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.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA Los Angeles REACH demonstration project led by Community Health Councils, Inc. adapted and implemented an organizational wellness intervention originally developed by the local health department, providing training in incorporating physical activity and healthy food choices into the routine "conduct of business" in 35 predominantly public and private, nonprofit-sector agencies. A total of 700 staff, members, or clients completed the 12-week or subsequently retooled 6-week curriculum.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: We examined availability and food options at restaurants in less affluent (target area) and more affluent (comparison area) areas of Los Angeles County to compare residents' access to healthy meals prepared and purchased away from home. We also considered environmental prompts that encourage the purchase of various foods.
Methods: We designed an instrument to assess the availability, quality, and preparation of food in restaurants.
A multisectoral model promoting sociocultural environmental change to increase physical activity levels among African Americans in Los Angeles County, California, was developed and implemented. This model represents a true collaboration between a local health department and a community lead agency. Community organizations serving targeted areas of the county participated in one or more interventions incorporating physical activity into routine organizational practice, which centered around modeling the behaviors promoted ("walking the talk").
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To build health promotion capacity among community residents through a community-based participatory model, and to apply this model to study the nutritional environment of an urban area to better understand the role of such resources in residents' efforts to live a healthy life.
Design: A multiphase collaborative study that inventoried selected markets in targeted areas of high African-American concentration in comparison with markets in a contrasting wealthier area with fewer African Americans.
Setting: A community study set in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.