Quantifying the Values and Concerns of Under-Served Refugees and Immigrant Residents in City Heights, San Diego

Researchers working in refugee immigrant communities should be culturally sensitive while collecting data to assess the community needs. Mid-City CAN (Community Action Network) has developed the House Meeting Leaders Advocacy Model (HMLAM) in City Heights, San Diego. The Model relies heavily on the House Meeting Leaders from each ethnic community to assist in many different ways including collecting data to elicit the needs of the community. In a period of six months, around 1,550 residents of City Heights participated in focus groups conducted in 13 different languages. The ethnic communities were asked : What contributes to this community's health? ; What can we do to improve the health of this community? ; What do we need to have to support families? ; What do the youth contribute to this community? ; How can we build on their contribution? The qualitative information exposed underlying cultural beliefs and norms, attitudes, opinions, and approaches to solving problems from participants who normally never invited to participate in focus groups or asked to share their opinions on issues that affect their quality of life. The 120 focus groups generated wide range of responses, and created a valuable source of exploratory information. The data was quantified. The qualitative data enabled the Building Healthy Communities Initiative teams to create prevention-oriented logic models that focused on: providing a health home for all children, reversing the childhood obesity epidemic, increasing school attendance and reducing youth violence. The paper will present the qualitative date that was collected.