COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND DISSEMINATION

University Of Colorado Denver, Aurora CO

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

The Center for American Indian and Alaska Native Health Disparities (CAIANHD) is organized in terms of 4 Core components: an Administrative Core (Core A), a Research Core (Core B), a Community Outreach and Information Dissemination Core (Core C), and a Native Investigator Training Core (Core D). Spero M. Manson, Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry and Head, American Indian and Alaska Native Programs, UCDHSC, serves as Principal Investigator and leads the Community Outreach and Dissemination Core. Dr. Manson, a medical anthropologist, is American Indian (Pembina Chippewa) and is nationally recognized for his research and leadership in areas directly relevant to all aspects of this request to renew our comprehensive (P60) Project EXPORT Center and ongoing efforts to understand and eliminate health disparities among American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs). The Community Outreach and Dissemination Core provides varying levels of direction and support[unreadable]both day-to-day and long-term[unreadable]to each of the other cores in facilitating their linkage to the primary constituents of the CAIANHD. Accordingly, the specific aims of the Community Outreach and Dissemination Core are to: 1) Employ and expand community partnerships to facilitate the planning, conduct, and dissemination of high quality research that holds promise for reducing the differential in health status and access to care that separates Native and non-Native elders; 2) Transfer the requisite knowledge, skills, and attitudes to Native and non-Native Investigators to enable them to build and maintain their own working relationships with the same or similar community partners; 3) Bring community partners more fully into the process of selecting questions for study, of framing the nature of the research designs, of assisting with the identification and operationalization of key constructs, and of collecting relevant data; 4) Develop and improve upon mechanisms for disseminating the results of research at the interface of health and culture, so that there is a greater likelihood of more immediate application for the benefit of the local populace;and 5) Demonstrate that scientific merit, applicability of research, and subsequent advocacy are not mutually exclusive, but rather can be combined in a synergistic fashion that enhances the value of each. These aims follow directly from the current philosophy of the AIANP, and suggest important guideposts for continuing to promote a meaningful research agenda that attracts and sustains the participation of Native people, their families, and communities in an enterprise that can benefit all parties.