Project Summary
The Hmong Gout Research Coalition is a collaborative partnership of Hmong community members with gout, their family members, Hmong healthcare professionals, and non-Hmong clinician-researchers, with a common appreciation of the importance to conduct community-engaged comparative effectiveness research (CER) projects to reduce suffering from gout in the Hmong community. Through Tier I funding, we identified gout and hyperuricemia as a significant health disparity in the Hmong community, of critical importance and in need of study. We also convened the Community Forum about Gout, where Hmong people with gout, their family members, Hmong healthcare professionals, and clinician-researchers shared their ideas about gout suffering. Our objectives for Tier II are to refine our community-based participatory research approach, expand our governance structure and communication strategies, explore multiple potential CER projects, and ultimately choose one significant, innovative CER research project that could compare two approaches/therapies that could reduce suffering from gout in the Hmong community. We expect that by the end of Tier II, the collaboration between Hmong people with gout, their family members, other community members, Hmong and non-Hmong healthcare professionals, and academicians will have refined an aims page, statement of significance, and research design description that will form a sound basis for a Tier III proposal to PCORI. Appropriate partnership between the Hmong community, professionals, and researchers at this stage of the research process will enhance the potential long-term success of comparative effectiveness research efficiencies of achieving our goal to eliminate suffering from gout in the Hmong community.