The Community Liaison Core (CLC) of the Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research (MCUAAAR) addresses issues of health disparities among older members of racial and ethnic minority groups by increasing their participation in health-related research; the CLC encompasses four main functions: (1) increasing scientific knowledge of methods and strategies for recruiting and retaining older African Americans as research participants; (2) partnering with community-based organizations to facilitate older African Americans' participation in a registry for health-related research; (3) training pilot scholars in using the CLC datasets and the principles of community-based participatory and translation research; and, (4) disseminating and translating scientific information about minority aging to the professional and host community. The CLC is defined as academic researchers (including MCUAAAR pilot scholars and staff), health care providers, health care organizations, older African Americans, family members of older African Americans, and a community advisory board, all working synergistically to design, implement and manage an action-based plan to achieve the overall goal of the proposed CLC. For nearly fifteen years the MCUAAAR has continued to improve the quality of science focusing on the recruitment and retention of African American older adults in health-related research. The CLCs four specific aims for the next five years are to: (1) contribute to the science of recruitment and retention of older blacks by further testing the participant registry; (2) extend and expand partnerships with community-based organizations; (3) work with the Investigator Core to train pilot scholars in the principles of CBPR and the use of unique Detroit based data sets developed by MCUAAAR; and, (4) disseminate and translate scientific information to the community in ways that will improve health and functioning of urban, African American elders.
Persistence disparities exist in health among the older African American adult population when compared to non-Hispanic white Americans; their participation in health-related research remains low. The overall goal of the MCUAAAR CLC over the next five years is to use a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach to facilitate the recruitment, retention, and participation of older urban AA in health-related research, including research focusing on health promotion.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 219 publications
