Background: Prevalence rates of obesity among Hispanic women in the United States continue to increase, placing them at higher risk for development of various health conditions. Therefore, addressing obesity among Hispanic women is important to improve health outcomes. Yet, addressing this problem is challenging due to lack of resources and research, especially in the rural South. 

Proposed Solution to the Problem: This project will train stakeholders from Lee County, Alabama, including Hispanic women and family members, community leaders, and healthcare providers, to engage in designing and promoting future patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR)/comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) in the rural South. After participating in training workshops, stakeholders will participate in brainstorming sessions and establish the research community, which will serve as the infrastructure for PCOR/CER once the project ends. 

Objectives: The following objectives will be achieved: (1) a trained cohort of 25 stakeholders, including Hispanic women and families, community leaders, and healthcare providers, will participate in training workshops for PCOR/CER and health education related to obesity to effectively engage them in designing research to improve health in Hispanic women with obesity, (2) high-priority PCOR/CER research questions related to obesity that are important to Hispanic women and families will be identified, and (3) a research community of stakeholders will be established to identify a research agenda and continue PCOR/CER after the project concludes.

Activities: The content for stakeholder training workshops will be developed by the project lead and partners initially, then reviewed and finalized by five stakeholders. After the content is finalized, training workshops will be conducted with an additional 20 stakeholders. Then, project leads and partners will work with the original 25 stakeholders to identify high-priority research questions focused on reducing obesity that are meaningful to Hispanic women in the South. This will be accomplished through two brainstorming sessions. Next, a research community of the project lead, partners, and the 25 stakeholders will be established, and a research agenda identified, which will serve as the infrastructure to support PCOR/CER after the project ends.

Projected Outcomes and Outputs: 

Short-term outcomes during the project period include: (1) training workshop materials; (2) a trained cohort of stakeholders; (3) a research agenda; and (4) an established research community.

Medium-term outcomes (0-2 years post-project period) include: (1) obtain seed funding to address the research agenda; and (2) use seed funding to address approaches, barriers, facilitators, and strategies to increase engagement.

Long-term outcomes (3+ years post-project period) include: (1) increase PCOR/CER to reduce obesity for Hispanic women; and (2) continue the research community to propose or create PCOR/CER and submit for major funding. 

Patient and Stakeholder Engagement Plan: In this project, stakeholders are Hispanic women and their family members, community leaders from the Hispanic population, and healthcare providers who routinely care for Hispanic women. All 25 stakeholders will engage in this project through 4 training workshops, 2 brainstorming sessions, and 2 research community meetings. 

Project Collaborators: Auburn University and the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine – Auburn Campus, both in Auburn, Alabama,are leading efforts for this project. St. Mary of the Mission Catholic Church and the Esperanza House, both in Opelika, AL, are supporting this project.