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Deborah Coen, MS, CHES, Center for Healthy Communities, West Virginia University, 3040 University Avenue, Room 3341, PO Box 6275, Morgantown, WV 26506, 304-293-5182, dcoen@hsc.wvu.edu
Health disparities are great in West Virginia where social and economic conditions put residents at high risk for obesity and chronic disease. There is a need in rural West Virginia to build community capacity to reduce these health disparities. This project aims are to: 1) engage community members in the process of conducting formative research (key informant interviews, focus groups, photo voice, participant observation) and strengthening their communities’ capacity to identify, design, implement, and evaluate culturally appropriate health promotion initiatives related to physical activity and healthy eating; and 2) use the principles of case study research to compare and contrast communities in relation to the effectiveness of the participatory research process in accomplishing these aims. Diffusion of Innovation theory guides the evaluation of the participatory research process, exploring factors known to influence the rate of adoption of an innovation including compatibility, complexity and relative advantage and the extent to which the participatory model influenced the adoption of ecological evidence-based health promotion initiatives. Evaluation findings and lessons learned for building community capacity from two years of work in two rural communities will be discussed in this presentation.
Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to
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.