Development and evaluation of a community-engaged research training program: Building capacity of Marshallese stakeholders and academic researchers to conduct health research

Pacific Islanders are a growing, yet understudied population who suffer from high rates of chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes. Given the historical trauma experienced by Pacific Islanders, community-based participatory research (CBPR) is an appropriate way to conduct research focused on reducing the health disparities observed in this population. This paper presents the process of engaging the Marshallese community to design, conduct, and evaluate a community-engaged research training program. The goal of the program was to build the capacity of both academic researchers and community stakeholders to conduct CBPR for the purpose of addressing health disparities identified and prioritized by the Marshallese community. The program included both didactic training and experiential mentored research components delivered over a period of two years. Eleven Marshallese community stakeholders and eleven academic researchers participated in the program. Results indicated that the program successfully increased participants’ knowledge regarding the CBPR process. Groups of participants have completed exploratory research projects based on the topics identified by the community. The evaluation adds important insights to the current CBPR training literature and can inform future CBPR trainings. Keywords community-basead participatory research, community-engaged research, Pacific Islanders, minority health, health disparities, interprofessional trainin

Using CBPR to address health disparities with the Marshallese community in Arkansas

Context: Arkansas currently has the largest Marshallese community in the continental US. The limited research available demonstrates that Marshallese have significant health disparities, with higher rates of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and infectious diseases than the US population. Objectives: The purpose of this paper is 2-fold: (1) to describe the formation and capacity building efforts of a community-based participatory research partnership with the Marshallese community in Arkansas and (2) to describe key findings and lessons learned from 5 years of collaborative research. Methods: A community-based participatory research approach was implemented to build alliances and improve health disparities in a Marshallese community. Results: Overarching lessons learned from collaboration with the Marshallese community include the: (1) Intensive involvement of Marshallese from multiple sectors of the community and in multiple roles in the research process, (2) Importance of interprofessional teams, (3) Importance of church, (4) Consideration of sex, (5) Importance of family and definition of family, (6) Talk Story and qualitative methods and the (7) Importance of cultural humility. Conclusions: This research helps fill important gaps in documenting the health disparities and interventions to address those disparities in the Marshallese community

COVID-19 and the State of Health of Pacific Islanders in the U.S.

In the United States, Pacific Islanders are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 at alarming rates. Prior to the pandemic, the population was experiencing some of the largest health disparities in the United States driven, in part, by a lack of access to economic resources and health care. Historical events provide a context to understanding the current socioeconomic indicators that predispose Pacific Islanders to COVID-19 and provides insight into the circumstances that have led to the effective transmission of COVID-19 in this community. Other Pacific populations demonstrate more optimal control of COVID-19 and may provide models that have the potential to improve the devastatingly dis proportional rates of infection and death in this vulnerable community