The Section of Community Health partners with community members to develop and evaluate interventions to improve health equity. Research is driven by community needs and community partners are involved in all phases of the research.
Principal Investigator:
Beth Lynch, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine
Director, Section of Community Health
Rush University Medical Center
Current Projects
COVID-19 Testing
The epidemic of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused an unprecedented public health crisis in the United States. African Americans (AA) have been disproportionately impacted, as systemic inequities have contributed to increased exposure and vulnerability to COVID-19. Evidence suggests that AAs are delaying testing and care for COVID-19, which increases risk of transmission and poor outcomes. In Chicago, segregated AA neighborhoods have experienced some of the highest COVID-19 mortality rates in the city, yet large portions of these neighborhoods remain testing deserts. Providing trusted, accessible, community-based testing in underserved AA communities is critical to ensuring that AAs receive an early diagnosis, thereby reducing the risk of further transmission and improving clinical outcomes. Dr. Beth Lynch is leading two projects to address this on the West and South Side neighborhoods of Chicago. These studies leverage the Alive Church Network (ACN), a long-standing, community-driven coalition of African American pastors and public health researchers that was developed as a sustainable infrastructure to address health inequities in chronic disease in segregated AA neighborhoods in Chicago. The ACN was designed to address lack of access to health care, cultural insensitivity, and lack of trust, which are the root cause of disparities in chronic disease as well as infectious disease, including COVID-19. The projects utilize the ACN infrastructure to create a network of church-based testing sites in segregated and underserved AA neighborhoods in Chicago that will provide COVID-19 testing and education as well as linkage to healthcare and social resources.
- Alive Church Network COVID-19 Testing (West Side)
- Principal Investigator: Beth Lynch, PhD
Sponsor: Walder Foundation
Recruitment status: Currently testing
- Principal Investigator: Beth Lynch, PhD
- Alive Church Network: Increasing COVID-19 Testing in Chicago’s African American Testing Deserts (South Side)
- Principal Investigator: Beth Lynch, PhD
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health
Recruitment status: Currently testing
NIH grant number: R01NR018463-01A1S1
- Principal Investigator: Beth Lynch, PhD
Heart 2 Heart Study
Heart 2 Heart is a church-based intervention aimed at producing a sustained, clinically significant reduction in systolic blood pressure in AAs with uncontrolled blood pressure. H2H focuses exclusively on the two most effective BP reduction strategies: healthy eating and medication adherence. It features a stepped care design in which all participants receive a 9-month, culturally-tailored diet intervention. Those with poor medication adherence also receive individualized support from a community health worker (CHW) to address barriers to adherence. The diet intervention targets vegetable and sodium intake and consists of two components delivered in 24 sessions over nine months: (1) the ALIVE Bible study, led by the Senior Pastor, which links healthy eating to spiritual values to increase motivation for behavior change, and (2) Behavior Change small groups, led by trained church members, focused on nutrition education and behavior change strategies.
Principal Investigator: Beth Lynch, PhD
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health
Recruitment status: Currently recruiting
NIH grant number: R01NR018463
Past Projects
ALIVE: Randomized trial of a community based participatory research intervention to reduce diet-related chronic disease in African American congregants
ALIVE is a culturally-tailored, church-based diet intervention designed by a partnership of researchers, African American pastors and congregants using a community-based participatory research methodology. The main components of the intervention include a Bible study to increase intrinsic motivation to eat healthier, paired with small group sessions focused on building self-efficacy through nutrition education, cooking instruction and behavior change techniques. All intervention components are delivered by church members in 24 sessions over 9 months.
Principal Investigator: Beth Lynch, PhD
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health
NIH grant number: R56HL135247
The LIFE Program: A Behavioral Approach to Glycemic Control in African Americans with Diabetes
This project is a randomized controlled trial to test an innovative lifestyle intervention to achieve sustained improvements in glycemic control among low-income African American diabetes patients. The LIFE (Lifestyle Improvement through Food and Exercise) program is a diabetes self-management program focused on diet and exercise, informed by anthropological research on models of food and health among low-income African-Americans. Pilot work demonstrated that the LIFE Program is effective in improving glycemic control among low-income African Americans at 6-months. The main goal of the current study is to determine whether the LIFE Program can achieve sustained improvements in glycemic control for 12 months. The trial will randomize low-income African American adults with diabetes to a control group, which receives standard diabetes education, or an intervention group, which receives the LIFE Program, featuring a 6-month intervention (20 group meetings with peer support telephone calls) followed by an 18-month maintenance phase (monthly peer support phone calls and quarterly group sessions).
Principal Investigator: Beth Lynch, PhD
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health
NIH grant number: R01DK092271
Partnership for Congregational Wellness
The Rush Clergy Health Partnership is a CBPR partnership which is optimally positioned to design, implement, and achieve successful results from a church-based behavioral intervention for African Americans. This Partnership is a university-community collaboration that was initiated by the community. It draws on an innovative "train the trainer" model where church leaders make lifestyle changes first and then are well-equipped to model and advocate for these changes in church peers.
Principal Investigator: Beth Lynch, PhD
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health
NIH grant number: R24MD007994