OBJECTIVE(S): The objectives of this study are as follows: 1) To assess the feasibility of an academic - community partnership to create depression outreach events and then subsequently to evaluate these efforts in a community academic partnered participatory framework (data instrument development, data collection, data analysis, and data presentation); 2) To examine the impact of the community generated arts on measures of community engagement; 3) To assess the impact of an NIMH produced public service announcement on audience members' knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about depression; 4) To do a qualitative assessment of a discussion around a documentary film in engaging a predominantly African American community to talk about depression; 5) To examine the acceptability of reporting this data back to the community.

METHODS: A qualitative evaluation of the process of the development of the work and the group was done via field notes by a research assistant of each meeting and via direct observation by a Ph.D. level anthropologist. An evaluation of the impact of the differential impact of the events (poetry/comedy, community photo exhibit, NIMH public service announcement) was done via survey. The NIMH PSA used a non-randomized, cohort design with one group exposed to the PSA (107) and another group not exposed to the PSA (112) to assess the impact of the PSA's on audience members knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about depression. The community photo exhibit utilized a post-only design (n=678). The poetry / comedy event utilized both a pre-post design (n=59) and a post-only design (n=53). The report back to the community utilized a pre-post design (n=84). Community members were active partners throughout the entire process: conceptual framework development, intervention design, survey instrument development, data collection, data analysis, and data presentation.

FINDINGS / RESULTS: The NIMH PSA study participants were 61% female and 75.9% African American. The mean age was 48.9 years. The PSA appeared to have a statistically significant impact on one knowledge item, "Most people would think less of a person who had been depressed" (p<0.02) and a borderline impact on another item, "Depression is a medical illness." The community photo exhibit pilot participants had a mean age of 48.9 years, were 61% female, and were 75.9% African American. On measures of community engagement, 79.3% of audience members said answered agree or strongly agree to "I would recommend this photo exhibit to others in my community.", 70.4% to "This event made me think about depression and wellness as important issues for my community.", and 72.9% to "This event made me think about how my surroundings are connected to depression and wellness in my community." The poetry and comedy event was 72% female, 72.7% African American, and 13.6% African descent. 96.4% of the participants agreed or strongly agreed with, "I would recommend this even to others in my community" and 91.9% with "This event made me think about depression and wellness as important issues for my community." The data for the report back is being cleaned and analyzed. The qualitative analysis of the film and the process of the development of the group is pending.

STATUS: The data has been presented at national conferences and a paper is currently being completed describing both the data outcomes and the participatory process of the work development.

IMPACT: This project shows that it is feasible for a community academic partnership to focus on research for a substantial period of time on a stigmatized topic. In addition, the project shows that it is feasible to enhance the capacity of grassroots community members to participate in the process of participating actively in research; as well as it is feasible for biomedical researchers to work in the context of a participatory partnership in an underserved minority community. The process of the development of this project has been used as a model throughout Witness for Wellness. The application of this approach has been used to develop other research projects and grant proposals.

Principal Investigators:
Kenneth Wells, MD, MPH; Loretta Jones, MA

Partners: Healthy African American Families