BUSPH-based Prevention Research Center Receives Five-Year Grant to Continue Work
The Partners in Health and Housing Prevention Research Center (PHH-PRC) — a partnership between the BU School of Public Health, the Boston Housing Authority, the Boston Public Health Commission, and the Community Committee for Health Promotion — has been awarded a five-year grant that will allow it to continue innovative programs to improve the health of residents of Boston’s public housing.
The five-year, $3.5 million award from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will allow the center “to continue building on our collaboration and improving the health of public housing residents,” said Dr. Robert Horsburgh, director of the center and chair and professor of the Department of Epidemiology at BUSPH. “The success of this application reflects the strong partnership and dedicated participation of all four of our partner organizations.”
The center, established in 2001, is one of 35 prevention research centers nationwide that has received funding from the CDC for 2010-2014 for programs aimed at reducing the risk of chronic illnesses in various communities. The PHH-PRC is the only center that focuses exclusively on public housing, engaging residents in activities and research designed to improve their health and reduce health disparities.
The Community Committee for Health Promotion, one of the center’s partners, is composed of public housing residents and community representatives.
Horsburgh said the continued funding will allow the center to move forward with several initiatives, including a study to determine how Resident Health Advocates, who are trained through the center, can best ensure that their fellow public housing residents access care for diseases found during health screenings or enroll in prevention programs for health risks. Dr. Tracy Battaglia, an assistant professor of epidemiology at BUSPH and assistant professor of medicine at the BU School of Medicine, will lead that study. Deborah Bowen, chair and professor of community health sciences at BUSPH, has joined the center as a senior advisor and will assist with the study.
The center recently completed research showing that Resident Health Advocates (RHAs) significantly increased the participation of public housing residents in health screenings. Residents of several Boston public housing developments received health screenings via a mobile van, in an effort to remove transportation and financial barriers to accessing preventive health services.
The center trains a group of residents annually to become RHAs. Graduates are hired as paid interns by the Housing Authority and provide fellow residents with information about local health services and encourage them to access those services.
In addition to expanding the RHA program, the center also plans to continue work on a project called Knowledge is Power (KIP), which trains public housing residents to organize health-education workshops at their developments.
Other projects underway in collaboration with the center include a smoking cessation program for residents, and a study of dental sealants to help prevent cavities in children.
More information on the PHH-PRC is available on the center’s website.