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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Yolanda Anderson, PhD¹, Rakesh Malhotra, PhD¹, Saundra DeLauder, PhD², Marcia Bradshaw, MA¹, John J. Bang, MD, PhD¹, and L. Jacqueline Arroyo, PhD¹. (1) Environmental Science Program, North Carolina Central University, 1801 Fayetteville St., 2202 Mary M. Townes Science Building, Durham, NC 27707, 919-530-7117, yandersn@nccu.edu, (2) Department of Chemistry, North Carolina Central University, 1801 Fayetteville St., 3202 Mary M. Townes Science Complex Building, Durham, NC 27707

Public health education and health promotion in an underprivileged community can be a challenging task. Active community participation is usually required when public health issues originate from pollution concerns of an environmental justice community, a minority and/or low-income community that is disproportionately impacted by environmental hazards. The strategies used for the promotion of active community participation need to be customized to reflect unique circumstances present in each environmental justice community. Community-based environmental justice projects were initiated in two cities in North Carolina by applying the same strategy for forming community partnerships. These cities were distinct in terms of demographics, median income level, local economy, industrial composition, composition of interest groups, and level of resident participation. As predicted, different strategy modifications in both qualitative and quantitative aspects were necessary during project implementation to promote partnership formation between the community and other groups in the study. One of the objectives for this session is to share the experiences from the current project on challenging issues in environmental and public health education in an environmental justice community by comparing and contrasting how the two communities responded and formed partnerships with others. In addition, the constructive impact of using geographic information system (GIS) technology in both projects will be discussed particularly in the context of applying GIS technology in other public health education and health promotion studies.

This work was neither reviewed nor approved by EPA for publication.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session, the participant(learner) in this session will be able to
• understand how to effectively assess communities with different backgrounds to maximize the likelihood of successful public health education with a limited resources.
• identify key individuals needed to ensure informed decision-making in community based participartory projects.
• understand how a technical tool such as GIS can facilitate educating the community and enhancing partnership formation.

Keywords: Public Health Education and Health Promotion, Environmental Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No