Empowerment of Promotoras as Promotora–Researchers in the Comidas Saludables & Gente Sana en las Colonias del Sur de Tejas (Healthy Food and Healthy People in South Texas Colonias) Program

Abstract

Promotoras are trusted members of underserved, at-risk Hispanic communities experiencing social and health inequities. As promotora-researchers, promotoras have the unique ability and opportunity not only to provide outreach and education but also to be actively engaged in conducting research in their communities and serve as a cultural bridge between the community and researchers. In this article, we present a case study of personal and collective empowerment of six promotora-researchers who participated in seven community-based participatory research projects. Data sources included debriefing interviews with the promotora-researchers, milestone tracking and documentation completed during and after each study, and observations by the principal investigator and project managers regarding the role of the promotora-researchers in these studies. We qualitatively analyzed the data to identify the processes and decisions that were developed and implemented in a series of projects, which resulted in promotora-researcher empowerment. We found that active engagement empowered promotora-researchers personally and collectively in all phases of the research study. Common elements that contributed to the empowerment of promotora-researchers were valuing promotora-researchers' input, enabling promotora-researchers to acquire and utilize new skills, and allowing promotora-researchers to serve as both researchers and traditional promotoras. Together, these elements enabled them to more fully participate in research projects, while allowing them to identify and address needs within their own communities.

Physical Activity in Parks

“…13 Except for 7 of the 16 PAB/PD parks where PAB members and/or local residents opted to serve as paid data collectors, and who typically administered surveys only, certified promotoras conducted the observations for all study arms. Except for these 7 PAB/PD parks, data collectors were blind to the study arm assignments.…”

An exploration of citizen science for population health research in retail food environments

“…We engaged citizens in the process of refining their capacity to identify individual, community, built-environment, and societal needs, as recommended by previous research. 15 We enabled citizens to conduct brief forms of food environment assessment and prompted them to consider how local environmental data could be used by them as advocates and change agents.…”

“…To recruit a more diverse group of participants, future citizen science approaches could incorporate methods that we have used in past research to engage specific ethnocultural and neighbourhood subpopulations, such as the promotora approach. 13,15 In addition, the stakes were relatively low for both researchers and participants from the field activity, since this was a capacity-building event and not formal data collection; it would be important to test how a similar event could be used in formal fieldwork training.…”

Promotorasas Data Collectors in a Large Study of Physical Activity in Parks

“…Promotores have also successfully administered surveys and direct observation protocols in the colonias along the Texas–Mexico border (O'Hegarty et al, 2010; Sharkey, Dean, St. John, & Huber, 2010). Furthermore, there is growing interest in an expanded role for promotores as research partners, in which they help shape research design and influence the research agenda (Farquhar et al, 2008; Johnson, Sharkey, Dean, St. John, & Castillo, 2013; St. John, Johnson, Sharkey, Dean, & Arandia, 2013).…”

“…John, Johnson, Sharkey, Dean, & Arandia, 2013). However, the range of research roles played by promotores across diverse populations and settings is much less well documented as compared to their more traditional roles in health promotion (Johnson et al, 2013; St. John et al, 2013); thus the lessons learned in this particular adaptation of the promotores model are still emerging.…”