Community Based Interventions
Healthy Black Family Project
Interventions designed for the HBFP are focused on a geographic space called the Health Empowerment Zone: East End neighborhoods, including – East Hills, East Liberty, Homewood North, Homewood South, Homewood West, Larimer, Lincoln-Larimer, and Wilkinsburg -- with a high percentage (average 79.1%) of Black residents and a high percentage (average 25.7%) of residents living below the federal poverty line.
The HBFP is, at its core, a set of community-based, health-promotion interventions designed to be implemented within a rigorous framework for tracking progress and measurement of health outcomes. To give the HBFP hope for success over the next six years, we have elected to focus principally on the prevention of diabetes and hypertension.
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) has established new guidelines for pre-diabetes and pre-hypertension. The "Small Steps, Big Rewards" campaign grew out of the findings of HHS' Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) clinical trial. The study, sponsored by NIH, showed that people with pre-diabetes -- those whose blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not yet diabetic -- can delay and possibly prevent type 2 diabetes by losing 5 to 7 percent of their body weight through moderate changes in diet and exercise. The DPP found that modest weight loss and regular physical activity, such as brisk walking for 30 minutes day five times per week, could cut the risk of developing type 2 diabetes -- by more than half in people with pre-diabetes. These lifestyle changes worked for people of every ethnic or racial group who participated in the study, and they were especially successful for people over age 65. There is confidence that these same methods can work in Pittsburgh. Contact: Angela F. Ford
Family Health Histories
Knowing family health history provides individuals with information that can be passed on throughout generations to come. Even if the past family health history is unknown, individuals are encouraged to start with themselves.
African Americans are at increased risk for illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and several types of cancer. For many of these conditions, there is a genetic predisposition that can be identified through family health histories, or pedigrees. The knowledge of having an affected family member may influence an individual to inaccurately estimate his or her perception of personal risk. However, pedigrees can be used as an assessment tool to provide more accurate risk information to families. Once families are identified to be at high risk compared to the general population, they can be encouraged to make lifestyle changes to reduce risk of disease and to comply with recommended screening behaviors. In addition, pedigrees can help African Americans reduce fear regarding genetic information.
The project dispatches a team of genetic counseling students to conduct family histories of African Americans. Recruitment of participants is focused on community health fairs, barbershops and salons, church settings, and social networks. Once recruited, participants are given a risk assessment for chronic disease and have the option to have their pedigrees stored in a database, using Progeny software. Individuals in the database can have information sent to them regarding research studies for which they qualify, based on their individual health histories. Contact: Angela Ford
Lay Health Advocates’ Training Program
Lay Health Advocates are indigenous members of a community providing social support to individuals who may or may not be a part of an individual’s social network. They often times are natural helpers or collaborate with natural helpers. They often have expertise in a particular area (s) or have completed training in health promotion and disease prevention, and contribute to the health of and competence of their community through information dissemination, assistance and organization of community building activities. Lay health advocates are trained to provide encouragement and support to members of the Healthy Black Family Project.
This project also uses natural helpers in a trusted environment to promote health and educate communities. For example, barbers and hair stylist are also trained as lay health advocates, building on an existing community resource and established trusting institution.
The focus is to educate all lay health advocates about the seven national priority health disparity areas: cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, immunization, infant mortality, and mental health and behaviors that lead to a healthy lifestyle. Contact: Victoria Garner
Regional State Health Improvement Partnerships (SHIPs) Initiative
The Regional SHIPs initiative provides funding and technical assistance to regional State Health Improvement Projects (SHIPs), coordinates tobacco prevention and control projects to address minority tobacco-related health disparities, and develops local demonstration models for dissemination. Contact: Ray Howard
