Project Summary
Despite a rising incidence of diabetes in the Asian-American population, little attention has been directed to their unique cultural beliefs and practices and few studies have evaluated optimal lifestyle changes. Our goal for Tier 1 was to establish a culturally appropriate partnership for patient-centered outcomes research in type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Over the past year under Tier 1, a partnership was formed of Chinese-American patients and caregivers, healthcare providers, and academic researchers from the community. The partnership is led by the advisory committee and mirrors the representation of stakeholders in the partnership. Four subcommittees were formed: Recruitment, Governance, Research Development, and Grant/Resources. The partnership has successfully recruited a balanced membership of stakeholders to carry out the project and created a functional governance document for the group. A list of comparative effectiveness research (CER) ideas was generated based on a literature review identifying gaps of knowledge in care of T2DM in the Asian-American population and input from a focus group of Chinese Americans with T2DM. A grant was pursued and awarded to conduct further outreach within the Chinese-American community in Chicago. In Tier II, the partnership will build on the structure and momentum generated in Tier I. The advisory committee has set forth a tentative agenda for the Tier II year and a timeline. The partnership will continue to review and refine the information gathered from engagement of the stakeholders to identify the optimal CER question and help develop a research project that is patient-focused.