Online Program

283016
What it takes to promote community programs for Hispanics to reduce cardiovascular disease risk: The Texas experience


Tuesday, November 5, 2013 : 12:50 p.m. - 1:10 p.m.

Hector Balcazar, MS, PhD, El Paso, Regional Campus, UT Health Science Center-School of Public Health, El Paso, TX
Sherrie Wise, MPH, UT School of Public Health. El Paso Regional Campus, El Paso, TX
Alisha H. Redelfs, DrPH MPH CHES, Division of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health, El Paso, TX
Given the magnitude of Hispanic health related disparities in cardiovascular disease risk factors observed in many populations of Hispanic origin, there is a need to act now with solutions that matters to communities. Public health solutions must be connected to the environment where people live and work. Translational science of cardiovascular disease risk reduction will have little impact if it is not connected to the community. Community-based participatory research (CBPR), in conjunction with community transformation is what project HEART addressed for 8 years working in the border community of El Paso Texas. Project HEART believed in the community health worker model and through various community interventions tailored to Hispanic adults, was able to deliver a combination of a randomized intervention and subsequently, an ecological study that brought environmental changes. We report several outcomes of community transformation that took place in two zip codes where these two 8-year interventions were delivered. The CBPR approach delineates how efforts from various constituencies including a health clinic, parks and recreation department of the City of El Paso, the YWCA, and the El Paso Community College embraced the community health worker model. A variety of evaluation strategies are described that capture the complexity of outcomes that these two studies addressed. In addition to meaningful statistical differences in outcomes such as cholesterol reduction and behavioral changes, the ecological study showed beyond clinical outcomes, how communities began to change their infrastructures to allow culturally-relevant programs to be utilized by residents of El Paso Texas.

Learning Areas:

Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Chronic disease management and prevention
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Diversity and culture
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related education

Learning Objectives:
Demonstrate how ecological models can be implemented through culturally-relevent programs and efforts in communities to reduce cardiovascular risk in Hispanics Describe how programs can utilize community infrastructure to develop health promotion activities targeting Hispanics that have possibilities to be sustained

Keyword(s): Community Capacity, Community Health Promoters

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have worked in the Hispanic public health field for more than 25 years. I have conducted numerous studies of Latino birth outcomes, acculturation and health related behaviors, cardiovascular disease prevention programs in Latinos, and border health issues.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.