Development of an Interinstitutional Collaboration to Support Community-Partnered Research Addressing the Health of Emerging Latino Populations

Abstract

Collaborative and participatory research approaches have received considerable attention as means to understanding and addressing disparities in health and health care. In this article, the authors describe the process of building a three-way partnership among two academic health centers-Duke University and the University of North Carolina-and members of the Latino community in North Carolina to develop and pilot test a lay health advisor program to improve Latina immigrants' mental health and coping skills. The authors applied the principles of participatory research to engage community and academic partners, to select the health topic and population, and to develop program goals and objectives. Key challenges were negotiating administrative structures and learning institutional cultures, as well as dealing with contextual issues such as mental health reform and antiimmigrant sentiment in the state.Some important lessons learned are to seek opportunities for taking advantage of existing relationships and expertise at each academic institution, to be respectful of the burden of research on vulnerable communities, and to involve community partners at all stages of the process.

Healthcare Experiences of Latinos in a Nontraditional Destination Area

“…Community-academic partnerships between Latinoserving agencies and universities have been successful in many innovative health promotion efforts, including mental health and coping interventions among Latinos in North Carolina (Corbie-Smith et al, 2010) and health needs assessment in Cincinnati (Valenzuela, McDowell, Cencula, Hoyt, & Mitchell, 2013). One commonly used strategy to engage Latinos is through Latino lay health worker (promotores) programs, which have demonstrated potential to reach hidden populations of Latinos.…”

Results From a Pilot Promotora Program to Reduce Depression and Stress Among Immigrant Latinas

“…P romotoras were recruited and trained to serve as lay health educators in mental health and coping skills, using a linguistically and culturally tailored curriculum for recently immigrated Latinas (Corbie-Smith, Yaggy et al 2010; Tran, Ornelas et al 2012), full details on the curriculum are published elsewhere (Green, Perez et al 2012). The training curriculum consisted of at least six 2-3 hour training sessions on mental health, stress and coping skills, and how to reach out to women in the promotoras’ social networks.…”

“…The intervention, which was developed within a community-based participatory framework, trains promotoras to conduct outreach to Latina women in their social network ( compañeras ) (Corbie-Smith, Yaggy et al 2010; Green, Perez et al 2012). In this paper we focus on assessing the impact of the intervention on the mental health outcomes among the Latina women in the promotoras’ social network ( compañeras).…”

Lessons in Translation

“…We hope that our experience will serve as a concrete example of the need to broaden the definition of cultural competency as it pertains to health care interventions. As our experience also demonstrates, future health care collaborations would be well served to ensure compatibility of or compromise around key aspects of respective institutional or organizational cultures, a condition that with a few exceptions has been infrequently addressed (Corbie-Smith et al, 2010;Parker et al, 2003). Although for ease of comprehension our article described the independent role of logistical, participatory, and cultural influences on the collaborative process, this distinction is somewhat artificial.…”