Community-based participatory research (CBPR) using barbershop interventions is an emerging approach to address health disparities and promote health equity. Barbershops serve as trusted community settings for health education, screening services, and referrals. This narrative mini-review provides an overview of the current state of knowledge regarding CBPR employing barbershop interventions and explores the potential for big data involvement to enhance the impact and reach of this approach in combating chronic disease. CBPR using barbershop interventions has shown promising results in reducing blood pressure among Black men and improving diabetes awareness and self-management. By increasing testing rates and promoting preventive behaviors, barbershop interventions have been successful in addressing infectious diseases, including HIV and COVID-19. Barbershops have also played roles in promoting cancer screening and increasing awareness of cancer risks, namely prostate cancer and colorectal cancer. Further, leveraging the trusted relationships between barbers and their clients, mental health promotion and prevention efforts have been successful in barbershops. The potential for big data involvement in barbershop interventions for chronic disease management offers new opportunities for targeted programs, real-time monitoring, and personalized approaches. However, ethical considerations regarding privacy, confidentiality, and data ownership need to be carefully addressed. To maximize the impact of barbershop interventions, challenges such as training and resource provision for barbers, cultural appropriateness of interventions, sustainability, and scalability must be addressed. Further research is needed to evaluate long-term impact, cost-effectiveness, and best practices for implementation. Overall, barbershops have the potential to serve as key partners in addressing chronic health disparities and promoting health equity.
Keyphrases
- big data
- healthcare
- health promotion
- public health
- mental health
- artificial intelligence
- physical activity
- machine learning
- human health
- prostate cancer
- health information
- blood pressure
- primary care
- sars cov
- papillary thyroid
- infectious diseases
- cardiovascular disease
- climate change
- social media
- deep learning
- human immunodeficiency virus
- skeletal muscle
- squamous cell carcinoma
- risk assessment
- antiretroviral therapy
- heart rate
- cancer therapy
- hiv testing
- south africa
- adipose tissue
- metabolic syndrome
- young adults
- affordable care act
- virtual reality