TY - JOUR
T1 - Culturally Responsive Health Promotion to Address Health Disparities in African American Men
T2 - A Program Impact Evaluation
AU - Okoro, Olihe N.
AU - Nelson, Chantele S.
AU - Witherspoon, Stephan P.
AU - Witherspoon, Salaam F.
AU - Simmons, Glenn E.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2020.
PY - 2020/8/26
Y1 - 2020/8/26
N2 - African American (AA) men continue to experience worse health outcomes compared to men of other races/ethnicities. Community-based interventions are known to be effective in health promotion and disease prevention. The program objectives were to (a) increase knowledge and risk awareness of targeted conditions, (b) change health-care-seeking attitudes toward regular primary care among AA men, and (c) improve their lifestyle-related health behaviors by leveraging the influence of women in their lives. The community-engaged educational intervention targeted both men and women and included eight 90-min sessions per cohort. Topics included prostate cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, mental health, health-care access, and healthy lifestyle. Sessions were both didactic and interactive. A pre-/post-intervention questionnaire assessed knowledge. Interviews were conducted with male participants and a focus group discussion (FGD) with women to assess program impact. Interview and FGD transcripts were analyzed for themes and recommendations. Major themes were—increased knowledge/awareness of risk associated with chronic conditions, change in health-care-seeking attitudes, increased self-efficacy to engage the health-care system, and lifestyle changes. Other impacts reported were building community/social support, a safe and enabling learning environment, and enhanced community health status overall. Recommendations included having extended, more in-depth sessions, targeting the younger generation, smaller cohort sizes, and more community-based health programming. Community-engaged health promotion using a cohort model as well as including women can be effective in increasing knowledge, enhancing self-efficacy, and providing the much-needed social support. These can influence health-related behaviors and thus contribute to improving health outcomes for AA men.
AB - African American (AA) men continue to experience worse health outcomes compared to men of other races/ethnicities. Community-based interventions are known to be effective in health promotion and disease prevention. The program objectives were to (a) increase knowledge and risk awareness of targeted conditions, (b) change health-care-seeking attitudes toward regular primary care among AA men, and (c) improve their lifestyle-related health behaviors by leveraging the influence of women in their lives. The community-engaged educational intervention targeted both men and women and included eight 90-min sessions per cohort. Topics included prostate cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, mental health, health-care access, and healthy lifestyle. Sessions were both didactic and interactive. A pre-/post-intervention questionnaire assessed knowledge. Interviews were conducted with male participants and a focus group discussion (FGD) with women to assess program impact. Interview and FGD transcripts were analyzed for themes and recommendations. Major themes were—increased knowledge/awareness of risk associated with chronic conditions, change in health-care-seeking attitudes, increased self-efficacy to engage the health-care system, and lifestyle changes. Other impacts reported were building community/social support, a safe and enabling learning environment, and enhanced community health status overall. Recommendations included having extended, more in-depth sessions, targeting the younger generation, smaller cohort sizes, and more community-based health programming. Community-engaged health promotion using a cohort model as well as including women can be effective in increasing knowledge, enhancing self-efficacy, and providing the much-needed social support. These can influence health-related behaviors and thus contribute to improving health outcomes for AA men.
KW - African American
KW - Prostate cancer
KW - cardiovascular disease
KW - diabetes
KW - health inequality/disparity
KW - health-care issues
KW - oncology/cancer
KW - physiological and endocrine disorders
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U2 - 10.1177/1557988320951321
DO - 10.1177/1557988320951321
M3 - Article
C2 - 32840146
AN - SCOPUS:85089842188
SN - 1557-9883
VL - 14
JO - American Journal of Men's Health
JF - American Journal of Men's Health
IS - 4
ER -