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Background Diabetes is one of the leading causes of illness and death for African Americans and people of African descent throughout the United States and in the city and county of Sacramento, California. The involvement of families and communities in developing prevention strategies can increase the likelihood that behavioral changes will be sustained. Context Three member organizations of the African American Leadership Coalition (AALC) entered into a partnership with the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) to engage families in developing a process to identify barriers to diabetes and obesity prevention and reduction, exchange strategies, and create action plans for prevention. Methods The intervention comprised 3 phases: 1) coalition formation and training; 2) data collection, analysis, and dissemination of results; and 3) development of family and community action plans. Academic and community partners planned and implemented all project phases together. Outcomes Sources of information about diabetes and obesity were primarily doctors and the Internet; barriers were related to lack of time needed to prepare healthy meals, high food costs, transportation to fresh markets, motivation around healthy habits, and unsafe environments. Action plans addressed behavioral change and family cohesion. The group discussion format encouraged mutual support and suggestions for better eating and physical exercise habits. Interpretation This collaborative partnership model can strengthen existing group relationships or promote new affiliations that form the basis for future action coalitions. Participants worked both within and across groups to exchange information, stories of success and challenges, and specific health improvement strategies.

Individuals with osteogenesis imperfecta type III (OI III) are severely physically disabled due to frequent fracturing. Their disability poses numerous barriers that challenge their social development. Despite these limitations, several affected persons are able to rise above these problems and achieve success in their personal and professional life. This outcome is directly relevant to their psychosocial development.The achievements of five individuals with OI III living in Cape Town are highlighted in this article, as well as the challenges that they have experienced and continue to experience in their daily lives. The authors intend to promulgate understanding of the psychosocial circumstances of affected persons, thereby facilitating the deployment of appropriate efforts and resources to address these challenges.

Introduction Serious illness brings stressful changes for patients and carers. Consultation with our carers identified a ‘gap’ between medical and social care, indicating regular help within the home would sustain coping. Locally, reduced employment opportunities harnessed to Big Society thinking, means there is greater capacity for volunteers to bring their individual skills to support patients9 families. Aims ▶Introducing a new role whereby volunteers provide individualised carer support within the home. ▶Creating a robust and comprehensive training programme to support volunteer autonomy. Research methods ▶Informal interviews with carers. ▶Multi-disciplinary team9s identification of carers9 needs. ▶Qualitative research within hospice sector - indicating concern over health and safety issues. ▶Discussion and partnership with local Carer Liaison team. Results ▶A successful proposal to local NHS Trust secured full funding for 1 year. ▶Dedicated co-ordinator input enabled the implementation of a robust training programme and supporting policies. ▶Development of a comprehensive risk assessment covering a broad range of supportive activities for volunteers to undertake. ▶Family Friend volunteers express increasing confidence through required monthly support group meetings. Discussion With the project active for a full year, it has been formally evaluated with encouraging feedback. Volunteers state that they value working with greater autonomy and express increased role satisfaction. Carers have identified Family Friend support as contributory towards greater coping and confidence. The service9s success is attributed to our ability to identify a shortfall in carer support and our faith in skilled and trained volunteers to meet it. Conclusion The hospice believes that diversifying the volunteer role and providing enhanced training and supervision has increased satisfaction for volunteers, patients and families. This information could be used by hospices concerned about managing risk in home support volunteering.