AltaMed Health Services and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) are proposing to implement a research project aimed at understanding and identifying best practice strategies for working with low-income, Latino families on the issue of childhood obesity. The overall goal of the proposed project is to employ a Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) model in the Boyle Heights Community of Los Angeles, California that will assist residents in creating an environment that supports healthy behaviors to reduce obesity. The Community Generating Research to Prevent Obesity Project (C-GROw) will bring together residents and stakeholders to identify community perceptions about obesity, community strengths and resources, potential strategies for implementation and identify partnerships. The development of common goals and objectives will guide the work of the partnerships.
Aim 1 : University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine and AltaMed Health Services Corporation will enter into an MOU establishing a partnership that will focus on engaging the community members of Boyle Heights in identifying the assets and the strategies that will prevent and reduce the prevalence of pediatric and adolescent obesity in their community.
Aim 2 : Leverage the working relationships between AltaMed Health Services Corporation and UCLA in the Boyle Heights community to identify and assemble advisory board members who will plan two conferences a year over the next two years. The board is made up of organizations and individuals with the willingness, mission, capacity, and cultural competency to attract and reach a diverse range of community members, from varied backgrounds, neighborhoods, and social economic statuses in order to participate in the C-GROw community based participatory research project.
Aim 3 : Identify and understand the community's perceived causes of, and suggested strategies to prevent and reduce the prevalence of childhood and adolescent obesity, and its impact on co- morbid conditions, as well as identify the community strengths to achieve these strategies, utilizing the community based participatory research model during the planning sessions and conferences.
The C-GROw Project targets Latinos who are at high risk for obesity and associated comorbidities. This project will add to the body of research on the perceptions of low-income Latinos about obesity and strategies for combating this epidemic at the community-level. In the long-term, the outcomes of the research will improve understanding of Latino cultural patterns around health behaviors and health beliefs to guide the development of successful obesity prevention strategies.
