Partnering in Negating Statistics (P.I.N.S.) for Black Women: A Women's Community Wellness Initiative
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Date
2023-05
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
Black Americans have the highest rate of mortality from chronic diseases (e.g., cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes) among all non-indigenous races and ethnicities. Higher attainment of ideal cardiovascular health (CVH), as indicated by AHA's Life's Simple 7 (LS7; glucose, cholesterol, blood pressure, body mass index, diet, physical activity, smoking), and Life's Essential 8 metrics (LE8: LS7 + sleep duration) is associated with a lower risk of mortality from chronic disease among all races and ethnicities. About 70% of health outcomes are influenced by social determinants of health (SDoH) and lifestyle behaviors. Unfortunately, Black American women are more likely to be negatively impacted by SDoH and less likely to engage in healthy lifestyle behaviors than their White counterparts. The Partnering in Negating Statistics (P.I.N.S.) for Black Women Initiative began in 2021 to educate, provide access to resources, and partner in science toward promoting health and wellness among Black women. Herein describes this as the commencement of the P.I.N.S. Initiative through community-based wellness events and community-dwelling Black women's attainment of LS7 and LE8.
The Partnering in Negating Statistics (P.I.N.S.) for Black Women Initiative was formed utilizing academic-community-government partnerships. Partners were engaged throughout the planning and implementation phases. The resulting initiative aimed to uplift Black women to achieve wellness through provision of education, access to resources (e.g., mammograms, pap smears, LS7 screening), and research. On August 12th, 2021, and August 6th, 2022, the wellness event occurred, during which feasibility (defined by Bowen et al.'s demand and acceptability) was assessed with a program evaluation. Descriptive statistics and thematic content analysis were performed on quantitative and qualitative data.
Community-based wellness events boasted high feasibility in the areas of demand and acceptability. Five hundred Black women attended the events, completing a total of 30 mammograms, 24 pap smears, and 418 biometric screenings. From evaluations (N = 111), attendees (20-74 years old) were well educated (66% with a college degree) and mostly un-partnered (57%). Largely, women heard about our event through family, friends, and community partners. Women were very to extremely satisfied with wellness content (82%) and the program overall (85%). Respondents found value in community engagement and reported the need for an annual event. Of those with complete LS7 (N = 123) and LE8 (N= 63) data, the median [interquartile range] LS7 and LE8 scores were 8 [7-10] on a 0-14 scale and 63 [54-73] on a 0-100 scale.
The P.I.N.S. Initiative is a feasible avenue to engage Black women with largely intermediate cardiovascular health in wellness-focused services. This initiative provides a modifiable framework for further research toward identifying interventions to promote ideal CVH and equitable cardiovascular outcomes.
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Keywords
Cardiovascular health, Health equity, Prevention, Health disparities