Leveraging Key Informant Interviews to Inform Intervention Development: The Greater Lawndale Healthy Work Project.

Abstract

Background: The Greater Lawndale Healthy Work project is a sequential mixed methods community based participatory research project that examines work as a structural determinant of health and builds community capacity for healthy work in a predominantly Black and Latinx community in Chicago known as Greater Lawndale (GL).

Objectives: We interviewed community leaders in GL as key informants to understand the barriers to healthy work and inform intervention development.

Methods: We conducted a directed content analysis of transcripts from 20 key informants and coded the social ecology and type of intervention.

Results: Every key informant mentioned at least one asset in GL, showing an opportunity to employ a capacity-oriented approach to intervention development. Key informants suggested a variety of interventions to address precarious work across levels of the social ecology, with individual and community level interventions being the most salient.

Conclusion: Through this approach, we were able to navigate tensions and challenges in conducting research for community-wide change. Key informant stakeholder interviews can be leveraged to meaningfully inform intervention development and support the development of multi-level, sustainable, and culturally acceptable interventions that advance health equity.