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BACKGROUND/RATIONALE:
This project builds on three funded projects (DAV/NOVA Foundation grant, HSR&D QUERI RRP #06-185, VHA Public Health Strategic Health Care Group grant), which are being conducted to develop culturally relevant health information for veterans and families living in Puerto Rico (PR). The response we received to the Fact Sheets for Puerto Rican OEF/OIF Returning Veterans from the focus groups was so positive that additional funds (for this project) were requested to be able to print these in a booklet format, in a large quantity.
OBJECTIVE(S):
The overall aim is to disseminate and evaluate educational materials to help returning Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom (OIF/OEF) Puerto Rican (PR) veterans and their families adjust to life post-deployment.
Specific aims of project are the following:
(1) Conduct a marketing and promotional campaign to increase awareness of our educational materials (i.e., Fact Sheets)
(2) Disseminate our materials (i.e., Fact Sheets) to veterans and family members at VA, military, and veteran service organizations in San Juan, PR
(3) Disseminate our Fact Sheets via MyHealtheVet and through the VA CPRS system in the VA Caribbean Healthcare System
(4) Evaluate our dissemination project
(5) Develop a plan for adapting and disseminating our materials to the larger, Hispanic American OEF/OIF population and the English-speaking OEF/OIF population
METHODS:
Aim 1: We will use the same successful social marketing strategies we used in our previous projects to package our Fact Sheets. To increase awareness, acceptance, and facilitate dissemination we will conduct a "kick-off" campaign by sending colorful banner emails to our partners to market the availability of our Fact Sheets. We will highlight our project in newsletters of our partner organizations. Aim 2: We will disseminate our Fact Sheets at the VA Caribbean Healthcare System large "Welcome" celebration for OIF/OEF veterans. We will collaborate with our partners to place news articles in VA and non-VA publications to alert providers and consumers of the process of obtaining our Fact Sheets. We will collaborate with providers at VA, military and veteran service organizations in San Juan PR to disseminate our Fact Sheets in their facilities. Aim 3: We will disseminate our Fact Sheets on MyHealtheVet. Aim 4: We will use the RE-AIM framework to determine the outcomes and impact of our project on individual veterans, providers, and organizations. We will determine "Effectiveness" by contacting and interviewing providers to determine the reactions of veterans and families in relation to the Fact Sheets. We will convene a focus group of 7-9 veterans who obtained our Fact Sheets to ascertain their perceptions of the impact of the educational materials. We will also use established evaluation strategies developed by My HealtheVet experts to determine the perceptions of those people who obtain our Fact Sheets posted on the My HealtheVet website. Aim 5: From our findings and through collaborations with our consultants and partners, we will develop a plan for adapting and disseminating our materials to the larger Hispanic American OEF/OIF population and the English-speaking OEF/OIF population.
FINDINGS/RESULTS:
No findings to report at this time.
IMPACT:
The project addresses several priority VA HSR&D topics: Access for vulnerable populations, health disparities, health profession education, implementation research, mental health, caregiving and post-deployment health. This project is important because no known investigative team has conducted research to reduce the informational health disparities in PR, which has over 15,000 adults who have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, PR is one of the most militarized regions in the US and similar to the other Hispanic American sub-populations, Puerto Ricans are one of the fastest growing groups in the military.
PUBLICATIONS:
None at this time.
DRA:
Military and Environmental Exposures, Special (Underserved, High Risk) Populations
DRE:
Prevention
Keywords:
Education (patient), Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom
MeSH Terms:
none
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