Joining Forces with a Key Community to Reduce Obesity D*

描述（由申请人提供）：肥胖是许多常见慢性疾病（包括糖尿病、心血管疾病和某些癌症）发展的重要危险因素。越来越多的证据表明，饮食和体育活动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、拉丁裔美国人和太平洋岛民更有可能经历高肥胖率、低运动量和不良饮食习惯。因此，肥胖已成为造成慢性疾病差异的主要因素，而且日益增加。来自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，使用社区参与式研究（CBPR）框架，在卫生和社会服务机构（包括卫生部门内的单位和私人社区组织[cbo]）的工作人员中选择和试点测试肥胖控制干预措施。长期以来，国土安全部一直在解决社区肥胖问题方面发挥着召集人的作用，拥有近10万名工作人员，其中大部分是非洲裔美国妇女和拉丁裔美国人。它还与合作提供卫生服务的许多社区卫生组织建立了关系并发挥了推动变革的作用；这些社区卫生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工作中，DHS是一个完美的社区合作伙伴，以确定和测试肥胖预防和控制干预措施。加州大学洛杉矶分校的研究人员长期致力于开展基于社区的健康差异研究。这项规划赠款将提供重要的财政和体制支持，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小组将与研究小组密切合作，确保社区投入影响研究进程的每个阶段。在为期3年的项目期间，将采用协作决策过程来确定、优先考虑和选择肥胖控制干预策略。该项目在选择这些工作人员作为目标“社区”以及将基于证据的决策算法纳入干预选择过程方面具有创新性。一项在科学上严谨且为社区所接受的试点研究将检验这些干预策略。最后，从试点研究的数据将被分析并用于开发R01应用程序。结果也将在各参加组织之间传播。

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.