TY - JOUR
T1 - Using a multisectoral approach to advance health equity in rural Arizona
T2 - Community-engaged survey development and implementation study
AU - Remiker, Mark
AU - Sabo, Samantha
AU - Jiménez, Dulce
AU - Longorio, Alexandra Samarron
AU - Chief, Carmenlita
AU - Williamson, Heather
AU - Teufel-Shone, Nicolette
N1 - Funding Information:
Numerous people made significant contributions to the development and implementation of the work documented in this paper. In particular, the authors would like to thank the following members of our CAC: Amanda Guay, Emma Torres, Chelsey Donohoo, Emily Davalos, Candida Hunter, Stephen Julian, Mare Schumacher, Joyce Hamilton, Diana Gomez, Eric Wolverton, and Shepard Tsosie. This work was financially supported by the National Institute of Health (grant 1U54MD012388).
Publisher Copyright:
© Mark Remiker, Samantha Sabo, Dulce Jiménez, Alexandra Samarron Longorio, Carmenlita Chief, Heather Williamson, Nicolette Teufel-Shone.
PY - 2021/5
Y1 - 2021/5
N2 - Background: Over the past decade, public health research and practice sectors have shifted their focus away from identifying health disparities and toward addressing the social, environmental, and economic determinants of health equity. Given the complex and interrelated nature of these determinants, developing policies that will advance health equity requires collaboration across sectors outside of health. However, engaging various stakeholder groups, tapping into their unique knowledge systems, and identifying common objectives across sectors is difficult and time consuming and can impede collaborative efforts. Objective: The Southwest Health Equity Research Collaborative at Northern Arizona University, in partnership with an 11-member community advisory council, is addressing this need with a joint community-campus effort to develop and implement a Regional Health Equity Survey (RHES) designed to generate an interdisciplinary body of knowledge, which will be used to guide future multisectoral action for improving community health and well-being. Methods: Researchers and community partners used facilitated discussions and free listing techniques to generate survey items. The community partners pilot tested the survey instrument to evaluate its feasibility and duration before survey administration. Respondent-driven sampling was used to ensure that participants included leadership from across all sectors and regions of northern Arizona. Results: Over the course of 6 months, 206 participants representing 13 sectors across the 5 counties of northern Arizona were recruited to participate in an RHES. Survey response rates, completion percentage, and sector representation were used to assess the effectiveness and feasibility of using a community-engaged apporach for survey development and participant recruitment. The findings describe the current capacity to impact health equity by using a multisectoral approach in northern Arizona. Conclusions: The Southwest Health Equity Research Collaborative effectively engaged community members to assist with the development and implementation of an RHES aimed at understanding and promoting multisectoral action on the root causes of health inequity. The results will help to build research and evaluation capacity to address the social, economic, and environmental conditions of health inequity in the region.
AB - Background: Over the past decade, public health research and practice sectors have shifted their focus away from identifying health disparities and toward addressing the social, environmental, and economic determinants of health equity. Given the complex and interrelated nature of these determinants, developing policies that will advance health equity requires collaboration across sectors outside of health. However, engaging various stakeholder groups, tapping into their unique knowledge systems, and identifying common objectives across sectors is difficult and time consuming and can impede collaborative efforts. Objective: The Southwest Health Equity Research Collaborative at Northern Arizona University, in partnership with an 11-member community advisory council, is addressing this need with a joint community-campus effort to develop and implement a Regional Health Equity Survey (RHES) designed to generate an interdisciplinary body of knowledge, which will be used to guide future multisectoral action for improving community health and well-being. Methods: Researchers and community partners used facilitated discussions and free listing techniques to generate survey items. The community partners pilot tested the survey instrument to evaluate its feasibility and duration before survey administration. Respondent-driven sampling was used to ensure that participants included leadership from across all sectors and regions of northern Arizona. Results: Over the course of 6 months, 206 participants representing 13 sectors across the 5 counties of northern Arizona were recruited to participate in an RHES. Survey response rates, completion percentage, and sector representation were used to assess the effectiveness and feasibility of using a community-engaged apporach for survey development and participant recruitment. The findings describe the current capacity to impact health equity by using a multisectoral approach in northern Arizona. Conclusions: The Southwest Health Equity Research Collaborative effectively engaged community members to assist with the development and implementation of an RHES aimed at understanding and promoting multisectoral action on the root causes of health inequity. The results will help to build research and evaluation capacity to address the social, economic, and environmental conditions of health inequity in the region.
KW - Community-engaged
KW - Health equity
KW - Multisector
KW - Survey development
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85106319288&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2196/25577
DO - 10.2196/25577
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85106319288
SN - 2561-326X
VL - 5
JO - JMIR Formative Research
JF - JMIR Formative Research
IS - 5
M1 - e25577
ER -