E-Health for EBCI (2011)
Undergraduate: Kaitlyn Jongkind
Faculty Advisor: Elizabeth Mayer-Davis
Department: Nutrition
Rates of diabetes and obesity are high in American Indian (AI) communities like the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI). A multi-level approach to tackling these public health concerns includes community programs that encourage healthy eating and physical activity. Community resource guides can increase awareness of programs. A website may be an effective way to format a resource guide, but previous studies have reported low rates of internet access among AIs. This study, which included a community assessment, survey and website creation, aimed to discover if a website would be an effective way to increase awareness of health programs among EBCI adults.
Fifty-four programs were identified through a community assessment. One hundred fifty-seven EBCI adult tribal employees responded to a web-based survey. Although a significantly smaller proportion of those surveyed than the general U.S. population reported using the internet daily: 41.4% vs. 64% (0.01