From the Bench to the Barbershop: Community Engagement to Raise Awareness About Community-Acquired Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Hepatitis C Virus Infection

Abstract

BACKGROUND Infectious diseases, such as Hepatitis C and Community-Acquired Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA), are emerging health issues. OBJECTIVES The CA-MRSA Project (CAMP1) extended its learning collaborative to the barbershop/hair salon settings to increase awareness and prevention of CA-MRSA and Hepatitis C infections. METHODS Education sessions on CA-MRSA and Hepatitis C were conducted with 43 estheticians at 9 barbershop/hair salons in New York City. All completed pre-post intervention knowledge tests. Low-cost primary care referral cards were also distributed in the CA-MRSA education project. RESULTS Knowledge about CA-MRSA risks (p<0.0003) and infection prevention measures (p<0.0001), as well as Hepatitis C knowledge and prevention (both p<0.0001) increased. Nine shops received referral cards (N=500) and 4% of the cards (n=19) were distributed to clients. No self-referrals were reported. CONCLUSIONS CAMP1 successfully recruited and trained a cadre of estheticians on CA-MRSA and Hepatitis C prevention increasing their health knowledge deepening our engagement with the community.

Contraception and PrEP in South African Hair Salons: Owner, Stylist, and Client Views

“…Our study may be considered within the context of other salon-based interventions exploring the use of stylists as mentors and health educators, including studies evaluating intimate partner violence screening in US salons and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus , Hepatitis C, and hypertension screening in African American barbershops. 7 , 8 , 10 – 12 Although these studies have laid the groundwork for successful implementation of targeted health services in the salon, our study is unique to the field of HIV implementation and to the South African setting. In addition, our work proposes ongoing contact with hair salon clients for sustainable, long-term contraception and HIV prevention.…”

“…We conducted a cross-sectional survey at a convenience sample of hair salons in and around Umlazi, a densely populated urban township outside of Durban. 7 – 9 Salon owners (male and female), stylists (male and female), and clients (female) aged 18 years and older willing to provide informed consent were enrolled at community hair salons. A bilingual research assistant (English/Zulu) orally administered a brief survey gauging interest in the delivery of health care services at hair salons and assessing the feasibility of offering limited health services to salon clients.…”

Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Eradication and Decolonization in Children Study (Part 1): Development of a Decolonization Toolkit With Patient and Parent Advisors

“…In fact, to our knowledge, this represents one of only a handful of published studies regarding patient engagement on the topic of community-acquired MRSA. For instance, a translational research collaborative in New York City recruited and trained barbers and hair stylists from 9 barbershops as part of community engagement and education efforts to create awareness of the dangers of MRSA infections [ 33 ]. That, however, was engagement in the implementation phase rather than our approach, which brought in patient partners in the study design phase.…”

“While You’re Down There”: The Unexplored Role of Estheticians in the Health of Their Clients

“…To our knowledge, the SHE Study is the first qualitative exploration of the waxing profession and esthetician-client relationship, and the results lead us to believe that estheticians may be effective conveyors of, and partners in, health (and possibly sexual health) promotion interventions. In fact, we have found only one intervention study in which researchers worked with estheticians for such purposes (Leinberger-Jabari et al, 2016).…”