Latino Civic Group Participation, Social Networks, and Physical Activity

Utilizing the arts to improve health, resilience, and well-being (HeRe We Arts®): a randomized controlled trial in community-dwelling individuals with chronic medical conditions

Background

Healthcare workers are concerned with promoting behavior changes that enhance patients' health, wellness, coping skills, and well-being and lead to improved public health. The purpose of this randomized controlled trial was to determine if participation in an 8-week arts-based program leads to improved mood, health, resilience, and well-being in individuals with chronic health conditions as compared to a wait list control group.

Methods

Self-report questionnaires for well-being, mental health, physical health, overall health, social health, mood, coping, and resilience were administered at baseline, Week 8 (end of program), and Week 16 (8-week follow-up).

Results

Statistically significant improvements were noted in all outcome measures for the treatment group, as well as in most areas compared to the control group. Many of the positive results at Week 8 were either maintained or further improved at Week 16.

Discussion

These results suggest that arts-based programming can have a positive effect on the mood, health, resilience, and well-being of individuals with chronic health conditions. Therefore, arts-based programming should be utilized more frequently in the management of chronic conditions in community-dwelling individuals. These benefits should be further assessed in larger clinical trials.

Effect of social capital, social support and social network formation on the quality of life of American adults during COVID-19

This study aims to evaluate the effect of social capital (SC), social support (SS), and social network formation (SNF) on the quality of life of American adults during COVID-19. Using a probability sample of American adults aged 49+, 2370 respondents were selected from the National Social Life Health and Aging Project (NSHAP) dataset for analysis using an integrated partial least squares based on structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM)-K-fold cross-validation approach. The analysis showed that social capital assessed using civic engagement, social cohesion, socioeconomic status (SES), social support, and social network formation were significantly and positively associated with American adults' quality of life during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the results showed that using the PLS-SEM and K-fold cross-validation approach produced a medium predictive power of the overall model, confirming the importance of SC, SS, and SNF in predicting quality of life-outcomes. These findings suggest that efforts to promote the well-being of American adults, especially older adults, during the pandemic should focus on strengthening social capital, social support and social network formation.

The Role of Primary Care in Advancing Civic Engagement and Health Equity: A Conceptual Framework

Policy Points Health and civic engagement are reciprocally and longitudinally linked: Poor health is associated with less civic engagement. Well-established social drivers of health and health inequality such as inadequate access to health care, poverty, racism, housing instability, and food insecurity are also drivers of lower civic engagement. A robust primary care system can play a key role in advancing civic engagement (e.g., voting, volunteerism, community service, and political involvement) at the population level but has received little attention. Policy and practice solutions at the individual and structural levels should support and leverage potential synergies among health equity, civic engagement, and primary care.

CONTEXT

Health and civic engagement are linked. Healthier people may be able to participate more fully in civic life, although those with poorer health may be motivated to address the roots of their health challenges using collective action. In turn, civically active people may experience better health, and societies with more equitable health and health care may experience healthier civic life. Importantly, a robust primary care system is linked to greater health equity. However, the role of primary care in advancing civic engagement has received little study.

METHODS

We synthesize current literature on the links among health, civic engagement, and primary care. We propose a conceptual framework to advance research and policy on the role of primary care in supporting civic engagement as a means for individuals to actualize their health and civic futures.

FINDINGS

Current literature supports relationships between health equity and civic engagement. However, this literature is primarily cross-sectional and confined to voting. Our integrative conceptual framework highlights the interconnectedness of primary care structures, health equity, and civic engagement and supports the crucial role of primary care in advancing both civic and health outcomes. Primary care is a potentially fruitful setting for cultivating community and individual health and power by supporting social connectedness, self-efficacy, and collective action.

CONCLUSIONS

Health and civic engagement are mutually reinforcing. Commonalities between social determinants of health and civic engagement constitute an important convergence for policy, practice, and research. Responsibility for promoting both health and civic engagement is shared by providers, community organizations, educators, and policymakers, as well as democratic and health systems, yet these entities rarely work in concert. Future work can inform policy and practice to bolster primary care as a means for promoting health and civic engagement.

