Office of Minority Health

State Partnership Grant Program to Improve Minority Health

Grantee
State of Connecticut Department of Public Health, Office of Multicultural Health
Hartford, CT 06134-0308
Project: Connecticut State Partnership to Improve Minority Health, 2013 to 2015
Amount: $144,798

The Office of Multicultural Health is charged with improving the health of all Connecticut residents by eliminating differences in disease, disability and death rates among ethnic, racial and cultural populations. It serves as an advocate within the Department of Public Health for accurate and timely data collection and reporting, program planning and policies on behalf of underserved racial and ethnic minority residents of Connecticut.

Project Abstract

State Partnership Grant funds will be used to support two projects:

1) The Enhanced National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) in Health and Health Care Adoption Plan, which will: a) target specified health and social service organizations and b) develop and implement an intensive CLAS educational intervention

2) The statewide Social Determinants of Health Task Force to be created with the purpose of addressing racial and ethnic disparities in three areas: cancer, cardiovascular disease, and infant mortality and associated low birth weight. Black and Hispanic/Latino adults also have significantly higher rates of diabetes, obesity and physical inactivity compared with white adults, and they are also more likely to be without health insurance.

Activities to implement the National CLAS Standards will include conducting a baseline survey to assess awareness and adoption, assessing barriers to adoption, developing education materials and conducting training through on-site workshops, a web-based course and electronic resources. The office will focus on state agencies, home health agencies, health professions students, Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services sites and limited English proficiency (LEP) populations.

To identify the social determinants of health linked to cancer, cardiovascular disease and low birth weight/infant mortality, six task force meetings will be held to develop a long-term plan and strategy to address and remediate social structural barriers to health communities. Expected outcomes include increased adoption and implementation of the National CLAS Standards and identification of social barriers in healthy communities.

Evaluation will focus on the extent to which each of the goals of the two projects is achieved including the required project area outcomes for years one and two, specifically in the adoption of the National CLAS Standards by organizations, and chronic disease screening and treatment referrals for targeted individuals. Measures will include:

• Quantifying the increase in knowledge and awareness of the National CLAS Standards and social determinants of health
• Behavior shifts
• Policies initiated or other institutional changes
• Number of organizations implementing the National CLAS Standards
• Increased access to health services by minorities

The grantee will track program efforts and survey instruments to collect data on knowledge gains and program satisfaction.

Healthy People 2020 objectives toward which the project’s results contribute:

• Increase the proportion of persons with a usual primary care provider
• Increase prevention behaviors in persons at high risk for diabetes with pre-diabetes
• Increase the proportion of local health departments that have established culturally appropriate and linguistically competent community health promotion and disease prevention programs
• Improve the health literacy of the population
• Increase the proportion of persons who report that their health care providers have satisfactory communication skills