Background: The 2010 Census reports that Filipinos are the second-largest Asian-American group in the United States. The chronic disease prevalence among Filipino Americans (FAs) is alarming, yet they remain understudied. A PCORI project (“Mag-PCOR Muna Tayo: Nationwide Capacity Building for Filipino-Americans to Engage in PCOR and CER”) has built capacity and engaged Filipinos to form FA-PCOR networks in five states: Hawaii, California, Texas, New Jersey, and New York. Much was learned from the project, including the prevalence of chronic preventable and lifestyle-modifiable diseases and lack of knowledge and interest to participate in research among FAs, which can be influenced by their social network.

Proposed Solution to the Problem: The project team proposes to expand the five-state FA-PCOR network to 20 states through a continued collaborative partnership with the Philippine Nurses Association of America (PNAA) chapters.

Objectives: The proposed project aims and goals are to: (a) expand the FA-PCOR network to 15 more states by leveraging the PNAA chapter community engagement infrastructures; (b) create a stakeholder advisory council (SAC) for each new FA-PCOR network; (c) in addition to PCORI’s Research Fundamentals, develop a culturally and linguistically appropriate FA Research Engagement Supplemental (FARES) curriculum;
(d) deploy the PCORI Research Fundamentals and FARES curricula to each FA-PCOR “nayon”; (e) develop the online research infrastructure, FAR (Filipino Americans for Research) Hub, to connect clinicians and researchers to the Filipino community. The long-term goal is to create and sustain a nationwide community of Filipinos who are vested in PCOR and CER participation to improve healthcare outcomes.

Activities: A three-phase project is proposed to achieve the objectives: Phase 1 is the expansion of the "Mag-PCOR Muna Tayo" FA-PCOR "nayon" network using effective evidence-based strategies used in the original project; Phase 2 is the creation and deployment of the FARES and the PCORI Research Fundamentals curricula; Phase 3 is the launch of the Filipino American Research (FAR) Hub.

Projected Outcomes and Outputs: The following are the expected outcomes. Short term: (a) creation of FA-PCOR networks in 15 more US states will significantly expand the nationwide reach of the current FA-PCOR network; (b) creation of SAB for each new FA-PCOR network will improve community engagement and penetrance. Medium term: (a) improvement of knowledge and understanding of the research process and promotion of PCOR and CER participation among FAs; (b) creation and launch of the online FAR Hub will provide an infrastructure to connect Filipinos interested in research to clinicians and researchers, promoting PCOR and CER. Long term: (a) increased Filipino participation in PCOR and CER will help promote patient outcomes.

Patient and Stakeholder Engagement Plan: Patients and other stakeholders are engaged in every phase of the project. The project team will continue to partner with the PNAA and its chapters. Community-engaged ARCs and PALs will co-lead the establishment of new FA-PCOR networks “nayon” and will recruit stakeholders to the FA-PCOR “nayon” SAC. The development of the RFC and the FAR Hub will be a collaborative process with input from the project advisory board, consultants, and FA-PCOR networks. 

Project Collaborators: Philippine Nurses Association of America and stakeholder groups and organizations represented by the project advisory board, including the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA).