March 12, 2020

Escape the South Park Vape 2 with the Duwamish Valley Youth Corps

Student nurses: Kendra Creech, Madeline Dautel, Elizabeth Emig & Yohannah Malabad

Nurse Faculty: Hilary Jauregui, DNP, MN, RN

Executive Summary

Introduction

South Park is a small neighborhood of 3,705 people in Seattle, WA. It is a close-knit community full of culturally diverse individuals. South Park is home to the Duwamish Valley Youth Corps (DVYC), a group of youth ages 13-18, who partake in community work and learning.

Community Health Issue

South Park has a disproportionally higher rate of respiratory-related illnesses than other neighborhoods in King County. This quarter, our project focused on educating the youth of the DVYC about the negative effects of smoking and vaping. Through developing an interactive and age-appropriate curriculum, we were able to educate the DVYC youth and empower them to make healthy choices regarding lung health.

Community Health Assessment

There are many inequities in South Park, many resulting from the negative impact of the social determinants of health. Per capita income, life expectancy, and education attainment rates are all lower in South Park than those of other Seattle neighborhoods. Air pollution and a contaminated Duwamish River also contribute to poor health outcomes. Despite these challenges, South Park has many strengths – a community center, food bank, and library are wonderful assets to the neighborhood.

Community Health Improvement Plan

We worked with Carmen Martinez, leader of the DVYC, to develop our health improvement plan. Through listening to Carmen and engaging in a Community Based Participatory Research approach, we learned about the air pollution and high asthma rates in South Park, and why lung health is a priority for youth in this community. In addition to partnering with Carmen, we used the evidence-based “Escape the Vape” curriculum to develop engaging lesson plans and methods of teaching.

Project Evaluation

Through our research and partnership with Carmen, we met our objectives and strategies. We created a curriculum that increased the youth’s knowledge of smoking and vaping effects and evaluated this through a pre- and post-test comparison of the youth’s knowledge about the information we taught. We also ensured our curriculum was sustainable and could be used for 5+ years.

Recommendations & Next Steps

It is our recommendation that the partnership between the University of Washington School of Nursing (SoN) and the DVYC be maintained. Through teaching up-to-date research about smoking and vaping effects in a fun and interactive manner, it is our hope that the youth will retain this important information for years to come. It is our hope that this curriculum will continue to be taught.

Conclusion

Community based participatory research is essential in community health nursing. Collaboration between nurses and community leaders provides an effective partnership, in which the community’s needs can be met. Our partnership with Carmen and the DVYC has allowed us to educate the youth about smoking and vaping in an appropriate and engaging way.

See the poster presentation here and read the full report here!