Partnership Processes to Develop SHE Tribe: A Healthy Lifestyle Intervention

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Disparities Research
• Community-Engaged Interventions

Background:

• Chronic diseases disproportionately affect women of color compared to White women.
• Community-engaged and participatory approaches are vital for addressing health disparities by tailoring strategies to community needs.
• Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) provides a framework for intervention design but faces implementation challenges due to diverse community contexts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the application of CBPR principles in designing and developing the SHE Tribe intervention.
• To promote the adoption of sustainable health behaviors in underserved communities through a social network-based healthy lifestyle intervention.
• To provide practical strategies for community-academic partnerships to foster trust, collaboration, and maximize partner strengths.

Main Methods:

• Application of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) principles.
• Design and development of a social network-based healthy lifestyle intervention named SHE Tribe (She's Healthy and Empowered).
• Focus on practical strategies to guide practitioners, researchers, and community partners in collaborative engagement.

Main Results:

• The SHE Tribe intervention was designed using CBPR principles to address the needs of underserved communities.
• The study outlines specific strategies for effective community-academic partnerships.
• The described methods aim to enhance trust, collaboration, and leverage partner strengths in intervention development.

Conclusions:

• CBPR principles can be effectively applied to design culturally relevant and community-centered health interventions.
• The SHE Tribe intervention demonstrates a model for promoting sustainable health behaviors in underserved populations.
• The article offers practical guidance for implementing participatory methods in health research and practice.