Online Program

316591
Backyard Initiative Community Health Survey: Assessing Social Cohesion and General Health


Monday, November 2, 2015

Atum Azzahir, Cultural Wellness Center, Minneapolis, MN
Mark Anderson, MA, Backyard Initiative Assessment Team, Minneapolis, MN
Janet Dahlem, MA, Backyard Initiative Assessment Team
Susan Gust, Backyard Initiative Assessment Team, Minneapolis, MN
Mau Jerinigan, Backyard Initiative Assessment Team, Minneapolis, MN
Rose Lobely, Backyard Initiative Assessment Team, Minneapolis, MN
Pamela J. Mink, PhD, MPH, Division of Applied Research, Allina Health, Minneapolis, MN

Dimpho Orionzi, Division of Applied Research, Allina Health, Minneapolis, MN
Lovel Trahan, BA, Division of Applied Research, Allina Health, Minneapolis, MN
Dee Henry Williams, BA, Backyard Initiative Assessment Team, Minneapolis, MN
Amged Yusuf, BA, Backyard Initiative Assessment Team, Minneapolis, MN
Background: Prior research has demonstrated that social capital and social cohesion impact health; however, few studies have examined the association between health status and sense of community. The Minneapolis-based Backyard Initiative (BYI), a partnership between Allina Health, the Cultural Wellness Center, and community residents to improve health, conducted a Community Health Survey (CHS) to address questions about community-defined health priority areas including social cohesion and general health.  

Objectives: To describe the association between social cohesion and general health among participants in the 2013 BYI CHS.

Methods: The BYI Assessment Team, a collaborative team of conventional researchers and community residents, selected survey measures including:  the Sense of Community Index (SCI) for social cohesion, and Health Status for overall health.  STATA was used to compare mean SCI and SCI subscale scores for participants who responded “excellent” or “very good” to “good”, “fair”, or “poor” to the general health question.  

Results:  T-test results indicated statistically significantly higher mean scores for the reinforcement of needs subscale for those in excellent/very good versusgood/fair/poor (t=-2.40; p=0.017).  Neither the overall SCI nor the other subscales were associated significantly with health status.  

Conclusions:  These preliminary analyses suggest a positive association between the reinforcement of needs subscale and health status. However, previous studies of social capital and mortality indicated multivariate adjustment and evaluation of effect modification may be appropriate to fully understand the relation between social cohesion and general health in this study. Future analyses will examine the possible role of age, cultural group, stress and other factors.

Learning Areas:

Diversity and culture
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Describe the unique community centered methods used by the Backyard Initiative (BYI), a partnership between Allina Health system, the Cultural Wellness Center, and community residents to improve health in Minneapolis MN, to define health-related priority areas, and collect meaningful, valid health-relatd data. Describe the association between social cohesion and general health status among participants in the 2013 BYI Community Health Survey.

Keyword(s): Community-Based Partnership & Collaboration, Community-Based Research (CBPR)

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have worked as a co-investigator and study coordinator on multiple community health improvement studies that examined social support, social cohesion and the impact of health education. A related interest is building and utilzing collaborative partnerships to solve our greatest health ills.
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.