Assessing resource environments to target prevention interventions in community chronic disease control.
The recent emphasis in public health and medicine on the environmental determinants of chronic illness has created the need for a more comprehensive way to assess barriers and facilitators of healthy living. This paper reports on the approach taken by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-funded project whose goal is to reduce disparities in diabetes and cardiovascular disease in Los Angeles' African American communities. Findings from this community-based participatory research project suggest that while location is an important variable in evaluating nutritional and physical activity resources, quality and price considerations are at least as useful. We argue that every community or neighborhood is located within a resource environment for medical care, recreation, food, and other health-promoting or health-compromising goods and services that affect the lives and health of its residents.
Sloane
David
D
School of Policy, Planning and Development, University of Southern California, USA. dsloane@usc.edu
Nascimento
Lori
L
Flynn
Gwendolyn
G
Lewis
LaVonna
L
Guinyard
Joyce Jones
JJ
Galloway-Gilliam
Lark
L
Diamant
Allison
A
Yancey
Antronette K
AK
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D018672:Community Health Planning; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control; D004777:Environment; D006295:Health Resources / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D040361:Healthy People Programs; D006801:Humans; D015141:Los Angeles / Q000453:epidemiology; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D017062:Small-Area Analysis; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D012962:Sociology, Medical; D014481:United States; D019037:Urban Health Services / Q000600:supply & distribution*