The Community Leadership Institute of Kentucky (CLIK): A Collaborative Workforce and Leadership Development Program

BACKGROUND

The Community Leadership Institute of Kentucky (CLIK), a workforce development and leadership program within the Community Engagement and Research Core of the University of Kentucky's Center for Clinical and Translational Science (UK CCTS), was developed to enhance community members' capacity to address pernicious rural health inequities.

OBJECTIVES/METHODS

In this article, we describe the development, implementation, and results of the program, examining program and project completion rates, quantitative and qualitative evaluations from participants, and professional achievements.

RESULTS

Based on existing models from other Clinical and Translational Science Awards Programs (CTSAs), CLIK provides diverse programming in a local, supportive setting and supports mentors/academic partners through education and networking. Now in its sixth year, CLIK participants have included 41 leaders from varied local settings, including public school systems, health departments, county and local governments, and other non-profit organizations. Shaped by extensive CLIK participant input, the program offers eleven didactic and hands-on training sessions in evidence-based programming and health promotion; a mentored research project addressing relevant local health inequities; and extensive networking opportunities.

CONCLUSIONS

CLIK has become an enrichment opportunity for local communities as well as a platform for academic engagement and bi-directional learning. Such community-academic partnerships are particularly needed in traditionally under-resourced rural communities.

SUN-LB116 Improved Family Medicine Resident Diabetes Care Through Participation in a Diabetes Clinic

As the population ages and the prevalence of diabetes increases, the demand for endocrinology services, especially in underserved areas, will continue to exceed availability. Primary care residency training programs must prepare residents to care for high risk patients with diabetes who cannot access specialists. We hypothesized that resident participation in an inter-professional diabetes clinic run by primary care physicians would lead to improved diabetes care in resident patient panels.

A diabetes clinic was created in an existing primary care practice at a Federally Qualified Health Center in Eastern Kentucky. All non-pregnant, adult, Type II diabetes patients with a HgbA1C of 8.0% or greater were invited to participate in the clinic. Initial visits included evaluations by a dentist, mental health counselor, social worker, nutritionist, primary care provider, and pharmacist. Four first-year and four second-year family medicine residents rotated through the diabetes clinic and followed the patients as they saw each member of the health care team. On follow-up visits, a resident served as the primary care provider for each patient and participated in post-clinic meetings of the entire healthcare team. Resident patient charts were reviewed 3 months prior to the year-long intervention and data collected was compared to resident patient charts 3 months following the intervention.

Ninety patients served as the pre-intervention sample and 108 were in the post-intervention sample. Chi-square analysis showed a statistically significant increase in patients with A1C less than 8.0% pre (57.7%) to post (71.3%) p=0.0468. Overall, there were significant increases in all health-associated behaviors. Patients receiving eye exams increased from pre (29%) to post (66%) intervention significantly; z=-5.2, P<.001. Patients receiving a urine microalbumin test increased from pre (61%) to post (82%) intervention; z=-3.2, P<.001. Patients receiving dietary counseling increased from pre (54%) to post (79%) intervention; z=-3.6, P<.001. Patients receiving foot exams increased from pre (34%) to post (48%) intervention, z=-1.9; p=.03.

Resident involvement in a multidisciplinary diabetes clinic led by primary care physicians resulted in a statistically significant increase in HgbA1Cs < 8 among patients in their regular clinic and resulted in a statistically significant increase in their diabetic patients receiving eye exams, dietary counseling, foot exams, and urine microalbumin tests. This study suggests that teaching family medicine residents important diabetes care skills with an inter-professional team approach through the use of a diabetes clinic may be superior to standard educational practices.

1107Reduction of cardiovascular disease risk factors in rural, medically under-served, socioeconomically distressed, high-risk individuals: a randomized controlled trial

Background

People in rural, socioeconomically distressed areas of the world suffer from marked cardiovascular disease (CVD) disparities. Despite the CVD disparities seen in rural, distressed areas, efforts directed toward CVD risk reduction and prevention are limited. We conducted a randomized, controlled trial to determine the effect of an individualized, culturally appropriate, self-care CVD risk reduction intervention (HeartHealth) compared to referral of patients to a primary care provider for usual care on the following CVD risk factors: tobacco use, blood pressure, lipid profile, body mass index, depressive symptoms, and physical activity levels.

Methods

The study protocol and intervention were developed with a community advisory board of lay community members, business owners, local government officials, church leaders, and healthcare providers. We enrolled 355 individuals living in Appalachia with two or more CVD risk factors. The intervention was delivered in person to groups of 10 or fewer individuals over 12 weeks. In the first session, participants chose their CVD risk reduction goals. HeartHealth was designed to provide participants with self-care skills targeting CVD risk reduction while reducing barriers to risk reduction found in austere rural environments. The targeted CVD risk factors were measured at baseline and 4 and 12 months post-intervention. Repeated measures data were analyzed with mixed models.

