The East Side Village Health Worker Partnership is a community-based participatory research and intervention effort on Detroit’s east side. Members of the partnerships include the Butzel Family Center, Detroit Health Department, Kettering-Butzel Health Initiative, Friends of Parkside, Henry Ford Health System, Warren Conner Development Coalition, Islandview Development Corporation, VISIONS, the East Side Parish Nurse Network and over 30 community residents known as Village Health Workers. We will present results from an analysis of in-depth interviews examining lay health advisors' conceptualizations of community, and the ways those conceptualizations inform and shape their community engagement. Several themes emerged from analysis of in-depth interviews as Village Health Workers talked about what community means to them, and their own commitment to engagement in their communities. These themes will be examined, along with their relationships to actions. Implications for interventions that engage community members to address social determinants of health will be examined.
Learning Objectives: 1. Discuss how conceptualizations of community inform and shape community engagement.
Keywords: Lay Health Workers, Community
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.