Joining Forces with a Key Community to Reduce Obesity D*

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Obesity is a significant risk factor for the development of many common chronic diseases including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and some cancers. Evidence is accumulating that diet and physical activity are important for preventing obesity and protecting health. African-Americans, Latinos, and Pacific Islanders are more likely to experience high rates of obesity, lower levels of physical activity, and poor dietary habits than white communities. Thus, obesity has emerged as a dominant and growing contributor to chronic disease disparities. Investigators from the UCLA School of Public Health have teamed up with the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (DHS) to use a community-based participatory research (CBPR) framework to select and pilot test an obesity control intervention among the staffs of health and social service agencies (including units within the health department and private community-based organizations [CBOs]. The DHS has long served in a convener role in addressing obesity in the community and has a staff of nearly 100,000, mostly African-American women and Latinos. It also has relationships with and leverage to drive change in the many CBOs with which it collaborates to deliver health services; the demographic composition of these CBOs is also predominantly female and Latino or African-American. Thus, the DHS is a perfect community partner in a CBPR effort to identify and test obesity prevention and control interventions. The UCLA investigators have a long-standing commitment to conducting community based health disparities research. This planning grant will provide crucial financial and institutional support to further develop and maintain the structures and communication channels necessary for an effective partnership between the academic research team, the health department, and other community agencies. A Community Investigator Team, comprised of representatives from health and social services agencies and convened by DHS, will work closely with the research team to ensure that community input shapes each phase of the research process. During the 3-year project period, a collaborative decision-making process will be utilized to identify, prioritize, and select obesity control intervention strategies. The project is innovative in its selection of these staff as the targeted "community," and in its incorporation of evidence based decision-making algorithm into the intervention selection process. A pilot study that is both scientifically rigorous and acceptable to the community will test the intervention strategies. Finally, the data from the pilot study will be analyzed and used to develop an R01 application. Results will also be disseminated among participating organizations. This innovative community-based participatory research project will team UCLA researchers with local health department investigators to engage the staff of health and social services agencies in selecting and preliminarily testing obesity control interventions for their work settings.