Making Ends Meet: Community Networks and Health Promotion Among Blacks in the City of Brotherly Love

This historical inquiry illustrates the power of social networks by examining the Starr Centre and the Whittier Centre, two civic associations that operated in Philadelphia during the early 20th century, a time when Black Americans faced numerous public health threats. Efforts to address those threats included health initiatives forged through collaborative social networks involving civic associations, health professionals, and members of Black communities. Such networks provided access to important resources and served as cornerstones of health promotion activities in many large cities. I trace the origins of these two centers, the development of their programs, their establishment of ties with Black community residents, and the relationship between strong community ties and the development of community health initiatives. Clinicians, researchers, and community health activists can draw on these historical precedents to address contemporary public health concerns by identifying community strengths, leveraging social networks, mobilizing community members, training community leaders, and building partnerships with indigenous community organizations. (Am J Public Health. 2011;Published Online Ahead of Print on June 16, 2011. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2011.300125)

No place for the dying: A tale of urban health work in Philadelphia\u27s black belt, 1900–1930

The poor health status of Black Americans was a widely recognized fact during the first third of the twentieth century. In this period, much of the noted excessive mortality in blacks was linked to tuberculosis. Blacks were believed to succumb to the disease at higher rates due to physical traits, such as purported racially inherited defects, and factors related to the physical and social environment such as poor sanitation, overcrowding, and a lack of health care resources. At the opening of the twentieth century nowhere revealed the confluence of excessive mortality due to infectious disease and the dynamics of urbanization more readily than the city of Philadelphia. The Bureau of Health launched one of the city\u27s first organized attacks against tuberculosis though failed to target the black community despite excessive mortality rates existing there. In the absence of a comprehensive agenda to specifically address tuberculosis in blacks by city legislation, several voluntary associations developed strategies to thwart the effects of the disease. This study examines the collective efforts of key private charitable associations who worked cooperatively with black residents and black medical professionals to launch a community-oriented attack against tuberculosis. The collective efforts of the Starr Centre, Henry Phipps Institute and Whittier Centre to address social and health problems in the black community are explored. The physical and social milieu of Philadelphia\u27s black community is also examined and the relationship between these influences and higher rates of infectious disease is revealed. As policies related to the poor health of Black Americans are considered even today, it will require reflections on synergistic activities from urban health reformers living nearly a century ago

Determining the Innovativeness of Nurses Who Engage in Activities That Encourage Innovative Behaviors

Background: We sought to understand the innovativeness of nurses engaging in innovative behaviors and quantify the associated characteristics that make nurses more able to innovate in practice. We first compared the innovativeness scores of our population; then we examined those who self-identified as an innovator versus those who did not to explore differences associated with innovativeness between these groups. Methods: A cross-sectional survey study of nurses in the US engaging in innovative behaviors was performed. We performed an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to determine the correlates of innovative behavior. Results: Three-hundred and twenty-nine respondents completed the survey. Respondents who viewed themselves as innovators had greater exposure to HCD/DT workshops in the past year (55.8% vs. 36.6%, p = 0.02). The mean innovativeness score of our sample was 120.3 ± 11.2 out of a score of 140. The mean innovativeness score was higher for those who self-identified as an innovator compared with those who did not (121.3 ± 10.2 vs. 112.9 ± 14.8, p =< 0.001). The EFA created four factor groups: Factor 1 (risk aversion), Factor 2 (willingness to try new things), Factor 3 (creativity and originality) and Factor 4 (being challenged). Conclusion: Nurses who view themselves as innovators have higher innovativeness scores compared with those who do not. Multiple individual and organizational characteristics are associated with the innovativeness of nurses