Abstract
The “Lawrence W. Green Paper of the Year” recognizes one paper published during the preceding year in Health Education & Behavior that is judged by the Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editors, and Editorial Board of the journal as exemplifying the highest level of scholarship and making a singularly important contribution to the literature of the field. The award carries a $1,000 cash prize.
The paper is named for Lawrence W. Green (1940– ), whose long and distinguished career has included teaching posts on the faculties of the University of California, Berkeley (where he received his MPH and DrPH degrees), Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University, University of Texas at Houston, University of British Columbia, and the University of California at San Francisco. Dr. Green also served as the first director of the U.S. Office of Health Information, Health Promotion, and Physical Fitness and Sports Medicine in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health and later became a vice president and director of the National Health Promotion Program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. He later served as Distinguished Fellow/Visiting Scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where he was director of the CDC-World Health Organization Collaborating Center on Global Tobacco Control and the Office of Science & Extramural Research of the CDC Public Health Practice Program Office. The author of a voluminous corpus of published scholarship, he is renowned for his PRECEDE-PROCEED Model, which has been used throughout the world to guide health program intervention design, implementation, and evaluation. Dr. Green is a past president and Distinguished Fellow of the Society for Public Health Education and a member of the Health and Medicine Division (formerly the Institute of Medicine) of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. He served in editorial capacities for both of Health Education & Behavior’s prior titles as editor of Health Education Monographs from 1973 to 1975 and as an Editorial Board member of Health Education Quarterly from 1982 to 1984. Since 1988, Dr. Green has remained an insightful and guiding member of the journal’s Advisory Board of Editors Emeriti.
The fund that supports the Paper of the Year Award was established in 1995 through a generous gift from SAGE Publishing. The award was renamed the “Lawrence W. Green Paper of the Year Award” by the Board of Trustees of the Society for Public Health Education in 2004 to honor Dr. Green’s enduring contributions to the scholarship of health education and to the Society.
2020 Nominees
The two finalist manuscripts nominated for the award (in alphabetical order by first author) were the following:
Logie, C. H., Dias, L. V., Jenkinson, J., Newman, P. A., MacKenzie, R. K., Mothopeng, T., Madau, V., Ranotsi, A., Nhlengethwa, W., & Baral, S. D. (2019). Exploring the potential of participatory theatre to reduce stigma and promote health equity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Swaziland and Lesotho. Health Education & Behavior, 46(1), 146–156. https://doi.org/10.1177/1090198118760682
Organista, K. C., Jung, W., & Neilands, T. B. (2019). Working and living conditions and psychological distress in Latino migrant day laborers. Health Education & Behavior, 46(4), 637–647. https://doi.org/10.1177/1090198119831753
2020 Winner
The Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editors, and Editorial Board of Health Education & Behavior are delighted to announce that the winners of the “Lawrence W. Green Paper of the Year Award” for 2020 are Carmen H. Logie, Lisa V. Dias, Jesse Jenkinson, Peter A. Newman, Rachel K. MacKenzie, Tampose Mothopeng, Veli Madau, Amelia Ranotsi, Winnie Nhlengethwa, and Stefan D. Baral for their article “Exploring the Potential of Participatory Theatre to Reduce Stigma and Promote Health Equity for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) People in Swaziland and Lesotho” (Health Education & Behavior, February 2019, 46(1), 146–156).
Abstract
Stigma and discrimination affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people compromise health and human rights and exacerbate the HIV epidemic. Scant research has explored effective LGBT stigma reduction strategies in low- and middle-income countries. We developed and pilot-tested a participatory theatre intervention (PTI) to reduce LGBT stigma in Swaziland and Lesotho, countries with the world’s highest HIV prevalence. We collected preliminary data from in-depth interviews with LGBT people in Lesotho and Swaziland to enhance understanding of LGBT stigma. Local LGBT and theatre groups worked with these data to create a 2-hour PTI composed of three skits on LGBT stigma in health care, family, and community settings in Swaziland (Manzini) and Lesotho (Maseru, Mapoteng). Participants (n = 106; nursing students, health care providers, educators, community members) completed 12 focus groups following the PTI. We conducted thematic analysis to understand reactions to the PTI. Focus groups revealed the PTI increased understanding of LGBT persons and issues, increased empathy, and fostered self-reflection of personal biases. Increased understanding included enhanced awareness of the negative impacts of LGBT stigma, and of LGBT people’s lived experiences and issues. Participants discussed changes in attitude and perspective through self-reflection and learning. The format of the theatre performance was described as conducive to learning and preferred over more conventional educational methods. Findings indicate changed attitudes and awareness toward LGBT persons and issues following a PTI in Swaziland and Lesotho. Stigma reduction interventions may help mitigate barriers to HIV prevention, treatment, and care in these settings with a high burden of HIV.