TY - JOUR
T1 - Leveraging community engagement to increase the health literacy of youth in rural Pennsylvania
T2 - The ACHIEVE program
AU - Hearn, Madison
AU - Fowler, Maria
AU - Worley, Sarah C.
AU - Moss, Jennifer L.
N1 - Funding Information:
This project is supported by the Corporation for National & Community Service (CNCS) as a part of a 3-year AmeriCorps VISTA grant that was awarded to Juniata College in 2019. The project also utilized a VISTA program fee during the award period through the Campus Compact of New York & Pennsylvania. The authors would like to thank Penn Highlands Huntingdon, the JC Blair Memorial Foundation, the Force for Health, and Huntingdon Area High School for their early contributions and support of this project.
Funding Information:
This project is supported by the Corporation for National & Community Service (CNCS) as a part of a 3‐year AmeriCorps VISTA grant that was awarded to Juniata College in 2019. The project also utilized a VISTA program fee during the award period through the Campus Compact of New York & Pennsylvania.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 National Rural Health Association.
PY - 2023/1/1
Y1 - 2023/1/1
N2 - Purpose: Limited health literacy is prevalent within rural populations and associated with poor health outcomes. This study examined a school-based, community-engaged program called ACHIEVE (Advancing Community Health Innovation through Education, Vision, and Empowerment) for preliminary efficacy in improving knowledge and self-efficacy related to health literacy among youth in rural Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. Methods: ACHIEVE was designed using an iterative process that utilized validated sources, educational standards, and community engagement. Five novel health literacy modules were piloted by the program in Huntingdon Area High School and delivered to ∼269 students during the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years. To determine the impact of the program, we assessed participants’ change in health knowledge and self-efficacy using pre- and post-tests for each module. Responses were collected via anonymous surveys and analyzed using unequal variance t-tests and chi-square tests. Findings: The overall mean difference between pre- and post-tests ranged from 0.07 to 0.67, with a significant increase in participants’ assessment scores following 4 out of the 5 program modules (P <.05). Across the 5 modules, both knowledge and self-efficacy domains displayed a significant improvement from pre- to post-test (P <.001). Conclusion: Our findings suggest that community partnerships in rural communities can be used to create effective community health interventions, such as our health literacy program, which significantly increased high school students’ knowledge and self-efficacy.
AB - Purpose: Limited health literacy is prevalent within rural populations and associated with poor health outcomes. This study examined a school-based, community-engaged program called ACHIEVE (Advancing Community Health Innovation through Education, Vision, and Empowerment) for preliminary efficacy in improving knowledge and self-efficacy related to health literacy among youth in rural Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. Methods: ACHIEVE was designed using an iterative process that utilized validated sources, educational standards, and community engagement. Five novel health literacy modules were piloted by the program in Huntingdon Area High School and delivered to ∼269 students during the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years. To determine the impact of the program, we assessed participants’ change in health knowledge and self-efficacy using pre- and post-tests for each module. Responses were collected via anonymous surveys and analyzed using unequal variance t-tests and chi-square tests. Findings: The overall mean difference between pre- and post-tests ranged from 0.07 to 0.67, with a significant increase in participants’ assessment scores following 4 out of the 5 program modules (P <.05). Across the 5 modules, both knowledge and self-efficacy domains displayed a significant improvement from pre- to post-test (P <.001). Conclusion: Our findings suggest that community partnerships in rural communities can be used to create effective community health interventions, such as our health literacy program, which significantly increased high school students’ knowledge and self-efficacy.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85118920574&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85118920574&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/jrh.12634
DO - 10.1111/jrh.12634
M3 - Article
C2 - 34767658
AN - SCOPUS:85118920574
SN - 0890-765X
VL - 39
SP - 153
EP - 159
JO - Journal of Rural Health
JF - Journal of Rural Health
IS - 1
ER -