Programs that serve transition-age youth with serious mental health conditions typically reside in either the child or the adult system. Good service provision calls for interactions among these programs. The objective of this research was to discover programmatic characteristics that facilitate or impede collaboration with programs serving dissimilar age groups, among programs that serve transition-age youth. To examine this "cross-age collaboration," this research used social network analysis methods to generate homophily and heterophily scores in three communities that had received federal grants to improve services for this population. Heterophily scores (i.e., a measure of cross-age collaboration) in programs serving only transition-age youth were significantly higher than the heterophily scores of programs that served only adults or only children. Few other program markers or malleable program factors predicted heterophily. Programs that specialize in serving transition-age youth are a good resource for gaining knowledge of how to bridge adult and child programs.

Session Description The newly established Academic Health Collaborative at the Worcester Division of Public Health links local universities with the Division of Public Health in a collaborative partnership that bridges health/public health academia and practice to improve community health. It allows the DPH to leverage academic and community resources and expertise to help it achieve its goal to become the “Healthiest City in New England by 2020”. This innovative collaboration allows the DPH and local partners to train a future generation of students that can work and communicate across disciplines and settings. In addition, it provides structured practicum and internship experience for area college and university students that serves not only the needs of public health but enhances the learning experience for the student. So far, these experiences have been tailored to address priorities identified by the WDPH to support the Division’s Strategic Plan and CHIP are addressed and implemented.

Culture impacts how individuals understand, communicate, and respond to health information. Immigrants to the U.S. come from diverse cultural groups and have varying understandings of health care and the U.S. health care system. The primary aim of this study is to explore cultural interpretations and beliefs of select health concepts and to assess the health literacy of African immigrants in Massachusetts. We are a partnership between UMass Graduate School of Nursing, Africans for Improved Access program at the Multicultural AIDS Coalition and Clark University. Using a CBPR approach has been valuable in the design of the study and in our ability to access and engage African immigrants. We are recruiting 100 African immigrants during cultural events, targeted outreach and gatherings in religious communities to complete a Freelist exercise, 2 health literacy assessment tools, and a general health survey. Results of the Freelist exercise will inform development of an interview guide that will be used with 3 Focus Groups of African immigrants to help us understand the cultural interpretation of frequently used health related words and phrases. We are assessing the feasibility and acceptability of 2 health literacy instruments to determine the appropriateness of using these assessments with an immigrant population. The association of health literacy to accessing primary care will be examined. The focus group and general health survey data will help us gain a better understanding of the primary care health experiences of African immigrants and potential factors that facilitate or hinder their engagement in primary health care.