African-born individuals in the U.S. face significant health challenges, including low utilization of preventive screening services. Using a community-based participatory research framework, we describe preliminary efforts at establishing a collaborative relationship with the East African communities of San Diego, identifying salient community health needs, and developing a framework for disseminating information and addressing identified health gaps. To this end, 40 East African-born women participated in focus groups with the purpose of eliciting community perspectives on U.S. health care services, beliefs about preventive screening, and to garner recommendations for future outreach. Qualitative analyses identified participants’ desire to engage in primary prevention techniques that incorporated best practices from their home countries and the U.S., and the need for health education programs to provide information on increasingly prevalent chronic diseases. The findings are discussed in connection to continued community-engaged efforts and the implications for health and resettlement policies to reduce inequities disfavoring resettled refugees.

Background Though many immigrants enter the U.S. with a healthy body weight, this health advantage disappears the longer they reside in the U.S. To better understand the complexities of obesity change within a cultural framework, a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach, Photovoice, was utilized focusing on physical activity among Muslim Somali women. Objectives The CBPR partnership was formed to identify barriers and resources to engaging in physical activity with goals of advocacy and program development. Methods Muslim Somali women (n = 8) were recruited to participate, trained and provided cameras, and engaged in group discussions about the scenes they photographed. Results Participants identified several barriers, including safety concerns, minimal culturally appropriate resources, and financial constraints. Strengths included public resources and a community support system. The CBPR process identified opportunities and challenges to collaboration and dissemination processes. Conclusions The findings laid the framework for subsequent program development and community engagement.

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There is pressing need for innovation in clinical research to more effectively recruit, engage, retain, and promote health among diverse populations overburdened by health disparities. The purpose of this study is to provide a detailed illustration of the cultural adaptation of an evidence-based intervention to bolster translational research with currently underserved communities. The cultural adaptation heuristic framework described by Barrera and colleagues is applied to the adaptation of a physical activity evidence-based intervention with adult Somali women. Widespread changes were required to ensure program feasibility and acceptability, including the reduction of assessment protocols and changes discordant with current trends in physical activity research. The cultural adaptation of evidence-based interventions offers an important mechanism for reducing health disparities. Improved reporting standards, assessment of features relevant to underserved communities, and greater funding requirements to ensure better representation are needed to promote more widespread access for all people. KeywordsCross-cultural research, Cultural adaptation, Health disparities, Translational research, Physical activity interventions, Refugee research There is a pressing need for innovations in clinical research to more effectively recruit, engage, retain, and promote health among diverse populations overburdened by health disparities [1][2][3]. Disparities persist for many racial/ethnic minority groups in health outcomes [4], as well as representation in clinical research and interventions [2,5]. Culturally, adapting current evidence-based interventions (EBIs) for use with more diverse target populations offers great potential for decreasing health disparities and increasing access to EBIs, yet there is a need to advance this science with broader applications within diverse populations [6][7][8][9].There are several cultural adaptation theories and frameworks proposed in the literature, but few comprehensive illustrations of program adaptations, which are needed to guide best practice. Herein, we detail the cultural adaptation of an efficacious physical activity (PA) program following the heuristic framework laid out by Barrera and Castro [10]. We selected this framework because it provides flexibility in the dimensions for adaptation (e.g., engagement strategies, outcomes) and clear steps for structuring the cultural adaptation process. The framework includes four steps that include a range of information gathering, adaptation processes, and adaptation tests. The goal of program adaptation is to identify and address challenges to ensuring program fidelity alongside the acceptability of the program for the new target population [11].African immigrants represent one such underrepresented group in research and programming [12]. In particular, Somali women appear to have unique barriers to engaging in PA such as cultural practices related to modesty and limited exposure to intentional physical activity in Somalia [13], al...

Despite growing numbers in the USA, immigrant populations are underrepresented in existing physical activity (PA) research, in particular Muslim immigrant women. The current study is a pilot evaluation of a culturally adapted evidence-based PA intervention for adult Somali women. Stratified randomization was used to assign participants from a sample of 27 Somali women, aged 18 to 65, to a PA group or a waitlist control group. Bicultural Somali community research team members delivered a 12-week culturally adapted intervention available in English and Somali in a community-based setting. Process and outcome evaluation assessed changes in PA, self-efficacy for PA, access to PA resources, and wellbeing as well as feasibility and satisfaction with the program. Participants in the PA group increased their moderate to vigorous PA significantly more than those from the waitlist group from baseline to post-intervention (2 (SD = 15) to 100 (SD = 53) vs 12 (SD = 21) to 32 (SD = 44) minutes per week). Participants in the PA group had significantly greater scores in wellbeing at post-intervention compared to the waitlist group though there was no significant change from pre- to post-intervention for either group. Participants reported a high level of satisfaction with the program and preliminary evidence supports the general feasibility and acceptability of the program. Findings show that a culturally adapted intervention increased engagement in PA and was feasible and acceptable within a pilot sample of Somali women.