e-Health Promotion for Underserved Populations: An Allied Health Interdisciplinary Training Project

Grant Period: July 1, 2001 – June 30, 2005

Funding Agency: Allied Health Special Grants, Health Resources and Services Administration, The Bureau of Health Profession

Project Team

Goal

The goal of this project is to develop, implement and evaluate an innovative electronic health promotion model of education, service and research for underserved populations.

• 1st purpose: Through a community academic partnership, develop an eHealth promotion website for use in underserved communities.
• 2nd purpose: Educate interdisciplinary teams of occupational the physical therapy students to use interactive electronic health communications to provide health promotion programs to a population of disabled homeless individuals.

Activities

• An interdisciplinary community health promotion course, with an emphasis on interactive health communication has been developed and implemented.
• The course,” Interactive Health Communication,” has been offered five times for occupational therapy and physical therapy students.
• Students in the course learn to work in interdisciplinary teams, gain an understanding of health problems facing formerly homeless individuals and learn how to design an interactive website to address these problems.
• Physical therapy students conduct research into issues around community based health.

Accomplishments

• Trained over 40 students in occupational therapy and physical therapy in developing eHealth promotion websites for individuals in transitional housing sites.
• Developed a health promotion website “ITakeControl.” To be implemented in three transitional housing sites in the City of Philadelphia.

Objectives

There are six objectives to this project:

1. Prepare a minimum of 80 occupational therapy and physical therapy students to work in interdisciplinary teams and use interactive health communication technology to provide community health promotion programs to underserved populations,
2. Increase the number of allied health professionals working with underserved populations,
3. Expand the knowledge and skills of faculty to design and teach an interdisciplinary community health promotion curriculum using interactive health communication skills,
4. Design and implement an effective and relevant e-health promotion website for homeless individuals with disabilities, and staff serving this population,
5. Design, implement, evaluate, and continually refine a prototype database of the users of an e-health promotion website, and
6. Design strategies to foster the adoption of the e-Health Promotion Model by other academic institutions and community-based organizations working with underserved populations.

Abstract

The Center for Collaborative Research in cooperation with the Departments of Occupational and Physical Therapy in the College of Health Professions at Thomas Jefferson University proposes to develop, implement and evaluate an innovative electronic health promotion model of education, service and research (e-Health Promotion Model) for underserved populations. This model is designed to educate interdisciplinary teams of occupational and physical therapy students to use interactive electronic health communications to provide health promotion programs to a population of disabled homeless individuals. The project will be designed and implemented through a community-academic partnership composed of university faculty, City officials and leaders of community social service agencies. The project combines the well tested concepts of community health promotion and the emerging field of interactive health communication as an innovative service delivery model for allied health practitioners. This project builds upon successful previously funded projects that focused on interdisciplinary team development and allied health program development in the community.

The project was developed in response to the call for new approaches to health care delivery and the recognition of the increasing health disparities among segments of the American population. The model responds to the recommendations from the PEW Health Commission Report, Healthy People 2010, and goals derived from the ICIDH-2 (World health Organization's International Classification of Functioning and Disability). These reports suggest that there is a need to: 1) develop new models of integrated community health approaches that are effective in improving the health of communities, 2) develop new models by which to prepare health profession students to be leaders in interdisciplinary, community-based practice, 3) establish community-academic partnerships to help address the complex needs of underserved populations, 4) use communication and information technology effectively and appropriately, and 5) promote the health and community integration of individuals with disabilities.