For my PHC6451 class, I created a hypothetical multi-level public health intervention, as the "Creative Director for ResilientU". This intervention is set to target individuals living in Jackson, Mississippi, the city with the highest obesity rates in the state of Mississippi and across the country (Oliver, 2017; Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2019). Using the CDC's (2021) Social Ecological Model (SEM), I looked at each separate level (individual, relationship, community, and society) to look at social and cultural norms, community policies, social networks and support systems, and individual attributes to understand how to best roll out this intervention in my target population.
Underneath the obesity epidemic lies deep-seated racial inequalities, primarily affecting non-Hispanic black and African American adults (CDC, January 2021). Non-Hispanic black adults have the highest age-adjusted obesity prevalence in the entire United States, coming in at nearly 50%, half of the population (CDC, January 2021). African American women bear the biggest burden; four out of five of them are considered clinically obese. In general, non-Hispanic black adults are 1.3 times more likely to be obese than their non-Hispanic white peers (OMH, 2020). Given that the population of Jackson, Mississippi is over 80% black or African American, I decided to laser focus on rolling out my intervention there (DataUSA, n.d.).
Members of the Jackson community are often left out when it comes to public health. Jackson's lack of access to healthcare is the highest in the country, with over 19% of adults having been estranged from a doctor for 12+ months (DataUSA, n.d.). African American Adults bear the poverty burden as well; more than 88% of those in poverty in the state of Mississippi are African American (DataUSA, n.d.). Understanding these community and society-level behaviors was key to creating an intervention that would make a difference in this community.
In my podcast, I drew attention to enrolling in ResilientU's "10K a Day" campaign, which would give individuals who signed up a free pedometer to track their steps for 21 days. Every day that enrollees met their goal would lead to raffle entries towards an Apple Watch, in addition to food vouchers to be redeemed at the local farmers market, hosted by ResilientU at the end of the campaign. Just signing up equated to a raffle ticket entry for the Apple Watch, and sign-up could be done in person at pop-up booths throughout the community, in addition to on a mobile device or computer from the home. Encouraging this kind of physical activity is not only connected to weight loss, but there are benefits to families and communities that work out together in the form of positive health outcomes and improved social development and emotional skills management (Alexander, 2017; Wolfe, 2017).
In addition to the campaign itself, members that signed up to participate were given a bundle of resources in their welcome email, that the podcast encouraged them to participate in. Resources such as food addiction support groups, nutritional advice and healthy vegan cookbooks, in addition to an obesity self-assessment were provided, all anonymously and on the enrollee's personal time. By using this interactive activity in the "10K a Day" challenge, I'm able to interact with members of Jackson on all four levels of the CDC's SEM, from individual to community, with different benefits being provided at each different level and via a different medium. I hope to one day be able to create or participate in executing non-hypothetical versions of programs like this that could make a difference in communities like Jackson, disproportionately thrown into the obesity epidemic facing America.
References
Alexander, L. (2017, September 1). The many benefits of exercising as a family. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved from https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/how-working-out-as -a-family-can-benefit-your-health-20170831-gy84jr.html
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2021, January 28). The social-ecological model: A framework for prevention. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/about/social-ecologicalmodel.html
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2021, February 11). Adult obesity facts. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html#:~:text=Obesity%20affects%20some%20groups%20more%20than%20others&text=Non%2DHispanic%20Black%20adults%20(49.6,Hispanic%20Asian%20adults%20(17.4%25).
DataUSA. (n.d.). Data USA: Jackson, MS Census Place. Retrieved from https://datausa.io/profile/ geo/jackson-ms/#demographics
Office of Minority Health (OMH). (2020, March 26). Obesity and African Americans. United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Retrieved from https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/browse.aspx?lvl=4&lvlid=25
Oliver, D. (2017, March 22). The 10 fattest cities in America. U.S. News and World Report. Retrieved from https://health.usnews.com/wellness/health-buzz/articles/2017-03-22/jackson-mississippi-is-the-fattest-city-in-america-ranking-says
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (2019). Adult obesity rates. State of Childhood Obesity. Retrieved from https://stateofchildhoodobesity.org/adult-obesity/
Wolfe, A. (2017, November 19). Food desert: Engaging in Jackson’s food system. Clarion Ledger. Retrieved from https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2017/11/20/food-desert-engaging-jacksons-food-system/855222001/
Comments (0)