Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #111967

Michele Yehieli, DrPH and Mark Grey, PhD. Iowa Project EXPORT Center of Excellence on Health Disparities, University of Northern Iowa, 220 WRC, Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0241, 319 273-7965, michele.yehieli@uni.edu

Many rural communities in the United States are currently experiencing rapid ethnic diversification, which has profound public health implications for refugee and immigrant newcomers, as well as the communities that host them. This situation has occurred in one small community, Postville, in northeast Iowa, which has witnessed the rapid influx of newcomers from more than 30 different nations to work in the world's largest Kosher meatpacking plant there. The Postville Community Health Initiative Committee, in conjunction with the Iowa Project EXPORT Center of Excellence on Health Disparities at the University of Northern Iowa, conducted a comprehensive needs assessment of the health status, behaviors, beliefs, and practices of newcomers in the town. Approximately 150 Latino, Hassidic Jewish, and Eastern European immigrants were interviewed in their native languages, using a 100-item community health assessment questionnaire. Results of the descriptive study indicated that there were significant differences in a wide variety of health practices and patterns among these three populations, such as access to medical care; lifestyle practices like smoking, exercising, and drinking alcohol; and acculturation stress. Results of the study were used to develop culturally appropriate public health education and outreach programs to reduce health disparities among these newcomer populations.

Learning Objectives:

• To recognize differences in health behaviors and practices among Latino, Hassidic Jewish, and Eastern European immigrants in the United States;
• To understand the issue of rapid ethnic diversification as it currently occuring in rural America; and
• To learn how to utilize evidence-based community health assessments to develop culturally appropriate public health interventions for immigrants and refugees.

Keywords: Cultural Competency, Immigrants

Related Web page: www.iowaprojectexport.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.