable Qualification Statement on the online Disclosure form.

Thank you for your assistance in making our session credit worthy.

Contact Annette Ferebee at annette.ferebee@apha.org if you have any questions concerning continuing education credit. Contact the program planner for all other questions.

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Please feel free to contact the program planners should you have questions regarding your submission.


Ready?

Program Planner Contact Information:

Karen Yeary, PhD
Health Behavior and Health Education Department
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
4301 West Markham #820
Little Rock, AR 72205
Phone: 501-526-6720
Fax: 501-526-6709
khk@uams.edu

and
Olufunke Akiyode, MHSA, MBA
Shout - Global Health
103 Azalea ctm suite 18,
Upper Marlboro, MD 20774
Phone: 2404222900
Fax: 2405541616
adesuwaak@yahoo.com