healthy people 2020 - Society for Public Health Education

thursday – saturday | november 4-6
✯ Poster Abstracts ✯
is as part of the social and organizational environment. Through the
lens of the Ecological Model, one can apply multilevel interventions by
partnering with a WIB to address healthcare workforce issues and therefore
larger public health objectives. A WIB is an institutional convener
(working with colleges, universities, and vocational training organizations,
federal and state governments and governmental departments,
non-profit human services organizations, and local employers) and a
community convener (for youth, job seekers and local residents) that
allows one to intervene an interpersonal level through direct client counseling
or a community level through research and application, social
networking facilitation, and policy advocacy. Yet, it is rare for healthcare
and health services organizations to seek out WIBs for partnering to
tackle tough health-centered objectives that can be addressed by a workforce
perspective. The following will use NOVA’s, the northern Santa
Clara County-serving WIB, example of innovative healthcare workforce
research done in collaboration with union shops, private employers,
and universities; participation in employer and college advisory groups,
self-client driven education and programs, client training evaluation and
innovation, and direct client services of how various organizations can
partner strategically better deliver services in
a struggling economy and more effectively address public health goals.
37. “Sustainable Morehead”: Framing a Rural
Community’s Environmental Sustainability Mission within the
Community Coalition Action Theory to Improve Public Health
Kristi King, PhD, University of Louisville; Brittany Trentham, BS, University
of Louisville; Emily Whitney, PhD, CHES, Southern Illinois University
at Carbondale
background: Increasing public awareness, strengthening community
capacity, and creating social and physical environments to improve public
health are among several priorities of Healthy People 2020. Community
coalitions with an environmental sustainability focus are excellent
venues in which public health educators can partner to support physical
activity, proper nutrition, and environmental education. “Sustainable
Morehead” is a community coalition whose mission is “to further
sustainable living in the Morehead and surrounding Appalachian region
through education, demonstration projects, and activities that are based
on the interrelationship of personal, social, and environmental health.”
In order for public health educators to maximize their potential for collective
coalition success, it is important to understand the development,
maintenance, and potential for institutionalization of these grassroots
organization efforts. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine
the formation and maintenance of an environmental sustainabilityfocused
community coalition in a rural community within the context of
the Community Coalition Action Theory.
theoretical framework: The Community Coalition Action Theory
(CCAT), a type of interorganizational relations theory, served as the
theoretical framework for this study. The CCAT constructs qualitatively
examined were: stages of development, community context, convener
group, coalition membership, operations and processes, leadership and
staffing, structures, member and external resources, member engagement,
assessment, intervention implementation, community change
measures, community capacity, and health and social outcomes.
hypothesis: Qualitative examination of “Sustainable Morehead’s”
strengths and limitations will provide coalition members direction for
coalition institutionalization.
methods: Data collection methods included structured and semi-structured
interviews, coalition online social networking content analysis,
meeting and event observation, and informal conversation. Subjects
included coalition members, key stakeholders, community gatekeepers,
and community members for which interventions were targeted.
results: Important emergent coalition strengths identified were:
1.) the importance of group consensus on issue selection, 2.) strong and
frequent participation of coalition members, 3.) clear goals and objectives,
and 4.) clear intervention strategies for member engagement.
The need for 1.) identifying and securing external resources and 2.)
increasing community participation for targeted interventions were
areas for improvement.
conclusion and implications for practice: Examination and
application of the Community Coalition Action Theory constructs in
“Sustainable Morehead” demonstrate how community groups can partner
to achieve a common mission of improving environmental sustainability.
Understanding a community coalition’s mission, dynamics, and potential
for institutionalization can aid a public health educator’s mission of
improving public health.
38. Environmental Health Knowledge, Attitudes, and
Behaviors of Pre-service Teachers
Dhitinut Ratnapradipa, PhD, CHES, Department of Health Education &
Recreation, Southern Illinois University; Darson Rhodes, PhD, CHES,
Department of Health Education & Recreation, Southern Illinois University;
Joyce Fetro, PhD, CHES, Department of Health Education & Recreation,
Southern Illinois University; Stephen Brown, PhD,
Southern Illinois University
Since progress in improving environmental health has been mixed
(depending on the environmental issue), Developing Health People 2020
proposes 21 objectives related to environmental health. Research has
shown that personal health behaviors and actions established early in
life often are carried through adulthood. Thus, working with children to
increase environmental health literacy may improve the environmental
health literacy of future adults, potentially improving the health of the
Nation. Given the amount of time children spend in school, this setting
could be an ideal place to address environmental health with children.
According to social cognitive theory, learning takes place through
observation. Consequently, the environmental behaviors and attitudes
modeled by teachers would likely impact the environmental behaviors
and attitudes learned by students. Based upon social cognitive theory, a
research study including 101 pre-service teachers from a large Midwestern
university was conducted to determine participants’ knowledge,
attitudes, and behaviors regarding environmental health. Researchers
hypothesized environmental health knowledge would be low (mean score
less than 80%) and multiple unfavorable behaviors or attitudes would be
reported. Results indicated major deficiencies in basic knowledge as well
as many unfavorable environmental behaviors. On average, participants
answered only 49.7% of knowledge items correctly. Fewer than half of
the participants (48.5%) indicated they knew the EPA’s webpage provides
information related to environmental health. Additionally, less than half
(46.0%) recycle bottles or cans “often” or “almost always.” Given these results,
pre-service teachers are likely ill-prepared to address environmental
health literacy in their classrooms. Teacher education programs need to
address this deficiency in pre-service teachers through the implementation
of new courses focused on environmental health or the redesign of
current courses to include environmental health content.
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sophe conference ✯ november 4-6, 2010