Project Summary
Pre-diabetes is among the top health concerns of many Asian Americans in the greater Boston area. This is supported by several local community health assessments. Additionally, the literature suggests that the prevalence of diabetes is growing faster among Asian Americans than Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics in the United States.
This Tier I project will support the creation of the Patient Engagement Efforts to Reduce (PEER) Diabetes among Asian Americans to address this health disparity. This partnership will be made up of a diverse group of committed individuals from a variety of backgrounds in the Boston area, including: Truong Tran, a pre-diabetic patient; Hue Pham, the Executive Director of VietAid; Chien-Chi Huang, the Executive Director of Asian Women for Health; Dr. Kuon Lo, a primary care provider; and Drs. Tam Nguyen and Thanh Tran, academic partners from Boston College.
Proposed activities across the project period include:
- Developing a governance document to provide a foundation for our collaborative work.
- Developing a communication plan to help disseminate information.
- Convening diverse stakeholders, including a five-member patient advisory council, to brainstorm potential PCOR questions related to reducing diabetes among Asian Americans.
- Convening structured “cross-training” events to ensure that organizational norms, culture, technical language, and competing demands are clearly understood across our stakeholders.
This opportunity will help us build an infrastructure that supports shared leadership and equal engagement across patients and key stakeholders. We believe this is critical to asking and answering questions of central importance to Asian Americans at risk for diabetes.