Through a range of qualitative data collection methods and a series of planning charrettes, we will explore the influence of culture on health beliefs and practices among Brazilian and Dominican immigrants, and develop an approach to explore that relationship.
The Specific Aims of this project are: (1) to establish an inter-disciplinary planning committee (PC) through the identification of researchers representing the social and health sciences, arts, and humanities, as well as stakeholders from the Boston area Brazilian and Dominican communities. (2) to engage the planning committee in critical dialogs exploring conceptualizations of culture at the individual, network and community levels and its relationship to transnationalism, as well as health beliefs and practices among Dominicans and Brazilians in the greater Boston area, using elements of the charrette process. (3) Based on the findings of aim #2, and in collaboration with the planning committee we will a) pilot a multi-level participatory approach to examining the relationship between culture and health beliefs and practices, b) conduct both a process and outcome evaluation of the approach and planning process, and c) disseminate findings for the development of a full scale study. This project is significant because it employs an interdisciplinary approach to plan for a method that will capture the relationship between culture and health.
Culture is associated with both risk and protective factors related to health. For immigrants and transnationals, the influence of culture may vary depending on a range of factors at the individual, network and broader community levels. Currently, no metric exist to capture culture as a multi-level construct and its effects on health among immigrants.
