Preventing Childhood Obesity - Evidence Policy and Practice.pdf

CHAPTER 32
Working with m inority g roups in
d eveloped c ountries
Lisa Gibbs, 1 Mulugeta Abebe 2 and Elisha Riggs 1
1 Jack Brockhoff Child Health and Wellbeing Program, McCaughey Centre, Melbourne
School of Population Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
2 Merri Community Health Services, Melbourne, Australia
Summary and recommendations
for research and practice
• Ethnic diversity adds to the complexity of developing
and implementing effective community - based
obesity prevention research and programs.
• Models of cultural competence in public health
research provide guidance in working with minority
groups in developed countries.
• Working with minority groups requires researchers
and practitioners to be reflective about their own
cultural framework.
• Flexibility in communication styles, research processes,
program strategies and methodologies
increases the potential for meaningful involvement
of minority groups.
• Respectful, participatory approaches allow for
mutual knowledge exchange and support relevant
research and program outcomes.
• Culturally competent community - based research
and programs may help to address health inequities
that operate in relation to ethnicity and overweight/
obesity.
Introduction
Incorporating the e vidence
The complexity of developing community - based
obesity prevention interventions is well established. It
Preventing Childhood Obesity. Edited by
E. Waters, B.A. Swinburn, J.C. Seidell and R. Uauy.
© 2010 Blackwell Publishing.
arises from the range of socio - environmental influences
on changes in weight status at a population
level 1 and the subsequent need for multi - level, sustainable
strategies in different settings and contexts. 2
The lack of uniformity in “real-world ” settings is
increasingly recognized as a challenge for study design,
implementation and evaluation. 3 This is further complicated
by the global increase in population diversity
in developed countries. 4
The evidence on health inequities for minority
groups in developed countries is well established and
highlights the need for consideration of diversity
in obesity prevention efforts. It requires a flexible,
culturally competent approach to the design and
implementation of interventions (see Box 32.1 ).
Culturally com petent strategies for public health
research and interventions have recently been developed
to guide this process and are used as the basis for
this chapter. 5,6 These strategies are designed to assist
researchers to shift from an expert - driven to a participatory
approach with increasing understanding and
capa city for accommodating the added complexity
inherent in cross - cultural exchanges. The intention is
to encourage a culturally reflective process among
researchers and health promotion practitioners who
are working with minority groups in developed countries.
This chapter is particularly relevant to those
involved in public health and health promotion
community - based research and interventions. The
term “ interventions ” is a research term that potentially
has negative connotations to lay readers. Therefore,
for the remainder of the chapter the alternative terms,
“ programs ” , “ initiatives ” and “ strategies ” are used.
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