Abstract
Background/Aims Increasingly, community engagement is used to increase the participation by minority communities in health research and to address health disparities. The CDC defines community engagement as “the process of working collaboratively with and through groups of people affiliated by geographic proximity, special interest, or similar situations to address issues affecting the well-being of those people”. The goal of the Institute for Translational Health Science’s (ITHS) Hispanic Community Outreach Program (HCOP) is to increase participation by Hispanics in translational health research conducted by ITHS in the WWAMI region (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho).
Methods The HCOP has conducted outreach to investigators, community-based organizations (CBOs) and clinics serve Hispanics in the WWAMI region since August 2012. The HCOP’s outreach activities have included phone calls, site visits, and participation in community events and conferences, resulting in a growing network of potential research partners. This network has evolved over time through personal contacts and referrals, reflecting the importance of interpersonal relationships and trust when engaging communities. To track its work, the HCOP maintains a database with the following elements: name, address, phone, email, agency affiliation and department, title, degrees, region, and level of engagement (LOE). The LOE is scored on a graded scale of 1–5 where 1 indicates a minimal LOE and 5 indicates a high LOE.
Results To date, the HCOP has made contact with over 840 stakeholders of whom 42% were investigators; 54% were in CBOs; and 6% were in government health agencies. The majority of HCOP’s initial contacts had LOE scores in the 1–2 level. Over time, LOE scores have increased, including one partnership that received grant funding to disseminate a diabetes self-management program in Spanish. The HCOP was also awarded a NIH small conference grant for a regional conference on Latino health. In addition, the HCOP has awarded pilot funding for community engaged research.
Conclusions Community engagement appears to be an effective strategy for increasing the participation of Hispanics in translational health research. More research is needed to develop tools and methods for assessing the effectiveness of community engagement and its impacts on the health of communities.
