Blog

Andiara Schwingel

The “Abuelas en Accion/ Grandmothers in Action” (AEA) program explored the feasibility of implementing a behavioral change program addressing physical activity, nutrition and stress management for Latina grandmothers aged 50 and older. The intervention was designed to be culturally sensitive to the targeted population through a partnership with faith-based organizations in developing and delivering an evidence-based behavioral change curriculum that incorporates both intergenerational activities and religious content. Key issues related to efficacy, adoption, implementation and maintenance of the program in Latino communities at the individual (study participants) and organizational (provider organization) levels were evaluated.

This study explored the links between religious inclination, intergenerational programming and health behavior. Religious inclination was assessed in two ways (1) Religious Context – partnering with religious organizations and church staff to endorse and teach an otherwise secular curriculum on church property, and (2) Religious Content – i.e. the inclusion of religious elements and discussions into an existing behavioral change curriculum.

Based on our previous study and the literature in the field we believe that the proposed project will generate new knowledge and insight by increasing our understanding about two important cultural elements of older Latina’s lives (intergenerational opportunities and religiosity). This knowledge assists Latino communities to develop, implement, evaluate, and sustain culturally competent behavioral change interventions that promote health and wellbeing. We are testing a classroom-based behavioral change program that is delivered by lay leaders who are already working in the community. This has the dual advantage of utilizing individuals who are familiar with local customs and traditions, while also being a sustainable delivery model that requires no new personnel to be hired to deliver the intervention. We believe this type of low cost, sustainable, culturally-tailored intervention has the maximum likelihood of facilitating long-term behavior change in the study participants, and strengthens the commitment of religious organizations to offer health promotion programs to the communities they serve.

Julie Bobitt

Because our older adult population is growing at such a rapid pace it is important to focus on initiatives and policies that will promote successful aging and prevent premature chronic disease and disability. Increasingly, there has been a focus on the utilization of evidence-based wellness programs to address the need for preventive efforts in older adults. The benefits of evidence based programming include a higher likelihood of successful programs that are based on research and proven to be effective, and more efficient use of funding resources (Brownson, Fielding, & Maylahn, 2009).

While the benefits of evidence-based programs are well established, more research is needed to determine whether the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based programming is, in fact, occurring and the extent to which the intended populations are being reached. Although there is a vast network established to serve the needs of older adults in the United States, and many evidence-based wellness programs have been researched and promoted at the national level, it is difficult to tell what factors influence adoption of these programs by organizations at the community level. This study is looking at the factors that impact the dissemination and implementation of evidence based wellness programs to older adults in Illinois Senior Centers.

Emerson Sebastiao

The health disparity among minority groups is well documented in the United States. Despite improvements on health care and preventive services, African Americans still face the burden of higher rates of chronic diseases, disabilities and mortalities. Physical activity is an important health component and despite its increased awareness, rates of participation are low. The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance estimates that about 51% of the older adult population does not meet the physical activity guidelines of 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity physical activity. Despite the growing number of studies and public health efforts to promote physical activity among different populations, African American women constitute one of the least active group. A partial explanation could be related to public health messages and interventions that are not cultural tailored. Emerson Sebastiao along with his mentors Dr. Chodzko-Zajko and Dr. Schwingel worked to disentangle and to understand the complexity of the sociocultural environmental and other factors that may affect the decision of older African American women to choose a healthy lifestyle with physical activity or to be sedentary.

This research project explored the role of socio-cultural environment in shaping health behavior, through a focus on physical activity of older African American women, beyond this exploring their conception of physical activity including barriers and facilitators. Thus, the main purpose of this research study is to deepen our understanding of factors that contribute to physical activity decisions among older African American women. By using a mixed-methods design, perceptions, attitudes, beliefs and values about physical activity were addressed. A new technique in the field of health behavior, known as photo-elicitation was employed. Photo-elicitation has a long time history in anthropology and sociology studies. This technique invites participants to take part in the research study; and therefore, more meaningful information about the investigated phenomenon is expected to be observed.

Preliminary findings show that measured by objective devices (accelerometer) older African American women report in average about 61 minutes per week of moderate-vigorous physical activity. In addition, it was observed that the way older African American women conceptualize physical activity, tends to be mixed with the definition used for exercise. We do believe that this research project has helped to understand more about African American women regarding physical activity behavior and move towards the development of better strategies and interventions that will have a higher impact on this population.

Deborah Linares

Kelechi Ibe-Lamberts

The concept of transnationalism has benefited from different socio-economic fields such as anthropology, social sciences, political sciences, geography, and health. Research in this field continues to display that the dynamics of immigration is continually progressive. Researchers agree that transnationalism can refer to the socio-cultural identity that is shaped by the inter-connectivity between more than one geographic distant places. Transnational Africans have been driven by the inter-connectivity between their countries of origin and their receiving countries; which in our case is the US.

When transnational Africans resettle in the US, they come with preconceive established health behaviors towards ailments such cardiovascular diseases like hypertension based on their experiences personally and within their community. There is a need for the continual exploration of this field because the majority of studies that focus on the interplay between health behaviors and cardiovascular diseases among blacks in the US did it by including all Blacks in general. This ongoing study will take a mixed method approach utilizing a cultural competent model in order to gain further insight on the relationship between transnational Africans and cardiovascular diseases by highlighting cultural practices and transnational activities that may influence health behaviors.