Using community-based participatory research to address disparities in obesity and diabetes among Latinos and American Indians: A focus on the partnership development process

Obesity and its clinical consequences, such as diabetes, are more prevalent among socially disadvantaged groups in the US, including low-income Latinos and American Indians. Latinos and American Indians are more than twice as likely as non-Hispanic whites to have diabetes. In 2011, with institutional support from the Stanford Office of Community Health (OCH), the Indian Health Center (IHC), in San Jose, California that serves a diverse population of primarily Latinos and American Indians, formed a CBPR partnership with Stanford researchers to address these disparities. We will highlight the important role the academic community engagement office played in overcoming barriers to partnership development, such as lack of trust and resources. We will also describe the group process used to establish guiding principles, operating norms and procedures, and key objectives for the partnership. Using a tool developed by Shultz et al in 2003, the evaluation of the partnership development process revealed several facilitating factors: 1) The OCH was critical in building trust between the partners and guiding the participatory group process . 2) Prior to partnering, the IHC and their academic partners had overlapping and well-articulated goals. These goals focused on testing innovative approaches to chronic disease prevention and management targeting at risk populations that could be disseminated broadly. 3) Recognizing the unique strengths of each individual within the partnership, while acknowledging the multiple motivations for research, was crucial for building a successful partnership. Overall, the participatory process, although complex and involved, was critical to forming a strong foundation for future research.