![[ Visit Client Website ]](images/banner.gif)
Background: This paper presents the findings from a feasibility evaluation of En Familia, an intergenerational health literacy and health education program for Latino families, and discusses their implications for intergenerational programming, in the field of public health. Intergenerational programs bring two or more generations of people together to interact, support, educate and provide care for each other. Evidence-based intergenerational programming is an underutilized[1],[2] but potentially effective tool for communicating health information to the Latino community. By appealing to the Latino concept of familism – the importance of family and discouraging behaviors that would harm the family unit – intergenerational programs may be successful in addressing the health disparities the Latino community faces.
Program background: KDH Research & Communication received funding from the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities to develop and evaluate En Familia. En Familia aims to help families overcome barriers such as navigating the US health system and understanding health information by expanding traditional health education programming to include training in core healthy literacy skills. En Familia draws on the importance of family in the Latino community to deliver the program. Teens, parents, and grandparents attend sessions together as a family unit. By participating together, family members are able to support each other in making healthy lifestyle choices.
Evaluation Methods and Results: In this paper, we use quantitative data from the feasibility evaluation of En Familia to explore three research questions that focus on the effectiveness of En Familia. They include: To what extent is En Familia effective in changing participants’ knowledge about the health issues it covers? To what extent do En Familia participants have more positive attitudes about health related behaviors? To what extent does En Familia improve health literacy and intentions to perform health-related behaviors among participants? We collected primary quantitative data from 34 families in El Paso, Texas. We used a pretest/post-test quasi-experimental design to explore the statistical relationship between exposure to En Familia and dependent variables of its programmatic effectiveness. Findings suggest En Familia increases knowledge, positive attitudes towards healthy behaviors, and health literacy skills.
Conclusions: The study findings suggest that an intergenerational format utilizes familial social support to change attitudes on health topics.
Implications for research and/or practice: Programs that employ an intergenerational approach may find they are able to effectively reach a Latino population to bridge gaps in health communication and health literacy.
[1] Kuehne, V. (Ed.). (1999). Intergenerational programs: Understanding what we have created. Binghamton: Haworth Press.
[2] Sotomayor, M. The Hispanic elderly and the intergenerational family. In S. Newman & S. Brummel (Eds.), Intergenerational programs: Imperatives, strategies, impacts, trends. (pp. 55-65). Binghamton: Haworth Press.