Addressing the Social Vulnerability of Mississippi Gulf Coast Vietnamese Community through the Development of Community Health Advisors

Susan Mayfield-Johnson, Danielle Fastring, Daniel Le and Jane Nguyen
Additional contact information
Susan Mayfield-Johnson: School of Health Professions, The University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS 39406, USA
Danielle Fastring: School of Health Professions, The University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS 39406, USA
Daniel Le: BPSOS-Biloxi-Bayou La Batre, Biloxi, MS 39530, USA
Jane Nguyen: BPSOS, Community Health Worker, Biloxi, MS 39530, USA

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 9, 1-11

Abstract: Background: Resiliency is the ability to prepare for, recover from, and adapt to stressors from adverse events. Social vulnerabilities (limited access to resources, political power, and representation; lack of social capital; aspects of the built environment; health inequities; and being in certain demographic categories) can impact resiliency. The Vietnamese population living along the Mississippi Gulf Coast is a community that has unique social vulnerabilities that impact their ability to be resilient to adverse events. Objectives: The purpose of this project was to address social vulnerability by implementing and evaluating a volunteer Community Health Advisor (CHA) project to enhance community resiliency in this community. Methods: A program implemented over eight three-hour sessions was adapted from the Community Health Advisor Network curriculum that focused on healthy eating, preventing chronic conditions (hyperlipidemia, diabetes, hypertension, cancer, and poor mental health). Topics also included leadership and capacity development skills. Results: Participants (n = 22) ranged from 35 to 84 years of age. Most were female (63.6%), married (45.5%), unemployed (63.6%), had annual incomes of <$10,000, and had high school diplomas (68.2%). Community concerns were crime (50.0%), volunteerism (40.0%), language barriers (35.0%), and food insecurity (30.0%). Approximately 75% had experienced war trauma and/or refugee camps, and 10% had experienced domestic violence. Scores on the Community Health Advisor Core Competency Assessment increased from pre-test to post-test (t = −5.962, df = 11, p < 0.0001), as did SF-8 scores (t = 5.759, df = 17, p < 0.0001). Conclusions: Strategies to reduce vulnerabilities in the Vietnamese community should include developing interventions that address health risks and strengths and focus on root causes of vulnerability.

Keywords: Vietnamese; vulnerability; resilience; Community Health Advisor (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/9/3892/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/9/3892/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:9:p:3892-:d:356152

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().