A Community-driven Research Framework: Integrating Promotores as Co-Researchers.

Background: Integration of community health workers/promotores in community-based participatory research is an efficient strategy to advance research and health initiatives. We build on the principles of the interactive and contextual model of community-university collaboration for research and action, the public health critical race framework, and the situated learning theory to propose the community-driven research framework for the development of culturally appropriate research methods training and integration of promotores as co-researchers.

Objectives: To present the community-driven research framework as a model that trains and integrates promotores in research methodologies.

Medical mentorship deconstructed: an analysis and structural recommendation for high value mentorship.

Mentorship is an important component for young students interested in pursuing a career in medicine. In medically underserved areas, such as rural areas, mentorship can be sparse due to the lack of access to healthcare professionals. The purpose of this project was to gain an understanding of the mentorship received by practicing medical students.

Beliefs about marijuana use during pregnancy and breastfeeding held by residents of a Latino-majority, rural region of California.

Marijuana use among pregnant and breastfeeding women is on the rise and carries risks for infant health and well-being. Decisions to use marijuana while pregnant and breastfeeding are motivated by beliefs that use poses minimal risk to infants and offers benefits to maternal users. Misperceptions and usage trend higher among disadvantaged populations.

Community-responsive scholar-activist research: conceptualizing capacity building and sustainability in a Northern California community-university partnership.

We critically examine the ongoing development of a collaborative, responsive, activist research process between academics and farmworkers. Drawing upon in-depth interviews with community-based researchers and scholar-activists, we assess our team's understanding of community capacity building and research sustainability as the conceptual and operational definitions of these concepts lack academic consensus. The definitions we present reflect a 12-year effort to respond to community needs through interdisciplinary research, planning, and action.

Influence of pre-schooler and parent nutrition education on carotenoid levels of Mexican-heritage children.

Objective: To determine the mediating effect of direct preschool and parent nutrition education on changes in skin carotenoids scores over 2 years in children of Mexican heritage.

Design: In a quasi-experimental, community-based study, two school districts were randomly assigned to either a comparison group (parent workshops unrelated to nutrition) or a childhood obesity prevention intervention group which included nutrition education at family nights for parents and at school for children. Changes in skin carotenoid intensity scores (diffCAROT, year 2015 minus 2013) were measured in children as a proxy for fruit and vegetable consumption using Resonance Raman Spectroscopy.

A Web-Based Application to Improve Data Collection in an Interventional Study Targeting Childhood Obesity: Pre-Post Analysis.

Background: Although participatory action research (PAR) studies have proliferated in recent years, the development of technological resources to manage these types of projects has not kept pace. Few studies show how Web-based applications can be used to efficiently manage the data collection process.

Objective: This study described the development, use, and impact of a Web-based application to facilitate data management in Niños Sanos, Familia Sana (Healthy Children, Healthy Family), an interventional multifaceted PAR field study.

Attitudes and Social Norms Are Related to Attendance at Childhood Obesity Prevention Classes in a Rural Mexican-Heritage Community.

Objective: To examine factors related to attendance of Mexican-heritage parents at community-based nutrition classes to prevent childhood obesity.

Methods: Starting in 2011, interviewers collected baseline data from Niños Sanos Familia Sana (Healthy Children, Healthy Families) participants in rural California. Educators maintained attendance logs from 2012 to 2014.

A Community Cultural Wealth Model to Train Promotoras as Data Collectors.

The literature has documented the use of community health workers as an effective strategy to work with underserved communities. However, there is scant research on the strategies community health workers use when working in research studies. This qualitative study examines how promotoras (community health workers) implement their community cultural wealth to participate as data collectors in the control site of the Niños Sanos, Familia Sana (Healthy Children, Healthy Family) study.