A Church-Based, Self-Management Intervention for Mexican-Americans with Diabetes

我的长期研究目标是成为一个全国受人尊敬的，独立的社区研究人员，特别关注使用基于信仰的干预措施，以减少拉丁美洲人之间的糖尿病差异。糖尿病是一种非常普遍和病态的疾病，影响拉丁美洲人，特别是在美国的墨西哥裔美国人。许多以教会为基础的干预措施已经显示出改善少数民族人口健康状况的希望;但关于以教会为基础的拉丁美洲人口干预措施的数据很少。考虑到教会是拉丁美洲家庭和文化的中心，以教会为基础的干预措施有望对这一群体产生重大影响。据我们所知，没有其他研究专注于为拉丁美洲糖尿病患者设计基于教会的干预措施。迄今为止，我的研究已经使我在成为独立学术研究者的道路上实现了许多短期目标。在职业发展奖的支持下，我将有机会提高我在社区研究方法和设计干预措施方面的技能，以解决健康差距和促进拉丁裔社区的变化。在未来五年内，我将重点关注以下短期目标：1）获得额外的研究培训和技能; 2）评估当地医疗服务提供者与教会糖尿病自我管理干预措施联系起来的促进者和障碍; 3）设计一个以教会为基础的，与信仰机构和当地医疗机构合作，进行文化上适当的患者干预，以增加自我拉丁美洲糖尿病患者的管理; 4）在拉丁美洲糖尿病患者中试点干预，以改善其糖尿病结局。考虑到西班牙裔人口的增长及其不成比例的慢性病负担，开发基于社区的规划并将这些计划与当地医疗保健系统联系起来对于减少拉丁美洲人之间的健康差距至关重要，并有望对该社区的糖尿病结局产生重大影响。在K23奖的支持下，我可以提高我在社区研究中的技能，并努力成为一名独立的学术研究人员，通过基于信仰的干预措施，运用基于社区的方法来减少拉丁美洲糖尿病的差异。 公共卫生相关性：我的长期研究目标是成为一个全国受人尊敬的，独立的社区为基础的研究人员，特别注重使用基于信仰的干预措施，以减少拉丁美洲人之间的糖尿病差异。考虑到教会是拉丁美洲家庭和文化的中心，以教会为基础的干预措施有望对这一人群产生巨大影响。据我们所知，没有其他研究专注于为拉丁美洲糖尿病患者设计基于教会的干预措施。考虑到西班牙裔人口的增长及其不成比例的慢性病负担，制定方案以减少影响这一人口的健康差距至关重要。迄今为止，我的研究已经使我在成为独立学术研究者的道路上实现了许多短期目标。在职业发展奖的支持下，我将有机会提高我在社区研究方法和设计干预措施方面的技能，以解决健康差距和促进拉丁裔社区的变革。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): My long-term research objective is to become a nationally respected, independent community-based researcher, with a specific focus on using faith-based interventions to reduce diabetes disparities among Latinos. Diabetes is a very prevalent and morbid condition affecting Latinos, especially Mexican-Americans in the United States. Many church-based interventions have shown promise improving health outcomes among minority populations; but data on church-based interventions for Latino populations is scarce. Considering that the church is a center of Latino family and culture, interventions based in churches has promise to have great impact on this population. To our knowledge, no other studies have focused on designing church-based interventions for Latinos with diabetes. My research to date has already allowed me accomplish many of my short-term objectives in my path to becoming an independent academic researcher. With the support from the career development award, I will have the opportunity to refine my skills in community-based research methods and design interventions to tackle health disparities and foster change in Latino communities. I have the following short-term goals over the next five years that I will focus on in this proposal: 1) To gain additional research training and skills; 2) To assess the facilitators and barriers of local healthcare providers in linking to church-based diabetes, self-management interventions; 3) To design a church-based, culturally-appropriate patient intervention in partnership with faith-based institutions and local healthcare institutions to increase self- management of Latino patients with diabetes; 4) To pilot the intervention among Latinos with diabetes with the goal of improving their diabetes outcomes. Considering the growth of the Hispanic population and their disproportionate burden of chronic diseases, developing community based programming and linking these programs to the local healthcare system is crucial to decrease the health disparities among Latinos and has promise to have a high impact on diabetes outcomes on this community. With support from the K23 award, I can improve my skills in community based research and work towards my goal of becoming an independent academic researcher with an expertise in applying community based methods in decreasing Latino disparities in diabetes through faith-based interventions. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: My long-term research objective is to become a nationally respected, independent community-based researcher, with a specific focus on using faith-based interventions to reduce diabetes disparities among Latinos. Considering that the church is a center of Latino family and culture, interventions based in churches have promise for great impact in this population. To our knowledge, no other studies have focused on designing church-based interventions for Latinos with diabetes. Considering the growth of the Hispanic population and their disproportionate burden of chronic diseases, developing programming to decrease the health disparities affecting this population is crucial. My research to date has already allowed me accomplish many of my short-term objectives in my path to becoming an independent academic researcher. With the support from the career development award, I will have the opportunity to refine my skills in community-based research methods and design interventions to tackle health disparities and foster change in Latino communities.