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 Community
Health Promotion
Point of Contact: Pamela D. Connor, Ph.D.
As independent investigators and through collaborative efforts with other
university faculty, health professionals, and area agencies, members of
the Department of Preventive Medicine work on varied projects to promote
community health. Areas of special interest include maternal and child
health, physical activity promotion, tobacco control, youth violence,
violence against women, and community safety. For example, department
members have been involved with projects such as these:
| • PANDA--Design
consultation, psychosocial assessment and program evaluation of a
faith-based prenatal home-visitation study emphasizing maternal health
behaviors, violence prevention, and prenatal care to improve pregnancy
outcomes in socially disadvantaged women. |
| • SPARK--Program
consultation and evaluation of a physical activity promotion program
in Memphis City Schools. |
| • SACSI--Strategic
Approaches to Community Safety--Evaluation and statistical
consultation for a collaborative research initiative with the U.S.
Attorney's office and the University of Memphis. |
| • Healthy
Start--Evaluation of a Memphis and Shelby County Health Department
program for community-based case management/home-visitation program
for high-risk pregnant women. |
| • UTHSC-PreTrial
Data System--This DV data system was developed in cooperation
with Shelby County Pretrial Services office. Benefits of these local
surveillance data included better understanding of the context and
predictors of domestic violence, location of occurrences, information
to introduce policy and intervention initiatives, and baselines to
judge improvements in our community responses. |
| • Domestic
Violence Assessment Center (DVAC)--Collection of information
from court-referenced domestic violence perpetrators, using validated
risk assessments to predict violence propensity. The purpose of this
data system is to house batterer records in a centralized database
and to improve the access of this information by victim advocates,
law enforcement agencies, criminal justice agencies, and prevention
professionals. |
| • Community
Phone Survey--The purpose of this study was to (1) determine
the prevalence of domestic violence (DV) in faith communities; (2)
assess faith members' attitudes towards DV intervention programs in
faith communities; (3) assess faith members' awareness of DV in their
community and the general population; and (4) assess children’s
exposure to violence. Collected information includes the following:
demographics; gender-related attitudes of DV; religiosity; relationship
data; general attitudes toward DV; physical, threat, and stalking
victimization; violence in relationships; general health questions;
emotional stressors; religious problem solving/acceptance; and social
network support. |
| • Community
Institute for Early Childhood (CIEC)--Partnership of government
and private sector leaders in the greater Memphis area. Key objectives
completed by the organization include the development of a web-based
directory, identification of best practice intervention models, and
development of an infrastructure and process to guide a community
response to early childhood needs. |
| • Shelby
Alliance of Faith-Based Efforts Against Sexual Assault (SAFE)--The
purpose of this study was to disseminate information to faith-based
organizations in the greater Memphis area regarding problems associated
with sexual assault. The project also collected interview data with
key religious leaders and developed a user-friendly manual on sexual-assault
prevention for congregational use. |
| • Coordinated
Community Response to Domestic Violence (CCRDV)/ Domestic Violence
Council (DVC): The purpose of this initiative originated
from an identified need to create a foundation on which to build a
comprehensive, inclusive, systematic, and strategic approach to domestic
violence (DV) through multi-agency collaboration and coordination
of existing related services. The Shelby County Domestic Violence
Council (DVC) identifies this initiative as an integral component
in strengthening the focus and growth of community-wide DV collaborative
efforts and as a foundation on which to rejuvenate collective interest
and participation. This recognition has led to integration of the
CCRDV initiative processes and outcomes as cornerstones in the organizational
infrastructure of the DVC. |
Diversity of training in statistics, research methodology,
measurement and epidemiology allows faculty to offer applied technical
assistance to researchers and community nonprofit agencies in the following
ways:
- Needs Assessments--Determining the service needs
of a community, organization, or group of individuals;
- Intervention Development--Finding the "best
practice" solution to problems and challenges;
- Program Evaluation--Helping groups and agencies to
find out what programs work, which programs don't work, and how to improve
existing programs;
- Data Management, Analysis, and Interpretation--Using
state-of-the-art software and innovative techniques to manage large
amounts of data, integrate data systems, and interpret results;
- Strategic Planning--Assisting agencies in synthesizing
and analyzing existing data and providing advice for consensus and planning.
Related links:
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