Joining Forces with a Key Community to Reduce Obesity

描述(由申请人提供)：肥胖是许多常见慢性疾病发展的重要危险因素，包括糖尿病、心血管疾病和一些癌症。越来越多的证据表明，饮食和体育锻炼对预防肥胖和保护健康很重要。与白人社区相比，非洲裔美国人、拉丁裔和太平洋岛民更有可能经历高肥胖率、低体力活动水平和糟糕的饮食习惯。因此，肥胖症已经成为慢性疾病差异的主要因素，而且还在不断增加。加州大学洛杉矶分校公共卫生学院的研究人员与洛杉矶县卫生服务部(DHS)合作，利用基于社区的参与性研究(CBPR)框架，在卫生和社会服务机构(包括卫生部门内的单位和以社区为基础的私人组织[CBO])的工作人员中选择并试点肥胖控制干预措施。国土安全部长期以来一直在解决社区肥胖问题上发挥召集人的作用，拥有近10万名工作人员，其中大部分是非洲裔美国女性和拉丁裔。它还与它合作提供保健服务的许多社区组织建立关系并发挥杠杆作用，推动这些社区组织的变革；这些社区组织的人口构成也主要是女性和拉丁裔或非裔美国人。因此，在CBPR努力识别和测试肥胖预防和控制干预措施方面，国土安全部是一个完美的社区合作伙伴。加州大学洛杉矶分校的调查人员长期致力于进行基于社区的健康差距研究。这笔规划赠款将提供关键的财政和机构支持，以进一步发展和维持学术研究团队、卫生部门和其他社区机构之间有效伙伴关系所需的结构和沟通渠道。由卫生和社会服务机构的代表组成并由国土安全部召集的社区调查员小组将与研究小组密切合作，以确保社区意见影响研究过程的每个阶段。在为期3年的项目期间，将利用协作决策过程来确定、优先排序和选择肥胖控制干预策略。该项目的创新之处在于，它选择这些工作人员作为目标“社区”，并将基于证据的决策算法纳入干预选择过程。一项既科学严谨又为社会所接受的先导研究将测试干预策略。最后，来自试点研究的数据将被分析并用于开发R01应用程序。结果还将在参与组织中传播。 这个创新的社区参与式研究项目将使加州大学洛杉矶分校的研究人员与当地卫生部门的调查人员合作，让卫生和社会服务机构的工作人员为他们的工作环境选择和初步测试肥胖控制干预措施。

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.