Findings from a Community-based Participatory Prevention Research Intervention Designed to Increase Social Capital in Latino and African American Communities

• Published in: Journal of immigrant and minority health Vol. 10; no. 3; pp. 281 - 289
• Main Authors: Michael, Yvonne L., Farquhar, Stephanie A., Wiggins, Noelle, Green, Mandy K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01-06-2008; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adult; African American Children; African Americans; Aged; Black American people; Brainstorming; Churches; Citizen Participation; Community; Community based preventive programmes; Community Development; Community Health Workers; Community involvement; Community Participation - methods; Community Relations; Community Services; Comparative Law; Counties; Demography; Departments; Design; Disease prevention; Education; Female; Gangs; Health care; Health disparities; Health inequalities; Health Needs; Health promotion; Health status; Health Status Disparities; Hispanic Americans; Humans; International & Foreign Law; Intervention; Latin American people; Male; Measurement Techniques; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental Health; Metropolitan areas; Middle Aged; Minority & ethnic groups; Noncitizens; Original Paper; Participatory research; Physical Health; Popular Education; Prejudice; Preventive medicine; Private International Law; Public Health; Religion; Research Design; Social capital; Social Environment; Social Support; Sociodemographics; Sociology; Studies; Teaching Methods; Violent crime; United States > US; Community-based participatory research; Popular education; Latino; Social capital; African American
• ISSN: 1557-1912; 1557-1920
• DOI: 10.1007/s10903-007-9078-2

A community-based participatory research intervention,
Poder es Salud
/Power for Health, employed Community Health Workers who used popular education to identify and address health disparities in Latino and African American communities in a metropolitan area in the United States. We assessed participants’ social capital, self-rated health, and depressive symptoms at baseline and the end of the intervention. Social support and self-rated health improved while depressive symptoms decreased. Public health interventions involving diverse communities that are designed to build upon assets, such as existing levels of social capital, may improve health in those communities.