A Community-based participatory approach (CBPA) to promoting health is recognized as a critical strategy in addressing health inequities among socially disadvantaged and marginalized communities. From the beginning of a CBPA project, community members are invited to share decision-making authority with all other partners involved.
According to Barbara A. Israel, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, School of Public Health – University of Michigan, CBPA is based on principles that include:
It is important to engage the most trusted members of the community, “gatekeepers,” right from the beginning of the project to ensure the promotion of an intervention. By empowering community leaders through the CBPA, the entire community can help steer the project towards goal achievement.
The Heal-thy Generations: A Southeast Community Health movement began in response to a community health needs assessment conducted by the Peninsula Health District in 2005. Public health professionals in the city of Newport News needed to know more about access and barriers to medical care and ancillary services in the Southeast community to better identify resource and service needs.