Congratulations Corner
Congratulations to Dr. Elisheva Leiter and the community team on the publication of their recent article in the leading health promotion journal, the American Journal of Health Promotion!
Our article described the first (to the best of our knowledge) multi-component, community-based cardiovascular health promotion intervention in a targeted OUJ community. Our publication describes the development process and formative research utilized in creating this intervention. The collaborative, 7-staged development process used a mixed methods design (both quantitative and qualitative research) integrated into community-based participatory research (CBPR). CBPR means that the community itself was involved in the various intervention stages, including design, implementation and evaluation. These methods were used to optimize cultural tailoring, interest and need matching, community acceptance, and participation.
This two-year process included organization and community partnerships, key informant interviews, focus groups, questionnaires with a randomized sample of 239 women, and a steering committee. Barriers to health behavior engagement and intervention preferences were identified. The final intervention included pedometer-based walking programs, health newsletters, women’s health evenings with program registration, neighborhood exercise groups, community leader trainings, health workshops, low cost whole grain product offers, teacher and student trainings, and health integration into schools.
The intervention is currently undergoing final evaluation and we look forward to sharing our findings in the near future. It is our hope that this unique project may serve as a model for intervention design in this and other difficult to access, low socioeconomic, and culturally insular populations- globally.
Leiter E, Finkelstein A, Donchin M, et al. Integration of Mixed Methods in Community-Based Participatory Research: Development of a Disease Prevention Intervention for Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Women. Am J Health Promot. 2020;34(5):479-489. doi:10.1177/0890117120906965
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