Choosing Life in the Black Community, Achieving the Dream: A Traumatic Stress Curriculum Pilot Study.

This study measured changes in post-traumatic stress symptoms and collective-efficacy in African Americans participating in cohorts of "Choosing Life in the Black Community: Achieving the Dream", an Afrocentricity-based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy curriculum for trauma. Participants were recruited by key leaders in the black community of the Twin Cities, Minnesota Metropolitan Area and completed a 6-week group counselling curriculum led by lay health workers and supervised by professional psychologists. Twenty-six participants provided pre- and post-curriculum responses to validated measures of post-traumatic stress symptoms, collective-efficacy and adverse childhood experiences.

A Community-Driven Implementation of the Body and Soul Program in Churches in the Twin Cities, Minnesota, 2011-2014.

Background: African Americans have high disease and death rates due to cancer and cardiovascular disease. Health promotion efforts to improve diet have the potential to reduce these rates.

Community Context: Given their importance in the community and the extent of their reach, churches are effective avenues for health promotion efforts targeting African Americans.