Assessing Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander health needs with culturally and linguistically competent methods

While the total population in Cleveland, Ohio is steadily decreasing, Asian Americans (AAs) were the areas fastest growing racial group, increasing 42% over the past decade. Despite its dramatic growth, the population of Ohio’s AAs remains relatively small compared to other minority groups. Consequently, aggregated data are often reported, thereby masking the socioeconomic and health characteristics of particular AA subgroups. Asian Services In Action, Inc. (ASIA, Inc.) and the Reaching Asian Americans through Innovative and Supportive Engagement (RAISE) coalition sought to address this issue with the Community Health Status Assessment (CHSA) conducted by the Cuyahoga County Board of Health – Health Improvement Partnership Cuyahoga (HIP-C). The initial results of the HIP-C assessment misrepresented the health needs of the AA communities due to language barriers and access to AA communities.  RAISE saw this collaborative as an opportunity to highlight the health disparities and inequity within the AA population by increasing participant recruitment in AA communities and educating HIP-C about the need for disaggregated data. The collaboration between RAISE and HIP-C quickly became a partnership where the Cuyahoga County Board of Health improved data collection with the coalition’s efforts.  Prior to the collaboration – the Cuyahoga Board of Health was unaware of the need for disaggregated data within the AA population – primarily because of AAs making up a small percentage of population within the city.  These efforts combined helped to greatly raise the awareness to the need for data improvements and demonstrated the importance of engaging community members and securing their trust in research efforts and being culturally and linguistically competent in research methods.