Abstract
As part of efforts to help stem the rising tide of diabetes among Hispanic Americans living in Arizona-Mexico border communities, the Border Health Strategic Initiative was launched to foster community-based approaches to diabetes prevention and control. A major thrust of the initiative was establishment of special community action groups (SAGs) to help stimulate policy change and sustain interventions designed to reduce the risk of diabetes and its complications. The SAGs met regularly for more than two years, focusing primarily on policies that encourage development of an infrastructure to support physical activity and healthier nutrition. Through involvement with planning commissions, parks and recreation, and private companies, two community development block grants were obtained to support new walking trails. The SAGs also encouraged elementary schools to improve physical education and change vending machine products, and grocery store owners and managers to allow the demonstration and promotion of healthier foods. These groups, focused on policy and infrastructure change within their communities, may be the glue needed to hold comprehensive community health promotion efforts together.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (71.6 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Corkery E., Palmer C., Foley M. E., Schechter C. B., Frisher L., Roman S. H. Effect of a bicultural community health worker on completion of diabetes education in a Hispanic population. Diabetes Care. 1997 Mar;20(3):254–257. doi: 10.2337/diacare.20.3.254. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Goodman R. M., Speers M. A., McLeroy K., Fawcett S., Kegler M., Parker E., Smith S. R., Sterling T. D., Wallerstein N. Identifying and defining the dimensions of community capacity to provide a basis for measurement. Health Educ Behav. 1998 Jun;25(3):258–278. doi: 10.1177/109019819802500303. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Israel B. A., Schulz A. J., Parker E. A., Becker A. B. Review of community-based research: assessing partnership approaches to improve public health. Annu Rev Public Health. 1998;19:173–202. doi: 10.1146/annurev.publhealth.19.1.173. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Knowler William C., Barrett-Connor Elizabeth, Fowler Sarah E., Hamman Richard F., Lachin John M., Walker Elizabeth A., Nathan David M., Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group Reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes with lifestyle intervention or metformin. N Engl J Med. 2002 Feb 7;346(6):393–403. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa012512. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lasker Roz D., Weiss Elisa S. Broadening participation in community problem solving: a multidisciplinary model to support collaborative practice and research. J Urban Health. 2003 Mar;80(1):14–60. doi: 10.1093/jurban/jtg014. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Sabol Barbara. Innovations in collaboration for the public's health through the Turning Point Initiative: the W.K. Kellogg Foundation perspective. J Public Health Manag Pract. 2002 Jan;8(1):6–12. doi: 10.1097/00124784-200201000-00003. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Swider Susan M. Outcome effectiveness of community health workers: an integrative literature review. Public Health Nurs. 2002 Jan-Feb;19(1):11–20. doi: 10.1046/j.1525-1446.2002.19003.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Tuomilehto J., Lindström J., Eriksson J. G., Valle T. T., Hämäläinen H., Ilanne-Parikka P., Keinänen-Kiukaanniemi S., Laakso M., Louheranta A., Rastas M. Prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus by changes in lifestyle among subjects with impaired glucose tolerance. N Engl J Med. 2001 May 3;344(18):1343–1350. doi: 10.1056/NEJM200105033441801. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Veazie M. A., Teufel-Shone N. I., Silverman G. S., Connolly A. M., Warne S., King B. F., Lebowitz M. D., Meister J. S. Building community capacity in public health: the role of action-oriented partnerships. J Public Health Manag Pract. 2001 Mar;7(2):21–32. doi: 10.1097/00124784-200107020-00005. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- West S. K., Klein R., Rodriguez J., Muñoz B., Broman A. T., Sanchez R., Snyder R., Proyecto VER Diabetes and diabetic retinopathy in a Mexican-American population: Proyecto VER. Diabetes Care. 2001 Jul;24(7):1204–1209. doi: 10.2337/diacare.24.7.1204. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]