Using community-based participatory research methods to reach women with health messages: results from the North Carolina BEAUTY and Health Pilot Project

Abstract

This pilot study used a community-based participatory research approach to recruit and train five licensed cosmetologists from two beauty salons to deliver health promotion messages to their customers. Stylists attended a 4-hr workshop to develop skills for delivering targeted health messages. Educational displays in the salons reinforced these messages. Qualitative and quantitative methods assessed satisfaction, readiness to change, and self-reported health behavior changes in customers immediately postintervention and at 12 months. Trained stylists reported they would continue delivering health messages after the 7-week pilot was completed; 81% of customers read the educational displays, and 86% of customers talked with their cosmetologist about the Bringing Education and Understanding to You Project. At 12 months, 55% of customers reported making changes in their health because of the conversations they had with their cosmetologist. Customers who spoke more often with their cosmetologists about health also reported a higher percentage of self-reported behavior changes. It appears that trained licensed cosmetologists are effective in promoting health messages to their customers.