Women as Stewards of Family & Community Health: Community Conversations' Sister to Sister Women's Health Initiative

Epidemiologic data has thoroughly documented startling disparities in health outcomes across chronic health conditions along with disparities in access to high quality health services for Black women living within the US.  The Community Conversations (CC) model is a model of community engagement that is designed to address these gaps in care by facilitating a better understanding of chronic health conditions and the resources available to prevent and/or manage these conditions among low-to-mid income Black families in Cambridge, MA.  Since 2009, CC brings together black women – both healthcare consumers and healthcare professionals – in monthly conversations that empower participants to become actively involved in improving and maintaining their own health and the health of their families. Conversations take place in a local beauty salon, are guided by an interdisciplinary team of local healthcare professionals, and focus on following areas: Health Literacy/Tools; Preserving and Promoting Physical and Emotional Health; and Navigating Healthcare Systems.  The model promotes a bi-directional dialogue that allows women to share knowledge and experience and identify opportunities for empowerment; replacing more conventional, hierarchical models for health information exchange where professionals deliver healthcare information to consumers without the opportunity for bilateral engagement and mutual learning.  The presentation will provide findings from our mixed-methods evaluation study showing that CC participants develop an increased sense of health literacy and self-efficacy, skills required to navigate a complex and fragmented healthcare system, experience changes in health attitudes and behaviors for both self and family, and engage in activities such as increased appropriate health care use and shared decision-making/partnering with providers.