Healthy eating and exercising to reduce diabetes: exploring the potential of social determinants of health frameworks within the context of community-based participatory diabetes prevention.
OBJECTIVE
We examined a community-based participatory diabetes intervention to identify facilitators of and barriers to sustained community efforts to address social factors that contribute to health.


METHODS
We conducted a case study description and analysis of the Healthy Eating and Exercising to Reduce Diabetes project in the theoretical context of a conceptual model of social determinants of health.


RESULTS
We identified several barriers to and facilitators of analysis of social determinants of a community-identified disease priority (in this case, diabetes). Barriers included prevailing conceptual models, which emphasize health behavioral and biomedical paradigms that exclude social determinants of health. Facilitating factors included (1) opportunities to link individual health concerns to social contexts and (2) availability of support from diverse partners with a range of complementary resources.


CONCLUSIONS
Partnerships that offer community members tangible resources with which to manage existing health concerns and that integrate an analysis of social determinants of health can facilitate sustained engagement of community members and health professionals in multilevel efforts to address health disparities.
Schulz
Amy J
AJ
Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan School of Public Health, 1420 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. ajschulz@umich.edu
Zenk
Shannon
S
Odoms-Young
Angela
A
Hollis-Neely
Teretha
T
Nwankwo
Robin
R
Lockett
Murlisa
M
Ridella
William
W
Kannan
Srimathi
S
D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000178:diet therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005081:Exercise Therapy; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008824:Michigan / Q000453:epidemiology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014505:Urban Population; D016387:Women's Health