Background: Addressing complex problems such as health disparities requires collaboration among individuals and agencies. Yet, methods by which productive and cohesive community-based volunteer workgroups are developed and activated to improve health outcomes are often not discussed. Objective: Using the transtheoretical model (TTM) as a framework, we discuss effective processes for developing an action-oriented community-based workgroup committed to producing evidence-based information relevant to health policy. Methods: Workgroup members answered open-ended survey questions and participated in focused coalition-wide discussions to identify factors that facilitated movement of the embedded workgroup from precontemplation to committed action. Frequency and content of e-mail exchanges and workgroup meetings were also considered. Results and Lessons Learned: Activating the group’s process of social support or helping relationships was essential throughout the stages of change to promote cohesion and trust. Consciousness raising (awareness), and dramatic relief (emotional arousal) were particularly critical for initial movement from precontemplation to contemplation to preparation. Using group time to promote member’s self-reevaluation (how work is relevant) and self-liberation (commitment) prevented attrition and facilitated effort. As the workgroup enacted planned activities, stimulus control and reinforcement management processes facilitated movement through the action and maintenance stages of change. Conclusions: By attending to both individual and organizational processes of change, we effectively created an action-oriented multidisciplinary workgroup focused on obtaining evidence to guide local and regional health policy decisions and improve health outcomes for under-resourced patients.

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This community-academic-pharmacy partnership evaluated the impact of a pharmacist-led approach to diabetes management in under-resourced charitable pharmacy patients. Charitable pharmacies serve a large volume of under-resourced patients; pharmacist involvement may improve blood glucose management due to the frequency with which patients access the pharmacy for medications. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a pharmacist-led approach to diabetes management (measured by blood glucose levels) by providing medication therapy management (MTM) and leveraging communication between the pharmacist and patients’ primary care providers (PCPs). Study participants were Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) patients with type 2 diabetes who obtained free diabetes-related medications from the pharmacy. Participants were randomly assigned to treatment as usual (TAU), MTM, or MTM plus coordinated care between the pharmacist and the patient’s PCP. The blood glucose levels of patients who received MTM remained stable throughout the duration of the study while blood glucose levels for TAU patients significantly increased. A previously non-existent communication channel between pharmacists and FQHC providers was established and recommendations were exchanged. This relatively small investment on behalf of the pharmacy (e.g., routinely checking blood glucose, sharing medication recommendations) led to a return on health outcomes for a high-risk, low-resource patient population. This study yielded a beneficial change in practice as the pharmacy has institutionalized measuring at-risk patients’ blood glucose levels during pharmacy visits. The pharmacy has also continued to enhance their relationship with the FQHC to provide integrated, patient-centered care to this shared vulnerable patient population.

, interviews Shearie Archer and Jennifer Langhinrichsen-Rohling, authors of "Developing a Productive Workgroup Within a Community Coalition: Transtheoretical Model Processes, Stages of Change, and Lessons Learned." Emily Blejwas: This is Emily Blejwas with the Gulf States Health Policy Center in Bayou La Batre, Alabama, and I first just want to extend a huge thanks to Dr. Jennifer Langhinrichsen-Rohling and Ms. Shearie Archer for joining me on the podcast today to talk about their paper. We'll just get started by having each of you introduce yourselves and your organizations. Just tell us a little bit about what kind of work your organization does. Shearie, do you want to start? Shearie Archer: Sure. My name is Shearie Archer and I'm the executive director of Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy. Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy is a 20-year-old standalone charitable free pharmacy that's located in Mobile, Alabama, and our primary purpose is to provide medication to uninsured individuals in our service area, which includes Mobile, Baldwin, and Escambia counties. We have about 1,671 patients who rely on us to provide them with more than $20 million worth of medication a year, and these are individuals who lack access to basic health care. They can go to the emergency rooms or to the health department, but they often do not have enough money to pay for their medication.

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