142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

309424
Engaging Urban Minority Youth to Address Health Inequities: Using Animation for Community Health Education and Health Promotion as part of STEM/Science Enrichment

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Monday, November 17, 2014 : 10:50 AM - 11:10 AM

Flavia Perea, Ph.D., M.S.Ed. , Public Health and Community Medicine, Tufts University, Boston, MA
Brian Gravel, PhD , Department of Education, Tufts University, Medford, MA
Edmond Bowers, PhD , Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development, Tufts University, Medford, MA
Devin Groman, BS, MPH Candidate , School of Medicine, Tufts University, Boston, MA
Alejandro Alvarez, MPH , Tufts University, Boston, MA
Linda Sprague Martinez, Ph.D. , Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Tufts University, Medford, MA
Youth can have important roles in public health improvement efforts. Health and STEM/ science education can support youth-driven health education efforts by providing content knowledge, opportunities to learn about the social contexts of health, as well as exposure and instruction in new mediums, such as animation, for use in local health education and health promotion efforts.

An afterschool STEM/science enrichment program employing a health equity framework, targeting Black and Latino youth in a public middle school in the Jamaica Plain (JP) neighborhood of Boston, MA, supported youths’ development of health education and health promotion messages using stop motion animation (SAM). Messages focused on stress and diseases that present disparities in JP, including asthma, diabetes, hypertension, and CVD. Youth used what they learned to increase knowledge and awareness of disparities, and developed messages targeting youth, the school context, and wider community.

A new analysis method was developed to examine the animations for content knowledge and accuracy. Data on the strengths and limitations of using SAM as a messaging medium was collected through student focus groups and interviews with program staff.

Results indicate SAM is an effective medium to engage youth in local outreach on health and disparities, whereby youth can create “stories” to help increase knowledge and awareness about diseases that present disparities as well as prevention, at the local level. Moreover, this allows youth to leverage lived experience and knowledge of their communities and how social factors impact health among their peers, families, and the wider community, to effect change.

Learning Areas:

Advocacy for health and health education
Public health or related education
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Describe the STEM/science education program curriculum, content and instructional approach, and the methodological approach and processes used to develop the animations. Explain the coding scheme and analysis method used to assess the content and accuracy of the animations, and present the results. Assess the strengths and challenges of using animation as a visual medium for youth-driven health education and health promotion campaigns.

Keyword(s): Health Disparities/Inequities, Youth

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a professor of public health, this is my study, and I am the Principal Investigator. I have been the PI on multiple NIH and Foundation funded projects focused on youth, and the intersection of health and education. Youth engagement in health promotion, namely community engaged outreach efforts from a youth perspective, particularly in the context of youth enrichment and in education settings, are my principal research interests.
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.