AHRQ Innovations Exchange | Community Partnership Uses Lay Health Advisers to Reduce Chronic Disease Risk Factors, Leading to Improvements in Lifestyle and Health in Low-Income African Americans

full-text ►AHRQ Innovations Exchange | Community Partnership Uses Lay Health Advisers to Reduce Chronic Disease Risk Factors, Leading to Improvements in Lifestyle and Health in Low-Income African Americans: "Community Partnership Uses Lay Health Advisers to Reduce Chronic Disease Risk Factors, Leading to Improvements in Lifestyle and Health in Low-Income African Americans

Snapshot
Summary
In the 8-year Charlotte Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) 2010 project, a primary care center, the county health department, community organizations, and lay health advisers jointly developed and implemented a variety of activities designed to reduce risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes in a low-income, largely African-American population. Activities included support groups, health and nutrition education classes, exercise programs, smoking cessation classes, and a farmers’ market. Recruited from local neighborhoods, the lay health advisers served as liaisons between the community and providers, encouraged positive changes in health-related behaviors, and made referrals to health professionals as necessary. The program, which involved two distinct project periods (1999-2000 for planning and 2000-2007 for implementation), improved health-related skills and behaviors (e.g., eating more healthfully, engaging in more physical activity), leading to anecdotal reports of better health. Most components of the program ended in 2007 after grant funding ran out, although some aspects continued past this time and others continue to operate today.

Evidence Rating
Suggestive: The evidence consists of post-implementation feedback from participants given during focus groups, along with trends in the results of annual community-wide surveys related to diet and physical activity conducted before and after program implementation.

Developing Organizations
Carolinas HealthCare System; Fighting Back Cluster One Neighborhood Association; Healthy Families/Healthy Communities; McCrorey Family YMCA; Mecklenberg County (NC) Health Department
Multiple community organizations, including a 14-neighborhood association, also participated in the development of this initiative.

Date First Implemented
1999
The 8-year program ran from 1999 to 2007.

Patient Population
Race and Ethnicity > Black or African American; Vulnerable Populations > Impoverished; Racial minorities; Urban populations

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