Resources and resilience in Older Women: Implications for health outcomes and culturally tailored interventions.

Dr. Springfield\u27s Bio: As a nutritionist, Springfield’s research interests focus on the social, behavioral, and structural determinants of dietary behaviors in African American women and developing community-based interventions to promote health equity. Her most recent work examines relationships between psychological resilience, diet quality, and cardiovascular disease-related outcomes. Abstract:  Introduction  Resilience – which we define as the “ability to bounce back from stress” – can foster successful aging among older, ethnically diverse women. This study investigated the association between psychological resilience in the Women’s Health Initiative Extension Study (WHI-ES) and three constructs defined by Staudinger’s 2015 model of resilience and aging: (1) perceived stress, (2) non-psychological resources, and (3) psychological resources. We further examined whether the relationship between resilience and key resources differed by race/ethnicity. Methods  We conducted a secondary analysis on 77,395 women aged 62+ (4,475 African American; 69,448 non-Hispanic White; 1,891 Hispanic/Latina; and 1,581 Asian or Pacific Islanders) who enrolled in the WHI-ES. Participants completed a short version of the Brief Resilience Scale. Guided by Staudinger’s model, we used linear regression analysis to examine the relationships between resilience and resources, adjusting for age, race/ethnicity, and stressful life events. To identify the most significant associations, we applied elastic net regularization to our linear regression models.  Findings On average, women who reported higher resilience were younger, had fewer stressful life events, and reported access to more resources. African American women reported the highest resilience, followed by Latinas, White, and Asian women. The most important resilience-related resources were psychological, including control beliefs, energy, personal growth, mild-to-no forgetfulness, and experiencing a sense of purpose. Race/ethnicity significantly modified the relationship between resilience and energy (overall interaction p=0.0017). Conclusion  Increasing resilience among older women may require culturally tailored stress reduction techniques and resource-building strategies, including empowerment to control the important things in life and energy

Love and Power: A Community Power Building Case

Dr. Hatchett\u27s bio: Dr. Lena Hatchett is a Senior Fellow with We in the World, a diverse team of change agents who are passionate about igniting transformation for well-being and equity in the world. She brings the voice of people with lived experience of inequity to the design process of the Racial Justice Community 2021. Dr. Springfield’s bio: As a nutritionist, Springfield’s research interests focus on the social, behavioral, and structural determinants of dietary behaviors in African American women and developing community-based interventions to promote health equity. Her most recent work examines relationships between psychological resilience, diet quality, and cardiovascular disease-related outcomes. Abstract: Proviso Partners for Health (PP4H) is a community-led coalition to advance action of racial and economic equity in the food system. Over the last six years, PP4H received funding from multi-sector organizations, including Trinity Health System and Robert Wood Johnson, to implement policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) change initiatives. The long-term sustainability of these efforts beyond the funding period is vital and requires an in-depth inquiry into the effectiveness of community power building strategies. Pastor, Ito, and Wander, 2020, define community power building as the ability of communities most impacted by structural inequity to develop, sustain and grow an organized base of people who act together through democratic structures to set agendas, shift public discourse, influence decision-makers, and cultivate ongoing relationships of mutual accountability with them to change systems and advance health equity. Multi-sector partners collaboratively designed and conducted a practice-based, action-driven evaluation to answer two questions: 1) What factors facilitate the sustainability of a food justice movement? 2) How can community residents sustain efforts? We used a case study approach that included semi-structured interviews, documentary data and field notes, observations, and quantitative data. Results found five community power building strategies to catalyzing PSE change in the food system 1) transparency and accountability, 2) shared leadership and power, 3) community voice, 4) leveraged assets, and 5) community love. Conclusion revealed that power-building with people with lived experience of inequity to leverage their individual and collective assets advanced action in the food system. In doing so, PP4H has aligned its work with a more health-equity-oriented vision

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Diet Quality in young African American women: A descriptive analysis of a community-based survey

Background: High exposure to ACEs (4+) is associated with an increased risk of CVD and poorer health behaviors in adulthood. However, evidence is limited in young adults2-4. Aims. To describe diet quality and exposure to ACEs in AA women aged 18-35 years old. Methods: Descriptive analysis of survey data collected in self-identified AA women aged 18-35 (N=512). Assessments included self-reported ACE exposure (4+ indicates high risk) and WELL Diet score (range 0-120; higher score = better diet quality). Results: XX% of our sample reported high ACEs exposure. Mean Well Diet score was xx (sd:) out of 120. Further research is warranted. 2Su, S., Jimenez, M. P., Roberts, C. T., & Loucks, E. B. (2015). The role of adverse childhood experiences in cardiovascular disease risk: a review with emphasis on plausible mechanisms. Current cardiology reports, 17(10), 88. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11886-015-0645-1 3Nikulina, V., & Widom, C. S. (2014). Do race, neglect, and childhood poverty predict physical health in adulthood? A multilevel prospective analysis. Child abuse & neglect, 38(3), 414–424. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.09.007 4Sonu, S., Post, S., & Feinglass, J. (2019). Adverse childhood experiences and the onset of chronic disease in young adulthood. Preventive medicine, 123, 163–170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2019.03.03