Abstract
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. 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. A program implemented over 8 three-hour sessions was adapted from the Community Health Advisor Network curriculum that focused on healthy eating, preventing chronic conditions (hyperlipidemia, Diabetes, hypertension, cancer, poor mental health). Topics also included leadership and capacity development skills. Participants (n=22) ranged from 35-84 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). 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.
Highlights
According to 2014 U.S Census estimates, there are 28,067 (±935) individuals who describe themselves as Asians living in Mississippi [18]
The community forum highlighted the steps of the project, recruited Vietnamese community member participation, and determined the training topics to be included in the Community Health Advisor (CHA) project
Twenty-two Vietnamese individuals participated in the CHA training and completed the pre- and post-data collection tools (Table 1)
Summary
According to 2014 U.S Census estimates, there are 28,067 (±935) individuals who describe themselves as Asians living in Mississippi [18]. 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. The major factors that influence social vulnerability are lack of access to resources including information, knowledge, and technology; limited access to political power and representation; social capital including social networks and connections; beliefs and customs; building stock and age; frail and physically limited individuals; and type and density of infrastructure and lifelines [2,3,4,5]. Gender, race, socioeconomic status, and other risk factors that might warrant that an individual be recognized as being from a high-need population that might lack equitable social safety nets necessary in disaster recovery (i.e., physically or mentally challenged, non-English-speaking immigrants, the homeless, transients, and seasonal tourists) [6]. Susceptibility to stressors is a function of the demographic characteristics of the population, and more complex constructs such as health care provision, social capital, and access to lifelines (e.g., emergency response personnel, goods, services) [8]
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