A Survey of African Americans at a Community Health Fair

Brief communication 357 A SURVEY OF AFRICAN AMERICANS AT A COMMUNITY HEALTH FAIR In 1990, three main goals were set by the Healthy People 2000 objectives in a national attempt to promote health and to prevent disease. These goals were (1) to increase the span of healthy life for Americans, (2) to reduce health disparities among Americans, and (3) to achieve access to preventive services for all Americans.1 The Healthy People 2000 Midcourse Review and 1995 Revisions documented the nation's progress toward meeting these goals. Although life expectancy has increased overall across all ethnic groups, differences continue to exist between African Americans and white Americans (69.1 years vs. 76.1 years). The progress report for African Americans indicated that 35 percent of the 48 subobjectives for African Americans proceeded in the direction opposite to the targeted goals, while only 18 percent of the subobjectives for whites were going in the wrong direction. The 1990-92 age-adjusted years of potential life lost before the age of 75 was higher for African Americans compared with all races (15,468 per 100,000 and 8,384 per 100,000, respectively ). Because 20.5 percent of African Americans were not insured in 1993, access to a regular source of health care was restricted. Because of historic socioeconomic and political factors, African Americans continue to face serious health problems. With only a few years remaining to meet the Healthy People 2000 objectives, major improvements are needed for ethnic minority groups in general and African Americans in particular. Health education could help to meet these national objectives and the community-based health fair represents one of the most recognizable modes of promoting health.2 Community health fair and health promotion Community-based health fairs are popular primarily because they represent an efficient method for health promotion.3 Health fairs are useful for disseminating information to the public, fostering positive health behavior, stimulating awareness of one's health, stimulating awareness of community services and needs, allowing the opportunity for health professionals to work together as a team, and educating the public.4,5 Health fair advocates believe that health fairs and medical information may lead to an increased responsibility for one's health and behavior; however, health fairs have been criticized for the possibility of test errors from screening activities6 or the labeling of persons with conditions before a firm diagnosis is made.7 An additional criticism is that health fairs reach a unique population who would normally Journal ofHealth Care for the Poor and Underserved · Vol. 9, No. 4 · 1998 358 A Survey of African Americans seek out health information or who feel in control of their health.8"10 Nevertheless , Germer and Price11 found no differences in a sense of control over future health between participants and nonparticipants. Despite these conflicting results, health fairs have been shown to be effective in communicating health information to the public,12,13 although these efforts apparently are not reaching those who need them the most.1415 Since African Americans are disproportionately at higher risk of developing several diseases, the needs and expectations of African Americans with respect to health promotion and disease prevention should be assessed. Except for the study by Giddens and Foley,16 which showed that only 12.8 percent of health fair participants were African American, little is known about African Americans who attend health fairs. Thus, the purpose of this study was to describe the characteristics and motivations of African Americans who participated in a community-based health fair. The primary objectives were to determine if this community outreach effort reached those at highest risk for health problems , to evaluate if the health fair was effective at increasing the participants' understanding of health and of improving their health behaviors, and to determine whether differences in responses existed among participants. Method Target population. In 1993, Travis County, located in central Texas, was rated as one of the healthiest communities in the state of Texas as indicated by the set of 18 health status indicators released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and also as one of the most educated communities in the nation.17 Yet, African Americans, representing 11...