Online Program

336463
Pathways to Tobacco Control Policy Change: A Systems Approach to Engaging Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Communities


Tuesday, November 3, 2015 : 8:30 a.m. - 8:50 a.m.

Rod Lew, MPH, Asian Pacific Partners for Empowerment, Advocacy and Leadership, Oakland, CA
Elisa Tong, MD, Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California, Davis, Sacramento, CA
Paula H. Palmer, PhD, School of Community and Global Health, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA
Lola Sablan-Santos, Guam Communications Network, Long Beach, CA
Tana Lepule, Empowering Pacific Islander Communities, Los Angeles, CA
Coral Kenolio, Empowering Pacific Islander Communities, Chula Vista, CA
Lisa Fu, MPH, Asian Pacific Partners for Empowerment, Advocacy and Leadership, Los Angeles, CA
Emily Makini, APPEAL, Oakland, CA
Sambo Sak, Families in Good Heatlh/St. Mary's Medical Center, Long Beach, CA
Sovanna Has, Families in Good Heatlh/St. Mary's Medical Center, Long Beach, CA
Lindsay Gervacio, MPH, Families in Good Health, St. Mary Medical Center, Long Beach, CA
Lillian Lew, Families in Good Heatlh/St. Mary's Medical Center, Long Beach, CA
Background: Despite the success of tobacco control policies in decreasing tobacco prevalence in the U.S., Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) subgroups still exhibit a high prevalence of tobacco use and few communities have been actively engaged in tobacco control policy change. Utilizing a community based participatory research approach, the “Community-led Policies and Leadership to Eliminate Asian American and Pacific Islander Tobacco Disparities (ComPLEAT)” project aims to assess and develop AANHPI communities’ readiness for change and leadership capacity for implementing a 4-Prong Policy Change model.

Objective:  To describe perspectives about pathways to successful policy change across two communities, Cambodians in Long Beach and NHPI in San Diego

Methods: Key informant interviews were conducted among 21 Cambodian and NHPI community leaders and advocates in 2014.  Community partners were trained to use an interview guide developed in collaboration with project staff, and led the recruitment and selection of interview participants.  The interview, conducted in English,  transcriptions were analyzed for themes and discussed among project staff, scientific consultants,  and community partners.

Results: Results suggested three themes including 1) Policy Change (i.e., policy experience ranges for both communities and there is a strong need for an investment in culturally tailored communication), 2) Intergenerational Dynamics (i.e. refugee and migration experiences contribute to acculturation, which can be seen as a loss and a gain), and 3) Threats (i.e. cultural trauma can create barriers and also creates the need to talk about fear and cultural resilience).

Discussion: Cambodian and NHPI communities have community and culturally specific concerns that are important to consider for developing strategies for tobacco policy change.  Engaging community partners in all phases of the key informant interview process was critical to capturing perspectives of the community on sensitive issues, while also building the leadership capacity of community partners.

Learning Areas:

Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Advocacy for health and health education
Provision of health care to the public
Public health or related public policy
Public health or related research
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
Describe perspectives about pathways to successful policy change across two communities, Cambodians in Long Beach and NHPI in San Diego

Keyword(s): Policy/Policy Development, Community-Based Research (CBPR)

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have the principal investigator of an NIH grant on this topic
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.