Using Academic-Community Partnerships to Address Obesity and Health Literacy

在美国，肥胖被认为是一种全国性的流行病和公共卫生危机。在费城北部， 近70%的儿童超重或肥胖。健康知识普及是社区基础教育的重要组成部分， 肥胖预防：人们需要能够访问，处理和整合可用的信息， 他们关于他们的饮食行为，如遵循饮食指南，最大限度地购买 电力，并成功地操纵复杂的食品景观。我们的会议系列的目标是 与适当的社区组织建立正式的社区伙伴关系，以解决肥胖预防问题 在北费城使用健康素养的方法。一个目标是为正式的 从试点研究项目和社区学习的小型合作努力中发展出伙伴关系 课程另一个目标是通过定期论坛和教育活动维持伙伴关系， 鼓励学术界和社区之间的交流。该项目的总体方法是 通过一个共同的桥梁社区为基础的学习课程与社区为基础的实证研究 努力解决肥胖预防和健康知识普及问题。将利用各种会议和讲习班， 从坦普尔大学广泛的社区网络中收集利益相关者，以审查 北费城关于肥胖和家庭相关因素的情况，探索最佳实践，并计划 研究议程包括需求评估、试点研究和干预研究。成果将 包括与正式社区合作伙伴的具体研究项目，新的社区学习课程， 提高社区组织与坦普尔在教学/学习方面有效合作的能力， 研究机会。具体目标1将涉及伙伴关系的形成过程。具体目标2 解决健康差距研究议程的发展。具体目标3侧重于可持续性 of community社区engagement参与. 拟议的开发和实施模式的方法是创新的 在汇集坦普尔的社区为基础的参与性研究工作，其成功的 社区合作的学习倡议，从而扩大社区参与和影响， 教学和研究目标。

In the United States, obesity is considered a national epidemic and a public health crisis. In North Philadelphia, nearly 70% of children are overweight or obese. Health literacy is an essential ingredient for community-based obesity prevention: people need to be able to access, process, and integrate the information that is available to them regarding their dietary behaviors, such as following dietary guidelines, maximizing their purchasing power, and successfully maneuvering the complex food landscape. Our goal for the conference series is to build a formal Community Partnership with appropriate community organizations to address obesity prevention in North Philadelphia using a health literacy approach. One objective is to create opportunities for a formal partnership to evolve out of smaller partnered efforts in pilot research projects and community learning courses. Another objective is to sustain the Partnership through regular forums and educational events that encourage communication between academia and community. The overall approach of the project is to bridge community-based learning courses with Community Based Participatory Research through a common effort addressing obesity prevention and health literacy. Meetings, conferences and workshops will be used to gather stakeholders from the extensive community networks that exist across Temple University to review the North Philadelphia landscape regarding obesity and family relevant factors, explore best practices, and plan a research agenda that includes needs assessments, pilot research, and intervention studies. Outcomes will include specific research projects with a formal Community Partner, new community learning courses, and improved capacity of community organizations to effectively partner with Temple in teaching/learning and research opportunities. Specific Aim 1 will address processes of Partnership formation. Specific Aim 2 addresses the development of the health disparity research agenda. Specific Aim 3 focuses on sustainability of community engagement. The proposed approach to developing and implementing the model is innovative in the bringing together of Temple's community based participatory research efforts with its successful community-partnered learning initiatives thereby extending community participation and influence on both pedagogical and research goals.