Science and Community: Ending Obesity Improving Health

描述（由申请人提供）：肥胖已被公认为一种流行病，给公众健康和国民经济带来了巨大的负担。国家数据显示，尽管广泛的公共卫生信息要求减少肥胖，但这一趋势仍在继续，有色人种尤其容易受到影响。虽然大多数肥胖病例归因于生活习惯，但传统的行为改变计划几乎没有可持续性，部分原因是基于环境，政策，文化或社会根源的个人外部生态因素。肥胖是一个复杂系统的一部分，它代表了生态环境多个层面的失败；因此，仅仅将肥胖者纳入减肥计划是不足以实现可持续减肥的。与传统的、以个人为中心的项目相比，科学家和社区之间的伙伴关系可能会提供更大的成功和可持续性，以适应和包括社区生态因素。该项目旨在利用休斯顿市社区提供的独特机会，通过共同的愿景、社区外展和教育，建立伙伴关系，促进可持续的肥胖减少，最终目标是提交一份提案，向NIH申请资助。休斯顿是一个令人难以置信的多元化、人口众多的中心，在过去的五年里，它被列为美国十大最胖城市之一。目标将通过许多互动会议、讲习班、专题讨论会和会议来完成，以建立学术界与社区的伙伴关系，确定社区研究的优先事项，并制定长期合作议程，重点关注整个生命周期的肥胖问题，特别关注儿童和妇女。该合作伙伴关系将利用休斯顿大学健康与人类绩效系的德克萨斯肥胖研究中心（TORC）作为框架组织来支持合作伙伴关系和议程，并依靠社区成员与TORC和休斯敦大学之间的长期社区关系。预计这一项目将为建立社区伙伴关系结构提供一个论坛，该结构将支持最终以社区为基础的参与性研究项目，并将促进以文化为中心的社区伙伴关系，重点是解决和消除健康差距。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Obesity has been recognized as an epidemic, placing a huge burden on the health of the public and the national economy. National data suggest that the trend continues, despite broad-based public health messages to reduce obesity, and populations of color are particularly vulnerable. Although most cases of obesity are attributed to lifestyle habits, traditional behavior change programs have had little sustainability, in part attributable to ecologic factors external to the individual, grounded in environment, policy, cultural or social origins. Obesity occurs as part of a complex system representing failures at multiple levels of the ecologic milieu; thus, simply enrolling the obese in weight loss programs is insufficient for sustainable weight loss. Partnerships between scientists and communities to accommodate and include community ecologic factors may offer greater success and sustainability compared to traditional, individually-focused programs. This project aims to capitalize on the unique opportunities presented in communities in the City of Houston to develop a partnership to promote sustainable obesity reduction via shared vision, community outreach and education with the final goal of developing a proposal for submission for NIH funding. Houston is an incredibly diverse, large population center with the uncomfortable distinction of being listed as one of America's Top 10 Fattest Cities for the last five years. Aims will be completed via numerous interactive meetings, workshops, symposia and conferences to establish an academic-community partnership, identify community-research priorities, and develop a long-term collaborative agenda, focusing on the problem of obesity across the lifespan with particular attention to children and women. The partnership will use the Texas Obesity Research Center (TORC) in the Department of Health and Human Performance at the University of Houston (UH) as a framework organization to support the partnership and agenda, and rely on longstanding community ties of community members to the TORC and the UH. It is expected that this project will provide a forum for the development of a community partnership structure that will support an eventual community based participatory research (CBPR) project and will facilitate culturally centered community partnership with a focus on addressing and eliminating health disparities. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Approximately 280,000 deaths and $117 billion in medical expenses are attributed to obesity and obesity-related conditions each year and there is no known sustainable solution. Engaging community members, employing local knowledge, and investing community members from the most vulnerable communities, in the process of research to tackle this health problem through CBPR is highly significant to public health.