LA CaTS Community Scholars Program

This project advances the aims of community engaged research by inviting community stakeholders to participate in the process of identifying future research goals. Major stakeholders in our community include people with diabetes and pre-diabetes in Jefferson and Orleans Parish, primary care physicians in the metropolitan area (in both publically funded clinics and privately funded clinics), and members of the YMCA community. The grant will be used to identify the barriers and facilitators to participation in YMCA's DPP, and similar, intensive lifestyle change programs in the New Orleans metropolitan area, and document awareness of intensive lifestyle program availability in the New Orleans metropolitan area. It will be used to build a network of key stakeholders in the community, assess their interest in ongoing research design and participation, and engage them in the progress of setting priorities for future intervention. Our goal is to advance the knowledge base of academic and community team members about community-based participatory research in order to make this research methodology more available to grant-funded projects in the New Orleans area. The quantitative and qualitative data derived from this project will be used as the basis for planning and justifying future quantitative grant-funded research. Results of this research will be used to develop an appropriate intervention strategy for the highest priority modifiable barrier and apply for funding through the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute.

 

Humana Foundation

Dr. Pam Wiseman in the Department of Family Medicine has received an award from The Humana Foundation to fund the department's School-Based Health Interventions for Nutrition and Exercise Program (SHINE) Program. SHINE is a mufti-factorial diabetes prevention program targeted to adolescents with diabetes risk factors. Targeted interventions include: 1) health coaching, 2) nutrition classes, 3) Fitbit activity monitors, and 4) school gardens. An interprofessional team of faculty and Medical, Nursing, Social Work, and Pharmacy students will meet at the School Based Health Clinic (SBHC) to counsel students enrolled in the SHINE program. SHINE is designed to transform lives because it reduces or eliminates barriers to healthcare, utilizes evidence-based models, and because of the partnership between LSUHSC, LSU Ag Center, and the SBHCs, all of which have a long history of success. Through SHINE, schools will benefit from an increased focus on good health and healthy activities in ways that adolescents understand and respond to. The hope is that SHINE will influence students to be healthier resulting in decreased absences, increased school involvement and better grades.