What does it take? Establishing a Community-Academic Partnership to explore health-related needs and assets and to develop a health promotion agenda for Latinos in the Midwest

The socio-demographic and cultural landscape of the Midwest has dramatically changed with an influx of Latino immigrants. The documented health inequalities that Latinos face in the US are amplified in rural low-resourced communities where Latinos have recently settled.

After establishing the Ottumwa Latino Advisory Committee (OLAC) with six Latino community leaders, we conducted a mixed methods and collaborative study to characterize the Latino community health needs and assets. We used social network methods to evaluate the relationship of Latinos and community-based places in the community, and in these places we conducted interviews with managers; patrons and conducted unobtrusive observations.

The OLAC identified places that Latinos trust and attend with frequency. We recruited seven places and interviewed 102 Latino residents. Four food retail shops, a Catholic Church and a soccer field were the most used, visited and trusted places by respondents. Latinos trusted these places because they could speak Spanish, the places are friendly to them, and they can find people like them. Respondents were on average 38 years old, 73% were female, over half were married, most had only completed elementary school, made less than $2,500/month and they had been in the US for less than 16 years.  Diabetes, HBP and cholesterol were the most reported chronic diseases diagnoses.

The combination of both CBPR and social network methods allowed new researchers in the community to establish a strong partnership and enabled us to explore health needs and assets for this new community in Iowa.