Diversity Network Committee Invited Symposium
Thursday, June 3, 12:45 pm – 2:05 pm, EST
The Value of Partnerships in Prevention Science
This symposium will focus on the work of researchers of color partnering with communities of color toward promoting health and equity. These scientists will share their work outcomes, lessons learned and techniques for engaging in community-partnered and serving research. The presenters will focus on a COVID-19 needs assessment partnership with 18 Black community/faith-based organizations across Houston, New Orleans, the Mississippi Delta, Washington DC Metro Area, Detroit and Los Angeles; the building partnerships with the Latinx community in Southern Florida to culturally adapt HIV interventions; and a social network analysis approach to improve health for American Indian and Alaska Native populations with a researcher based out of the Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health. Lessons learned and implications for improving prevention science methods and practices will be discussed.
Speakers:
Jerreed D. Invanich, PhD, Assistant Professor, Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Department of Community and Behavioral Health, Colorado School of Public Health
Suzanne Randolph Cunningham, PhD, The Association of Black Psychologists, Inc. and The MayaTech Corporation
Mariano Kanamori, PhD, University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine
Presentation 1: A relational approach to American Indian and Alaska Native health: the utility of using social network analysis in tribal communities.
Speaker: Jerreed D. Invanich, PhD, Assistant Professor, Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Department of Community and Behavioral Health, Colorado School of Public Health
American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) communities have strong cultural practices around family, extended kinship, friendship, and community, yet prevention efforts have failed to harness this to improve health among AIAN communities. This presentation will highlight the cutting-edge social network research with AIAN communities and call out the potential for prevention efforts moving forward.
Presentation 2: The COVID-19/Racial Injustice Syndemic among African Americans: Research and Practice Implications for Prevention Science from the ABPsi COVID-19 Needs Assessment Project
Speaker: Suzanne Randolph Cunningham, PhD, The Association of Black Psychologists, Inc. and The MayaTech Corporation
Co-authors: A. Kathy Burlew, PhD, University of Cincinnati, Huberta Jackson-Lowman, PhD, Florida A&M University, Kevin O. Cokley, PhD, University of Texas at Austin, Amber Golden, PhD, Golden Arts & Research Center, Lauren Ramsey, PhD, University of Maryland School of Public Health, College Park, Tracie Lowe, PhD and Theopia Jackson, PhD, The Association of Black Psychologists, Inc.
COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted African Americans, including increasing mental health burdens. Concurrently, racial injustice is epidemic in African American communities and exacerbates mental health issues. This intersection of public health crises is termed a syndemic—“two or more epidemics interacting synergistically to produce an increased burden of disease in a population” (poor mental health among African Americans). Advancing prevention science requires evidence-based approaches tailored to diverse needs in populations (often studied as monolithic and singularly defined by race/ethnicity) with consideration of syndemic impacts and social determinants of health (SDOH; sociocultural and structural factors that contribute to health disparities/inequities). Using a syndemic framework, we share adjustments in prevention science approaches made in response to COVID-era demands in communities reacting to racial injustices. We conducted the Association of Black Psychologists’ (ABPsi) COVID-19 Needs Assessment Project in collaboration with 18 community-/faith-based organizations in Houston, New Orleans, the Mississippi Delta, the Washington, DC metro area, Detroit, and Los Angeles. Mixed-methods, community-based approaches, although culturally-responsive, were adapted to accommodate syndemic-era scenarios (e.g., face-to-face restrictions, isolation/disengagement, system mistrust); and test whether SDOH contribute to disparities/inequities (vaccine access/uptake). Individual- and system-level risks/needs and protective factors/assets were measured including, race-/ethnicity-based factors (e.g., racism, discrimination, cultural mistrust, activism, police brutality attitudes). We will use findings to assist communities in developing and implementing evidence-based prevention strategies and policies to address mental health problems within the syndemic. Lessons learned will inform Phase II initiatives led by an alliance of ethnic minority associations and other organizations to advance racial and health equity.
Presentation 3: Building a strong and sustainable academic/community partnership serving the Latino community”
Speaker: Mariano Kanamori, PhD, Assistant Professor, Division of Prevention Science and Community Health, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Co-author: Stephen J. Fallon, Ph.D., Executive Director, Latinos Salud
Dr. Kanamori’s Lab and Latinos Salud have collaborated in five NIH-funded social network and implementation science studies aimed at reducing HIV in the Latino community. With support from a NIDA R00 and a CFAR Adelante program, they developed a spatially-explicit social network model, called PrEParados, which merges four social network methods (dyadic, egocentric, socio-centric, and two-mode) with spatial analysis to address the intertwining epidemics of HIV and substance misuse. Building on this work, they are now implementing a study that aims to assess the impact of SARS-COV-2 on Latinos’ social networks and their potential for promoting COVID19 testing and vaccination. Their EHE project FINISHING HIV is the first biomedical HIV implementation science program that uses tailored network-based strategies to reach large numbers of Latinos (pharmacy, parks, radio, and social networks). Their EHE project DiversiPrEP uses a client-centered service model (both in person and with telehealth) to advance routine HIV testing and deliver PrEP. Results from DiversiPrEP will guide the large-scale implementation of a client-centered PrEP service model with telehealth through HRSA-funded clinics serving Latino populations across the US. In 2020, they were awarded a NIMH-R01 study to determine how social networks impact PrEP uptake and adherence among Latino MSM, based on sexual self-identification. During this talk, Drs. Kanamori and Fallon will focus on the characteristics of an effective partnership between a scientist and a community organization, and the principles of community engagement. They will also discuss the skills scientists need to effectively implement a community-based participatory research project for Latinos, and factors that favor success in building a strong and sustainable academic/community partnership serving the Latino community.