hepdetroit.org

Goals & Objectives

This was a community assessment and planning effort conducted with support from the National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities (1 R24 MD001619-03).

The specific aims were to

• Strengthen the ability of Detroit communities to reduce and eventually eliminate disparities in cardiovascular disease.

• Implement a Community Assessment to examine challenges, opportunities, and strategies to reduce and eventually eliminate disparities in cardiovascular disease.

• Designing a multilevel Intervention Plan to promote cardiovascular health among Detroit residents to reduce and eventually eliminate disparities in cardiovascular disease.

• Conduct and evaluate a multilevel Pilot Intervention research study using a community based participator research approach to reduce and eventually eliminate disparities in cardiovascular disease.

• Evaluate the partnership process to gain an increased understanding of the successes, facilitating factors and barriers to using a caommunity based participatory research approach to reduce and eventually eliminate disparities in cardiovascular disease.

Activities

This planning grant actively engaged youth, adults and organizations within the involved communities in analyzing neighborhood and individual factors associated with heart disease. Focus groups, town hall meetings, and a Youth Photovoice project were conducted.

The Youth Photovoice Project was conducted in collaboration with the Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation (a partner organization). Youth from our neighborhoods were trained in the photovoice process. They documented, through photographs, conditions in their neighborhoods that affect heart health and used these photographs to engage in structured dialogue about the underlying causes of those conditions and potential strategies for change. The program culminated in a presentation of the photovoice results to families of the youth. Additionally, some of the youth implemented a Youth Photovoice roundtable with local policy makers to discuss environmental issues in their community.

Using the information gathered through the  planning process we developed specific objectives and an implementation plan for a multilevel intervention. The intervention included the design and evaluation of a walking group program that would enhance skills and experience among community members, develop a network of community and faith-based organizations, and support changes in built, social and policy environments to promote physical activity and cardiovascular health. This design became the basis for the Community Approaches to Cardiovascular Health: Pathways to Heart Health proposal. To learn more about the result of our pilot intervention, see the CATCH Walking Group Pilot Intervention Report.