Associate Professor The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States
Learning Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
Describe methods used to work with community members to build empowerment.
Describe methods used to assess empowerment.
Describe how empowerment levels among community members differed after participating in the project.
Brief Abstract Summary: Inequities in access to health care and distribution of healthy foods are among factors attributed to racial disparities in childhood obesity. Structural racism exacerbates challenges to rural health. Using a youth photovoice project and coalition building, our project engaged a rural, predominantly Black community in reflective dialogue about structural causes of child obesity to develop appropriate solutions. The coalition reopened the local farmers market and plans to start a produce prescription program. Mixed methods were used to describe how empowerment changed after participating in this project. Overall, some improvement in empowerment was noted among participating youth and coalition members. Baseline empowerment values may have been high among some coalition members with a history of community advocacy. Nonetheless, this study’s findings underscore the importance of building empowerment among community members working together to address structural determinants of health.
Detailed abstract description:
Background: Nationally, obesity affects 19% of children aged 2-19 years, with a disproportionate burden experienced by those of color, living in rural areas, and from low-income families. Inequities in access to health care and distribution of healthy foods are among factors attributed to racial disparities in obesity rates. Some argue that all people living in rural areas have challenges to health, but these challenges are exacerbated by structural racism. Until structural causes of inequities are addressed, behavioral interventions are unlikely to be effective. Therefore, our project engaged a rural, predominantly Black community in reflective dialogue about these causes and in developing appropriate solutions. We used a three-component asset-based, capacity-building approach: (1) a youth photovoice project, (2) coalition building, and (3) creating a community solution to identified structural issues. After 16 months of asset building tasks, the coalition reopened the local farmers market and has plans to start a produce prescription program. The purpose of this study was to describe how the sense of empowerment changed after participating in this project.
Methods: Mixed methods were used. A pre/post survey of photovoice participants included the Perceived Youth Empowerment Brief Scale. Surveys of coalition members were conducted at baseline (T1), mid-point (T2), and at the study’s end (T3), and used existing empowerment scales assessing constructs such as power developed through relationships and community empowerment. Thematic analysis was employed to uncover themes presented by focus group participants.
Results: Though data collection and analysis are ongoing, early results reveal 17 youth and 17 coalition members completed surveys. Incomplete data did not allow us to match all participant surveys from different time points. Overall, average perceived empowerment among 6 youth who completed both surveys was higher post project. For coalition members overall, average power developed through relationships and community empowerment scores were higher at T3 than at T1. No change in other empowerment measures were noted. Early focus group analysis revealed 2 primary themes: pride in professional development and motivation by validation of their work.
Conclusion: Some improvement in empowerment was identified among youth and coalition members participating in this project. Because many of these coalition members have a long history of community advocacy, they may have had high baseline empowerment values, resulting in limited change in some empowerment measures. The study is limited by the inability to match all survey participants from baseline to later data collection points. Nonetheless, this study’s findings underscore the importance of building a sense of empowerment among community members working together to address structural determinants of health. Successes they achieve can lead to collective efficacy to pursue further solutions.
