Influence of Health Habits on the Success of the Community Response Program

The goal of this project is to determine how specific health habits can affect success of the Community Response (CR) program. Community Response is a program that brings government, non-profit and faith-based organizations together in one community to share resources, identify challenges and create solutions with the goal of strengthening the protective factors that help families raise happy, healthy children (Lift Up Sarpy County, 2018). Health habits include habits centered around everyday life including protective factors such as maintaining support systems, financial stability, and other ways to strengthen families, eliminate risk, and keep children out of the child welfare system. A case-control study will be implemented, and success of the CR program will be classified as a yes/no outcome. Demographics and other factors that were investigated among participants include employment and income, support systems (people/services to count on in times of need), age, education level, and most common reason for entering the program. SPSS software was used to run a descriptive analysis on each demographic factor to determine patterns among participants in the program. Chi-Square, Fisher’s exact tests, and a logistic regression were used to determine associations between exposures and success of the CR program. Success within the program is defined as participants who completed one round of CR by utilizing its services and assistances, and lack of success will be defined as those who did not complete the program, those who returned for multiple rounds, or those with whom we were unable to follow-up. The results determined that there was an association between the exposure “number of children in home” and outcome “success off the CR program.” This project aimed to determine how Community Response has assisted the residents of Sarpy County and how further investigation of program aspects can continue to assist those in need