The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #69843

Cleopatra Howard Caldwell, PhD¹, Cassandra L Brooks, MSA, BA¹, and E. Hill De Loney, MA². (1) School of Public Health, University of Michigan, 1420 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, (2) Flint Odyssey House, Inc. Health Awareness Center, 1225 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, Flint, MI 48503

This poster presentation will delineate the process used in the Flint Fathers and Sons Project to develop a true collaborative research partnership between several community-based organizations, the local health department, and a university school of public health. Using a community-based participatory research process, these three partners came together to develop a culturally and locally relevant intervention designed to prevent risky health behaviors and enhance positive health behaviors through strengthening father-son relationships among non-resident African American fathers and their 8-12 year old sons. The challenges faced as well as lessons learned will be shared during the poster session from the perspectives of the three partners. In addition, qualitative data from non-resident fathers and sons who participated in the pilot phase of the project and mothers of sons who participated in focus groups will be presented as a means of illustrating the utility of involving members of the target audience in intervention development. Results from a preliminary process evaluation of the partnership and the intervention will be presented to provide an assessment of critical aspects of the collaborative process related to engaging multiple views of the health issues of interest as well as what should be done to address these concerns. The model of collaboration used in this project reflects the expertise of the project's steering committee and the willingness of all partners to work toward building trust in an ongoing research relationship.

Learning Objectives:

• To recognize the challenges of doing community-based participatory research in African American communities.
• To gain an appreciation of lessons learned in the development of an intervention designed through a collaborative research partnership.
• To understand the significance of involving the target audience in developing the intervention to enhance its effectiveness.

Keywords: Community-Based Partnership, African American

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.