Community and Social Context: An Important Social Determinant of Cardiovascular Disease

Disease prevention frameworks and clinical practice guidelines in the United States (US) have traditionally ignored upstream social determinants of health (SDOH), which are critical for reducing disparities in cardiovascular disease (CVD)-the leading cause of death in the US. Existing evidence demonstrates a protective effect of social support, social cohesion, and community engagement on overall health and wellbeing. Increasing community and social support is a major objective of the Healthy People 2030 initiative, with special provisions for vulnerable populations. However, to date, existing evidence of the association between community and social context (CSC)-an integral SDOH domain-and CVD has not been reviewed extensively. In particular, the individual and cumulative impact of CSC on CVD risk and the pathways linking CSC to cardiovascular outcomes are not well understood. In this review, we critically appraise current knowledge of the association between CSC and CVD, describe potential pathways linking CSC to CVD, and identify opportunities for evidence-based policy and practice interventions to improve CVD outcomes.

Weight and weight control behaviors of Latinas and their social ties

OBJECTIVE

Shared behaviors have been implicated in the clustering of obesity among socially connected people. This study determined how weight and weight control behaviors of participants and their social ties are related and how these factors are associated with weight change in participants.

METHOD

Adult Latinas participating in a lifestyle intervention completed an egocentric network measure of weight and weight control behaviors. Participant weight was objectively measured at baseline and 12 months. Multivariable regression models determined the relationship between weight and weight control behaviors of participants and their social ties.

RESULTS

Participants and their social ties shared similarities in weight control behaviors and weight change. Participants who reported social ties that had lost weight were more likely to eat small portions and low-fat foods, but those with social ties that had gained weight were more likely to use herbal supplements. Participants who reported more social ties who exercised, drank liquid meal replacements, took herbal supplements, and self-weighed were more likely to lose weight whereas those with fewer social ties that exercised were more likely to gain weight. Weight loss and weight gain by social ties predicted participant weight loss and weight gain, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Given that weight and weight control behaviors of Latinas reflect that of their social ties, targeting existing social networks for lifestyle interventions may more effectively improve and sustain health-promoting behaviors and outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record

Meeting Physical Activity Guidelines: The Role of Personal Networks Among Residents of Low-Income Communities

INTRODUCTION

Despite known benefits of regular physical activity (PA), residents of low-income communities have disproportionately high rates of physical inactivity. Mounting evidence suggests that social network characteristics may be associated with health behaviors, including PA. The purpose of the current study was to examine associations between egocentric network characteristics and meeting PA guidelines among residents of low-income and predominantly African-American communities.

METHODS

Data from the Greenville Healthy Neighborhoods Project (2014), a cross-sectional study, examined social network characteristics, including the PA behavior of social ties, and whether participants met PA guidelines (150 minutes per week of aerobic exercise). Respondent-driven sampling (non-random) was utilized to recruit participants (n=430) within eight low-income communities. Logistic regression analyses, performed in 2016, included robust sandwich estimation to account for clustering (non-independence) of observations.

RESULTS

Participants were predominantly older (M=54.4 years, SD=15.1 years), African American (88.0%), and female (70.7%). More than one third of participants had an annual household income <$15,000 (41.6%) or reported meeting the current aerobic PA guidelines (45.8%). Controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, greater network extensity (based on the occupation of ego's network ties; OR=1.11, 95% CI=1.03, 1.20, p=0.02) and a higher percentage of physically active network members (OR=1.97, 95% CI=1.02, 3.82, p=0.04) were associated with higher odds of meeting PA guidelines.

CONCLUSIONS

Social network characteristics are associated with individual PA behavior among residents of low-income communities. Interventions to increase PA among low-income and predominantly African-American communities should leverage personal networks, including the implementation of walking groups or buddy systems.