Contents
- 1 BrotherlyACT: Technology-Enhanced Contemplative Practices for Violence-Impacted Young Black Men
- 2 Needs Assessment of Resources for Minoritized Youth Chronic Pain
- 3 Community Health Worker Perspectives on Healthy Lifestyle Counseling and Weight Stigma
- 4 Developing a Community Health Worker Intervention to Promote Public Benefit Use and Cardiometabolic Health Among African Americans
BrotherlyACT: Technology-Enhanced Contemplative Practices for Violence-Impacted Young Black Men
Chuka Emezue
Associate Professor, Rush University Medical Center
We are currently conducting an IRB-approved formative study to develop and adapt a culturally tailored, strength-based web and mobile-accessible intervention called BrotherlyACT. This intervention is designed to prevent and reduce serious youth violence and lethality among young Black males (YBM), ages 15-24, by offering them brief psychoeducation on contemplative practices and non-judgmental behavior change strategies, as well as add-on digital tools (for risk assessment, goal setting, safety planning, and positive future orientation) – all delivered via a digital platform that meets YBM where they are.
BrotherlyACT will be based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Using a community-engaged approach, we will conduct a concurrent needs assessment of this type of intervention and rapid prototyping sessions with YBM (15-24 years) who have perpetrated any form of youth violence in the past year and their service providers with insights specific to Chicago neighborhoods.
Minigrant funds will be used for a 3-day violence prevention and youth health hackathon. We welcome YBM, ages 15-17, who live in Chicago or surrounding areas and interested in understanding the principles of mobile app and mHealth design, to participate in an online hands-on workshop. Our goals are 1) to spark their interest in mHealth interventions and even lead them to IT careers, 2) to provide them with technical experience that can be a viable addition to job CV/resume and college applications, 3) to provide participants with a learning opportunity that is hands-on and interdisciplinary. 4) Finally, we hope to provide certificates and the possibility of receiving a recommendation letter from the study team for college and job applications.
Community Partners: Chicago Black Therapists Network, Hekademeia Research Solutions
Needs Assessment of Resources for Minoritized Youth Chronic Pain
Susan Tran
Associate Professor, DePaul University
The goal of this formative research proposal is to assess the needs and assets of minoritized youth with chronic pain. As a result of this project, we anticipate learning about gaps in pain management resources available to Black youth. Youth of color and youth from economically marginalized neighborhoods are at increased risk for under-treatment of pain (Institute of Medicine, 2011). Chronic pain can last years, even through adulthood. Thus, timely treatment is recommended to improve adolescents’ quality of life. Ideal chronic pain management consists of evidence-based multidisciplinary approaches. Coordinated medical care, psychological support, and physical therapy can all benefit patients; unfortunately, there are often barriers to receiving this specialty care. While these treatment modalities are available in specialty chronic pain clinics, patients served in these clinics do not often come from minoritized backgrounds. Primary care physicians are often tasked with initial treatment of pain, and few providers outside of specialty chronic pain clinics have the resources or training to implement comprehensive pain management approaches. In order to understand how to best support minoritized youth with chronic pain and their families, we need to improve our understanding of community assets and needs, and stakeholder input regarding priorities for next steps.
Community Health Worker Perspectives on Healthy Lifestyle Counseling and Weight Stigma
Dedeepya Konuthula
Fellow, University of Chicago
The way that we currently identify and address what we consider elevated weight as an indicator of elevated cardiometabolic risk in a primary care clinic setting is suboptimal due to a variety of barriers including limited time and contact opportunities, risk to therapeutic relationship when raising a sensitive topic in the setting of insufficient trust, lack of access to effective treatment options and referral resources, and limited ability to address many social determinants of health that affect the obesogenic environment. We hypothesize that community health workers (CHWs) could be instrumental in helping to address and facilitate healthy lifestyle changes within a trusted relationship and without some of the constraints found within a primary care clinic.
We propose to use focus groups to elicit the perspectives of local CHWs on the concept of weight stigma and how it may or may not affect the conversations they have with clients about weight and healthy lifestyle. We will also elicit perspectives on their current standard of care and approach to conversations about nutrition and exercise as well as their ability to connect clients to needed resources and care and address barriers related to social determinants of health. We aim to use this information to eventually develop a curriculum to better prepare CHWs to have sensitive conversations about weight and healthy lifestyle with adolescents and families using non-stigmatizing and strength-based language and informed by updated evidence about the obesogenic environment.
Community Partner: Sinai Urban Health Institute Center for CHW Research, Outcomes and Workforce Development (SUHI CROWD)
Developing a Community Health Worker Intervention to Promote Public Benefit Use and Cardiometabolic Health Among African Americans
Daniel Schober
Assistant Professor, DePaul University
Heart disease and other cardiometabolic disorders are a major health issue for low-income Black Chicagoans living in overburdened and under-resourced neighborhoods. Community health worker (CHW) programs, such as the program at Sinai Chicago, are an important part of the health system’s response, connecting high risk patients with resources to address their health needs as well as the underlying social determinants that can impact their health, such as food and housing insecurity. While CHWs provide information to patients about public benefits, formal assistance with accessing benefits has not historically been part of the CHW role.
The activities proposed here will allow us to produce 1) a theory of change, and 2) a study
protocol, including intervention materials and measures, that will position us to implement a
pilot study with the support of a C3EN pilot research grant, and ultimately a larger-scale
research effort supported by an NIH R-series grant. Ultimately, our research will examine how utilizing CHWs to connect patients with public benefits, along with providing them health education and social support, can reduce cardiometabolic risk factors in a high risk population.
Community Partner: Sinai Urban Health Institute Center