Bronx Youth as Partners Community Participatory Research

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This 3-year project uses community-based participatory action research to address health disparities among African American and Latino youth in the Bronx, NY, who are the defined "community" for this project. We will design, implement and conduct a process evaluation of an intervention to reduce one health disparity selected by this community. Adolescents are the lead decision-makers; there are two levels of partnership: The Project Planning Group (PPG) and The Bronx Coalition for Adolescent Health (Coalition) Both will be full participants in each phase of the work. The PPG includes: 14 Bronx teenagers age 14-19 that represent the larger community of Bronx teens; 2 researchers with scientific expertise; 2 program specialists with expertise on developing/implementing interventions; and 3 physicians who will provide health information. The Coalition includes organizations having broad experience serving youth or specific expertise in a health disparity and will provide advice, and political and practical support. Specific Aim 1, building a partnership, will be accomplished through recommended strategies (e.g., having someone responsible for nurturing the partnership itself, shared responsibility for developing rules and processes, equity in decision making). Specific Aim 2, conducting a needs assessment, includes analyses of national and local data; in-depth community interviews with stakeholders; a "Windshield Tour" to identify community factors; and data on relevant Bronx programs. Specific Aim 3, selecting a health disparity, will be guided by Friere's structured dialogue model of listening-dialogue-action. Consensus methods will be used to select one disparity. Friere's action phase will be implemented in Specific Aim 4, developing the intervention. We will develop the program using techniques used in our adolescent intervention trials. The PPG/Coalition will identify goals with the PPG staff will provide technical assistance. Specific Aim 5, piloting/conducting a process evaluation, will identify problems in recruitment, retention, receptivity, etc. Specific Aim 6, evaluating the partnership, will assess the success of the partnership on leadership/management, the collaborative process, efficiency, synergy, empowerment, and satisfaction using the Partnership Self-Assessment Tool along with qualitative interviews. This process will lead to a testable community-based intervention that has grown from the community's own experience and expertise, informed by epidemiologic data, program expertise and theory.