Lay health worker as interventionist training: reflective writing in US family health promotion practice.

Lay health worker-led health promotion interventions are well received within racial and ethnic minority communities. Increasing numbers of trained lay health workers will be needed to meet global health goals. The purpose of this process evaluation was to gain insights about how lay health worker as interventionists used theory-based approaches within a nutrition and physical activity health behavior change intervention in a clinical trial enrolling immigrant and refugee families.

Diabetes Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviors Among Somali and Latino Immigrants.

Persons from Somalia constitute the largest group of immigrants and refugees from Africa among whom diabetes-related health disparities are well documented. As one of the first steps toward developing a behavioral intervention to address diabetes among Somali immigrants and refugees, we administered a face to face interview-based survey to Somali and Latino adults with diabetes in a single community to assess diabetes knowledge, attitudes and behaviors. Respondents (N = 78) reported several barriers to optimal diabetes management for physical activity and glucose self-monitoring, as well as a high burden of disease and negative perceptions of diabetes.

Relationship Between Negative Mood and Health Behaviors in an Immigrant and Refugee Population.

Immigrants experience an escalation of negative health behaviors after arrival to the United States. Negative mood is associated with poorer health behaviors in the general population; however, this relationship is understudied in immigrant populations. Adolescent (n = 81) and adult (n = 70) participants completed a health behavior survey for immigrant families using a community-based participatory research approach.

Stories for change: development of a diabetes digital storytelling intervention for refugees and immigrants to minnesota using qualitative methods.

Background: Immigrants and refugees are affected by diabetes-related health disparities, with higher rates of incident diabetes and sub-optimal diabetes outcomes. Digital storytelling interventions for chronic diseases, such as diabetes may be especially powerful among immigrants because often limited English proficiency minimizes access to and affects the applicability of the existing health education opportunities. Community-based participatory research (CBPR), whereby community members and academia partner in an equitable relationship through all phases of the research, is an intuitive approach to develop these interventions.

Healthy immigrant families: Participatory development and baseline characteristics of a community-based physical activity and nutrition intervention.

Background: US immigrants often have escalating cardiovascular risk. Barriers to optimal physical activity and diet have a significant role in this risk accumulation.

Methods: We developed a physical activity and nutrition intervention with immigrant and refugee families through a community-based participatory research approach.

Tobacco cessation treatment for Alaska native adolescents: group randomized pilot trial.

Introduction: Tobacco cessation treatments have not been evaluated among Alaska Native (AN) adolescents. This pilot study evaluated the feasibility and the potential efficacy of a targeted cessation intervention for AN youth using a group randomized design.

Methods: Eight villages in western Alaska were randomly assigned to receive the intervention (n = 4 villages) or a delayed treatment control condition (written materials only; n = 4 villages).