Results

More individuals in the intervention group compared to the control group met their lifestyle change goal (50% vs 16%, p<0.001). The intervention produced a positive impact on systolic blood pressure (p=0.002, time X group effect), diastolic blood pressure (p=0.001, time x group), total cholesterol (p=0.026, time x group), high density lipoprotein (p=0.002, time x group), body mass index (p=0.017, time x group), smoking status (p=0.01), depressive symptoms (p=0.01, time x group), and steps per day (p=0.001, time x group). Compared to the control group, improvement was seen at 4 months in these risk factors and the positive changes were maintained through 12 months. There were no differences seen across time by group in low density lipoprotein or triglyceride levels.

Conclusion

Interventions like HeartHealth that focus on self-care and that are derived in collaboration with the community of interest are effective in medically underserved, socioeconomically distressed rural areas.

Acknowledgement/Funding

Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute

Building interventions when distress is under debate: a case study from Appalachia

Scholarship on idioms of distress has emphasized cross-cultural variation, but devoted less attention to intra-cultural variation-specifically, how the legitimacy of distress may vary according to the context in which it is expressed, social position, and interaction with medical categories of distress. This variation can pose challenges for interventionists seeking to establish culturally acceptable ways of identifying distress and creating relevant resources for recovery. We describe efforts over three years (2014-2016) to identify and adapt a culturally appropriate evidence-based intervention for depressed rural Appalachian women. Though the prevalence of depression among rural women is high, limited services and social barriers restrict treatment access. Formative research revealed varied understandings of distress. Depression was (a) medicalized as a treatable condition, (b) stigmatized as mental illness, (c) accepted as a non-pathological reaction to regional poverty and gendered caregiving responsibilities, (d) rejected as a worthy justification for seeking individual care, and (e) less represented in comparison to other competing forms of distress (i.e., multiple morbidities, family members' distress). In a small pilot trial, we applied an implementation science perspective to identify and implement appropriate evidence-based programming for the context. We outline how we reached Appalachian women despite these diverse understandings of depression and established a flexible medicalization of depression that enabled us to legitimize care-seeking, work with varied rural healthcare professionals, and engender culturally relevant support. Our adaptation and implementation of the concept of "mental health recovery" enabled the development of programming that furthered non-pathological communicative distress while resisting the normalization that silences women in the context of deep health disparities.

What Role Can Community Health Workers Play in Connecting Rural Women with Depression to the "De Facto" Mental Health Care System?

The prevalence of depression among rural women is nearly twice the national average, yet limited mental health services and extensive social barriers restrict access to needed treatment. We conducted key informant interviews with community health workers (CHWs) and diverse health care professionals who provide care to Appalachian women with depression to better understand the potential roles that CHWs may play to improve women's treatment engagement. In the gap created by service disparities and social barriers, CHWs can offer a substantial contribution through improving recognition of depression; deepening rural women's engagement within existing services; and offering sustained, culturally appropriate support.

Community health workers improving diabetes outcomes in a rural Appalachian population

Community health workers (CHWs) play a key role in the emerging health infrastructure. They are successful in identifying individual or family needs and matching resources to help overcome the social determinants of health, and the lack of trust in the health care system. This study captures the CHW experience as research assistants and evaluates the effectiveness of CHWs' health coaching and support in improving diabetes health outcomes. By being immersed in the culture and values of the population, CHWs offer research support to assure more representative client samples, increased adherence to study protocols, and in reducing attrition rates.

Mental health treatment seeking patterns and preferences of Appalachian women with depression

This qualitative study explored social-cultural factors that shape treatment seeking behaviors among depressed rural, low-income women in Appalachia-a region with high rates of depression and a shortage of mental health services. Recent research shows that increasingly rural women are receiving some form of treatment and identifying their symptoms as depression. Using purposive sampling, investigators recruited 28 depressed low-income women living in Appalachian Kentucky and conducted semistructured interviews on participants' perceptions of depression and treatment seeking. Even in this sample of women with diverse treatment behaviors (half reported current treatment), participants expressed ambivalence about treatment and its potential to promote recovery. Participants stressed that poor treatment quality-not merely access-limited their engagement in treatment and at times reinforced their depression. While women acknowledged the stigma of depression, they indicated that their resistance to seek help for their depression was influenced by the expectation of women's self-reliance in the rural setting and the gendered taboo against negative thinking. Ambivalence and stigma led women to try to cope independently, resulting in further isolation. This study's findings reiterate the need for improved quality and increased availability of depression treatment in rural areas. In addition, culturally appropriate depression interventions must acknowledge rural cultural values of self-reliance and barriers to obtaining social support that lead many women to endure depression in isolation. (PsycINFO Database Record

Cervical cancer screening: exploring Appalachian patients' barriers to follow-up care

This article describes a community-based Patient Navigation (PN) project conducted to identify potential barriers to seeking follow-up cervical cancer care in southeastern Kentucky. Patient navigators (PNs) were placed in cervical cancer programs within county public health departments where they interviewed patients about their perceived barriers to seeking follow-up care after receiving a positive Pap test result. Participants identified various potential barriers at three levels: the individual/personal level, the health care system level and the community/environmental level. One identified barrier that was unique to this study was a lack of consistency between follow-up recommendations and follow-up guidelines for patients under age 21. Implications are discussed.