The Community Culture Survey: Preliminary Findings From a New Approach to Measurement and Understanding Health Disparities

Abstract

The Community Culture Survey (CCS) was designed to advance the measurement of culture and its link to health by asking individuals to describe the attitudes and behaviors of people in the local community where they live. To assess preliminary validity, 130 respondents completed the CCS, a health survey, and demographic questions. Five subscales were derived from the CCS, 2 of which were correlated with health survey items. Residents living in neighborhoods described as higher in Social Responsibility and Friendliness were less likely to report experiencing bodily pain and more likely to report experiencing better quality of life. There were no differences based on demographics. While race or ethnicity is often used as a proxy for culture, the lack of correlation between this variable and community culture subscales supports the distinction between these constructs. The CCS has potential to advance understanding of the effect of community environment on health and disparities.

Socioeconomic variables explain rural disparities in US mortality rates: Implications for rural health research and policy

“…A key challenge to progress in this research is the measurement of culture ( Farmer et al, 2012 Oct , Gessert et al, 2015 ). While preliminary results indicate that dimensions of community culture predict health status, more research is needed to determine if and how these relationships differentially impact health and mortality in rural versus urban settings ( Pellegrin & Nigg, 2017 ).…”

Community Culture Survey – Revised: Measuring neighborhood culture and exploring geographic, socioeconomic, and cultural determinants of health in samples across the United States and in Thailand

“…Thus, community norms and functioning are recognized as key factors related to health and disparities. Reflecting these domains, the Community Culture Survey (CCS) conceptually defines community culture as “a shared way of life reflected in consistent patterns of values, attitudes, and behaviors” that are meaningful to people who live in a local community or neighborhood and that distinguishes one local community/neighborhood from another [ 13 ]. In contrast to measures that aggregate individuals’ values, attitudes and behaviors, the CCS asks participants to describe their neighborhood community norms irrespective of their own values, attitudes and behaviors.…”

“…Preliminary data from research conducted in Hawaiʻi, one of the most racially/ethnically diverse states in the US, indicated that dimensions of the original 42-item Community Culture Survey (CCS) may be helpful in understanding cultural determinants of health [ 13 ]. However, the small sample size and uniqueness of Hawaiʻi limit the generalizability of findings from the pilot study to broader contexts.…”