THE UT-PAN AMERICAN & LOWER RIO GRANDE VALLEY PARTNERSH*

描述(由申请人提供)：该项目的总体目标是使德克萨斯大学泛美分校(UTPA)的研究人员能够与德克萨斯州南部格兰德河谷(LRGV)地区的学校社区、基于社区的组织(CBO)和初级保健从业者建立合作伙伴关系，目的是开发和进行关于儿童、青少年和成人肥胖的转化性研究。由于肥胖症、糖尿病、心血管疾病、癌症和传染病等慢性病的高患病率，与健康差距有关的疾病的解决方案在LRGV地区尤为迫切。拟议的项目将为UTPA的研究人员提供一个及时的机会，与其服务的社区建立合作伙伴关系，共同寻找解决LRGV肥胖流行的方法。在制定肥胖症长期研究议程的一开始就有机会让社区参与进来，是一种合理的方法，将使UTPA的研究人员对要调查的问题有一个明确的了解。拟议项目的具体目标如下：1.在UTPA和LRGV学校营养师、学校健康教育教师、学校护士、社区组织和初级保健从业人员之间建立伙伴关系，目的是举办关于儿童、青少年和成人肥胖的与健康差距有关的讲习班。2.确定LRGV社区在儿童、青少年和成人肥胖方面的需求和研究优先事项。3.使已确定的肥胖问题与UTPA的研究优先事项保持一致。4.制定一项研究议程，供NIH倡议第二阶段用于准备赠款申请，重点研究儿童、青少年和成人肥胖症。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall goal of the project proposed herein is to provide researchers at the University of Texas-Pan American (UTPA) the ability to form partnerships with school communities, Community Based Organizations (CBO) and primary healthcare practitioners in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) region of South Texas for the purpose of developing and conducting translational research on childhood, adolescent and adult obesity. The need for solutions to health disparities-related diseases is especially great in the LRGV region due to the high prevalence of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular, cancer and infectious diseases. The proposed project will provide a timely opportunity for UTPA researchers to formulate partnerships with the community it serves, to work together in finding solutions to obesity prevalence in the LRGV. The opportunity to involve the community at the very onset of developing a long-term research agenda on obesity is a sound approach that will provide UTPA researchers with a clear understanding of the questions to be investigated. The specific objectives of the proposed project are as follows: 1. To establish partnerships between UTPA and LRGV school dietitians, school health education teachers, school nurses, community based organizations and primary care practitioners for the purpose of conducting health disparities-related workshops on childhood, adolescent and adult obesity. 2. To identify the LRGV community's need and research priorities on childhood, adolescent and adult obesity. 3. To form an alignment between the identified obesity problems and UTPA's research priorities. 4. To develop a research agenda to be utilized in phase II of this NIH initiative in preparing grant applications with research emphasis on childhood, adolescent and adult obesity.