The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #44931

Fern Jureidini Webb, PhD¹, Selena Webster-Bass, MPH¹, Phildra T. Jefferies, PhD², and Michelle Hines Doldren, MPH, CHES³. (1) Department of Community Health and Family Medicine, University of Florida, 1255 LILA AVENUE, SUITE B, Jacksonville, FL 32208, 904 244-5818, fern.webb@jax.ufl.edu, (2) Office of Staff Development, Hillsborough County Public Schools, 901 East Kennedy Boulevard, Tampa, FL 33602, (3) School of Medicine, University of Miami, Florida Lions Eye Bank, 900 NW 1th Street, Miami, FL 33136

African-American women have higher incidence, morbidity and mortality rates for almost every disease compared with their Euro-American counterparts. Continuous health disparities raise questions of whether initiatives and programs designed for African-Americans address their needs and desires. While national efforts are needed, many initiatives fail to directly engage African-American women when planning and implementing local and national efforts. For example, research shows that minority women comprise only one-fourth of women’s health movement constituents. Researchers, practitioners, and educators often fail to adopt a holistic health approach involving body, mind, and spirit. Thus, developed programs often operate from a deficit model, focusing only on disparities. However, a growing body of literature shows that optimism and strength-based approaches may be more effective in producing change that eventually may reduce and eliminate African-American health disparities. Thus, the failure to engage African-American women may result in initiatives and programs that do not: 1) include cultural components identified as important; 2) develop realistic expectations of change for women and the overall community; and 3) highlight the existing strength or assets of the target group that can be utilized in efforts to eliminate disparities.

Learning Objectives: Learning objectives are to

• Develop an understanding of cultural factors, such as spirit and being that are important to African-American women’s perception of health;
• Identify methods and resources that can be used to increase African-American women health constituents; and
• Discuss strength-based approaches that can be used when researching or designing programs for African-American women.

Keywords: African American, Community Involvement

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
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.