African Americans in Health Science Research: A University, Community, and Faith-

描述（由申请人提供）：非裔美国人继续经历着惊人的健康差距，包括预期寿命较短，癌症、心脏病、中风、艾滋病毒/艾滋病、糖尿病、哮喘、流感和肺炎的发病率较高，婴儿死亡率和出生体重低。为了更有效地解决这些差异，迫切需要将非裔美国人和为他们服务的社区组织纳入研究过程的健康研究。接触非裔美国人的一个潜在伙伴是非裔美国人教会社区。非裔美国人教会有显着的影响力和影响力，超过50%的非裔美国人每周参加教会。我们建议在我们超过11年的校外资助记录的基础上（例如，美国国立卫生研究院，疾病预防控制中心，SAMSHA，地方基金会）健康科学研究与非洲裔美国人教会和社区组织（CBO）建立一个新的正式伙伴关系，心脏地带健康网络（HHN）总部设在密苏里大学堪萨斯城。HHN将支持学术健康中心，非裔美国人信仰社区和社区健康服务组织之间的合作研究。HHN将侧重于克服每个合作伙伴面临的障碍，以促进健康研究和传播。为了实现这一目标，我们将：1）使我们现有的卫生研究人员、非裔美国人信仰组织和社区卫生服务组织网络正规化; 2）通过加强沟通和伙伴关系、技术支持、组织能力以及卫生研究和传播专门知识，提高我们合作伙伴的基础设施能力，以有效地发展和传播卫生科学研究; 3）扩大我们的网络，成为一个区域实体，包括更多的教会和其他社区部门（例如，学校，媒体），以解决影响非洲裔美国人的健康差距;和4）通过扩大大学机构的支持，由HHN合作伙伴的赠款合作提交，并确保基金会的支持，实现可持续性。为了协助促进这些目标，我们已经确定了一个社区研究助理（CRA）谁在开发和实施非裔美国人教会的健康规划的丰富经验。CRA将确保非裔美国人教会社区的代表积极参与这一申请的各个方面。她将倡导他们的利益，并确保HHN努力满足他们的基础设施需求。这些目标的实现将导致几个创新，包括更多的非裔美国人教会为基础的健康研究和传播，更多的文化能力的研究人员和卫生服务人员，提高研究过程中的所有合作伙伴的理解，提高能力，以适应/发展文化适当的健康干预措施，和更多的健康差距与风险的非裔美国人解决。 公共卫生相关性：非裔美国人继续经历着惊人的健康差距，在学术健康研究中代表性不足。该项目旨在满足非裔美国人充分参与研究的需要，并扩大信仰和社区组织和研究人员的技能和经验，以发展促进研究的战略社区伙伴关系。潜在的公共卫生影响是巨大的，因为它将提高社区在非裔美国人中实施循证干预措施的能力。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): African Americans continue to experience striking health disparities, including shorter life expectancy and higher rates of cancer, heart disease, stroke, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, asthma, influenza and pneumonia, and infant mortality and low birth weights. To more effectively address these disparities, there is a pressing need for health research that includes African Americans -- and the community organizations that serve them - in the research process. One potential partner for reaching African Americans is the African American church community. African American churches have significant influence and reach with over 50% of the African American population attending church on a weekly basis. We propose to build on our more than 11-year track record of extramurally-funded (e.g., NIH, CDC, SAMSHA, local foundations) health science research with African American churches and community-based organizations (CBOs) to create a new formal partnership, the Heartland Health Network (HHN) based at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. The HHN will support collaborative research between an academic health center, an African American faith-based community, and a community-based health service organization. The HHN will focus on overcoming the barriers that each partner faces in order to facilitate health research and dissemination. To achieve this goal we will: 1) formalize our existing network of health researchers, African American faith-based organizations, and a community-based health service organization; 2) increase the infrastructure capacity of our partners to efficiently develop and disseminate health science research by enhancing communication and partner relationships, technology support, organizational capacity, and health research and dissemination expertise; 3) broaden our network to become a regional entity inclusive of additional churches and other community sectors (e.g., schools, media) to address health disparities affecting African Americans; and 4) achieve sustainability by expanding university institutional support, collaborative submission of grants by HHN partners, and securing foundation support. To assist in facilitating these goals, we have identified a Community Research Associate (CRA) who has extensive experience in developing and implementing health programming in African American churches. The CRA will ensure that representatives of the African American church community are actively involved in all aspects of this application. She will advocate for their interests and ensure that the HHN strives to meet their infrastructure needs. Achievement of these goals will result in several innovations, including more African American church-based health research and dissemination, more culturally competent researchers and health service staff, enhanced understanding of the research process by all partners, enhanced ability to adapt/develop culturally-appropriate health interventions, and an increased number of health disparities addressed with at-risk African Americans. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: African Americans continue to experience striking health disparities, and are underrepresented in academic health research. This project addresses the need to fully engage African Americans in research, as well as expand the skills and experience of faith and community-based organizations and researchers to develop strategic community partnerships that facilitate research. The potential public health impact is substantial because it will enhance the capacity of the community to implement evidence-based interventions among African Americans.