Recipient Organization
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY
PO BOX 2275A
BROOKINGS,SD 57007
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
During this three-year project, South Dakota State University (SDSU) Extension will work with partner organizations in rural communities to explore a structured community training model and implement evidence-based program (EBP) offerings including chronic disease self-management education (CDSME) workshops and physical activity programs. Community Health Ambassadors (CHA) will facilitate program implementation efforts and will receive training and support from SDSU Extension. SDSU Extension holds the license to offer CDSME and Physical Activity programming across South Dakota and will provide expertise in training and volunteer management, community engagement, planning, and capacity-building for long-term sustainability. The objectives of this project: 1) Expand the number of community members and volunteers trained in evidenced-based health promotion programs and provide a greater number of workshops for individuals living in identified rural communities that impact and improve health outcomes, and 2) Produce a best practice model for health promotion programming and delivery in rural communities, led by Community Health Ambassadors that can be sustained and replicated in other rural communities in SD.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Over the course of this 3-year project period, SDSU Extension will align with the Rural Health and Safety Education (RHSE) program priority of fostering quality of life in rural communities by providing knowledge necessary for successful programs of rural development and partner with federal, state, and local partners by employing a structured training approach to develop Community Health Ambassadors (CHA) with skills to engage rural residents in health improvement efforts that can be sustained and replicated across rural communities in South Dakota.Goal 1. Develop Community Health Ambassadors utilizing a structured health promotion and education training model that identifies community resources and needs through assessment and planning sessions with Resident Learning Team (RLT) members in each community.Objective 1: Establish one Community Health Ambassador in each community partner organization. Activity 1: SDSU Extension Experts will create content for the Community Health Ambassador training modules accessed via an online learning management system. Outcome data will include the number of Community Health Ambassadors trained and pre-to-post training change in knowledge.Objective 2: Engage the identified rural counties in forming a Resident Learning Team (RLT) to develop an implementation plan.Activity 2: Recruit 10 Resident Learning Team members in each community through social media, SDSU Extension website, news releases, flyers, and partnership connections through the Community Health Ambassadors. Each Resident Learning Team will attend a planning session led by SDSU Extension CommunityVitality (CV) experts to determine thoughts about health, receptiveness to health education strategies, resources that are currently available and welcomed, and readiness to make positive changes. The Resident Learning Team will also gather perceptions of the quality and accessibility of resources. These surveys will be administered again to collect post-assessment data in year 3. After the planning session, SDSU Extension Community Vitality experts will meet again with each community's Resident Learning Team to guide them in creating an implementation plan to select activities to be accomplished within the project period and set goals for sustainability. Each community must include at least 1 evidence-based program (Appendix A) in Y2 in their plan. Reoccurring Resident Learning Team meetings will be held with each community, and quarterly Resident Learning Team network meetings will be scheduled to bring each community together to share progress, generate ideas, and solve any issues. Outcome data will include the list of assets and number of implementation activities identified for each community.Goal 2: Improve access to community-based health and wellness interventions that impact and improve health outcomes for individuals living in rural communities in South Dakota. Objective 1: Support training for Community Health Ambassadors and Resident Learning Teams.Activity 1: Resident Learning Teams will select a minimum of one evidence-based program to implement in Y2 and one additional evidence-based program in Y3. In each community, every Community Health Ambassador and at least 5 Resident Learning Team members will be trained in evidence-based programs. Outcome data will include the number of leaders trained in evidence-based programs per community and survey results showing a change in knowledge among trained leaders from pre to post training. Assessment scores from Year 1 and Year 3 will examine how availability of physical activity programs (access) has changed post implementation of evidence-based program programming.Objective 2: Increase participation in evidence-based programs and partnerships to support participant referrals, program promotion, and external support in each community.Activity 2: Resident Learning Team will identify community needs; additional partners will be recruited based on the unique needs of each community. We will invite SDSU Extension experts from Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR), Community Vitality, and Family, Food, and Wellness (FFW) to monthly Resident Learning Team meetings to assist in partnering with local community and economic development, food suppliers, wellness coalitions, and agribusinesses (ex: agricultural cooperatives, farm credit services, and livestock sale barns). We will utilize a modified version of the Partnership Self-Assessment Tool15 to determine progress and gaps annually. Trained leaders will facilitate one evidence-based program workshop in Y2 and 2 evidence-based program workshops in Y3 for three workshops offered per community. The number of participants reached will be dictated by each evidence-based program's certification and fidelity requirements and guidance for the minimum /maximum number of participants per workshop. Each community will identify at least one additional SDSU Extension health and wellness evidence-based program to include in their implementation plan for year 3 for Y3 that align with the community's needs. Outcome data will include results from the partnership engagement tool, number of participants in evidence-based programs, changes in self-efficacy, self-rated health, and PA level of participants, and number/type of additional evidence-based programs included in implementation plan.Goal 3. Produce the best practice model for health promotion programming in rural communities that is sustainable and can be replicated by others.Objective 1: Create a comprehensive community toolkit and training resources.Activity 1: Community Vitality experts will compile the project design and outcomes achieved into a comprehensive community toolkit with complementary training resources. The toolkit will present the Community Health Ambassador project accomplishments and outcomes at the individual (e.g., improved confidence, increased PA), relationship (e.g., exercise or support groups, post-workshop connections) and community level (e.g., availability of programs, referral systems in place for program registration). The toolkit will incorporate photos and videos to highlight each community's implementation efforts. Outcome data will include the toolkit and training resources.Objective 2: Disseminate project outcomes, community toolkit, and training resources.Activity 2: The toolkit and training resources will be uploaded to an online learning management system. The toolkit will be utilized to train Extension staff and rural community members for future project expansion. See the Project Communication and Dissemination section for additional measures. Outcome data will include the number of presentations and publications.
Project Methods
The performance assessment will be used to demonstrate how efforts to establish community-engaged, data informed, tailored community health education programs lead to improved individual-level health promotion knowledge, attitudes and behaviors, better access to programming, improved awareness of community assets and needs as related to healthy behaviors, and ultimately, improved quality of life in rural communities through dissemination of findings. The outcome assessment will be approached with the same community-tailored view, recognizing that each engaged community has unique assets and challenges. Processes and activities will be compared across the target communities to determine which practices led to success in implementation, and identify variation, if any, based on community health ranking. We do not intend to compare outcome measures across communities, but instead examine outcomes within a community, recognizing that success may look different in each community based on their unique assets and challenges.Strategy specific evaluation will be conducted. Ongoing feedback will be solicited from Community Health Ambassadors and Resident Learning Team members and incorporated into evaluation processes to target delivery of training and technical assistance in implementation. Partners will also disseminate evaluation findings at the community level. The evaluation lead and key project personnel will meet monthly to share evaluation results, make programmatic adjustments, and disseminate findings.Evaluation will focus on three key areas using both process and outcome methods to drive continuous project improvement: 1) success in implementation of the outlined project activities to accomplish the desired outputs, 2) outcomes of participants in identified health promotion education, and 3) use of data to develop a replicable model. The following evaluation questions will be used to assess the impact across the communities and various activities: a) How has community-level data been used to inform the development of a comprehensive community health education implementation plan? b) How has coordination of efforts to train and offer health promotion education at the community-level led to improved knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors among participants? and c) To what extent, and in what ways, have partners collaborated to improve the infrastructure of health promotion programming in the rural communities?The co-PIs will oversee all evaluation and program monitoring activities carried out by an external evaluation contractor, the Population Health Evaluation Center (PHEC). PHEC will be responsible for carrying out the evaluation plan including collecting and aggregating all data, analysis, and development of evaluation reports and data briefs.