A Research Network to Prevent Obesity Among Latino Children Laura C. Leviton, PhD, Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, MBA
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ince 2007, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has supported Salud America! The RWJF Research Network to Prevent Obesity Among Latino Children. We are pleased and proud to see the fruits of the fırst 5 years of Salud America! in the papers in this supplement to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.1–13 Salud America! has developed essential scientifıc evidence, new researchers, communications, and a robust online national network of 2000 experts, community leaders, and advocates aiming to reverse Latino childhood obesity. Both demographics and Latinos’ disproportionate risk make it imperative to focus on Latino childhood obesity and ensure the nation’s future health. In 2009 –2010, 39.2% of Hispanic children aged 2–19 were overweight or obese, compared with 31.8% of all children those ages.14 Compared to their peers, Latino children more often face socioeconomic disadvantages and barriers to access healthy foods and physical activity, and they are increasingly the target of unhealthy food marketing.15 Yet in 2007, the sparse research on obesity in Latino children focused largely on prevalence and underlying causes, with very little pointing to policy and environmental solutions or culturally relevant strategies. Moreover, relatively few Latino researchers focused on the problem of childhood obesity. A research initiative was needed to stimulate and support research focused on preventing obesity among Latino children. Several elements of Salud America! were strategic to build support for research on Latino childhood obesity prevention. Amelie Ramirez was an ideal person to lead this effort, along with her colleague Kipling Gallion. Her long-standing scientifıc accomplishments and leadership in community-based prevention made her ideal for this role. Highly distinctive (and highly honorable) was her engagement of the fıeld from the very beginning of the program. She had previously developed a research network funded by the NIH, Redes En Acción, which addressed prevention of chronic diseases in Latinos in a culturally relevant manner. Salud America! activated this From the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, East Princeton, New Jersey Address correspondence to: Laura C. Leviton, PhD, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, P.O. Box 2316, Route 1 and College Road, East Princeton NJ 08543. E-mail:
[email protected]. 0749-3797/$36.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2012.11.021
network to determine which issues and approaches to childhood obesity prevention had the highest priority for the program. Building a cadre of researchers focused on obesity is essential to reverse the epidemic in the Latino community. Therefore, 20 grant awards went to both junior investigators and to more seasoned investigators who had not yet worked in childhood obesity prevention. Many were themselves Latino. The grants were for pilot studies, seed funding to prepare the grantees for NIH-funded programs of research on Latino childhood obesity prevention. Grantees received considerable mentoring on research, writing, and grant proposals, from both program staff and a National Advisory Committee. The accomplishments of the program are now evident, as seen in this supplement to AJPM. In addition, as of this writing, the 20 grantees have been awarded more than $36 million in grants, primarily from the NIH, but also from other federal government agencies and private foundations. Another $7.5 million in grant proposals have been submitted as of April 2012. Moreover, the Salud America! network has grown to almost 2000 members: Latino community leaders and researchers who will help to sustain an evidence-based focus on preventing Latino childhood obesity. The network can be activated for dissemination, to inform advocacy, and to continue discussions of priorities and emerging issues for research. Through a periodic Scientifıc Summit, Salud America! has brought members of the network face-to-face with the funded researchers. The network and the National Advisory Committee have been important resources for grantees, especially the Latino junior investigators as they undergo their academic rites of passage. For historically underrepresented groups, tenure and promotion can be a lonely process. The network, the National Advisory Committee, and their professional relationships with other grantees all help to ratify the importance of the grantees’ work and generate new ideas. With better research in hand, Salud America! is now focused on increased dissemination of fındings to inform action and advocacy. The program has become the go-to resource for information about Latino childhood obesity prevention. For example, the Salud America! website turns up as the fırst choice in a Google search on the term
© 2013 American Journal of Preventive Medicine • Published by Elsevier Inc.
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“Latino childhood obesity.” The program has won media awards for the excellence of its videos and other materials. Its e-alerts and e-newsletters receive substantial web traffıc, exceeding the industry-wide click-and-open rates. The SaludToday blog, at www.saludtoday.com/blog, has close to 1700 subscribers, spurring more than 4000 Twitter and Facebook followers this year. SaludToday YouTube videos have resulted in almost 37,000 upload views. It is evident then, that Salud America! has helped to build a new fıeld of prevention research for Latinos. What philanthropy calls a “fıeld” of activity is typifıed by Salud America!’s accomplishments: a research agenda on a specifıc focus of mutual interest, recognition from the broader national research community, and a network of scholars and information users.16 Now, like John Snow with the cholera epidemic in Victorian London, we need to use this information for action. Publication of this article was supported by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. No fınancial disclosures were reported by the authors of this paper.
References 1. Nevarez CR, Lafleur MS, Schwarte LU, Weinstin BR, DeSilva P, Samuels SE. Salud Tiene Sabor: a model for healthier restaurants in a Latino community. Am J Prev Med 2013;44(3S3): S186 –S192. 2. Castro DC, Samuels M, Harman AE. Growing Healthy Kids: a community garden-based obesity prevention program. Am J Prev Med 2013;44(3S3):S193–S199. 3. London RA, Gurantz O. Afterschool program participation, youth physical fıtness, and overweight. Am J Prev Med 2013;44(3S3):S200 –S207. 4. Mier N, Smith ML, Irizarry D, et al. Bridging research and policy to address childhood obesity among border Hispanics: a pilot study. Am J Prev Med 2013;44(3S3):S208 –S214.
5. Hannay J, Dudley R, Milan S, Leibovitz PK. Combining Photovoice and focus groups: engaging Latina teens in community assessment. Am J Prev Med 2013;44(3S3):S215–S224. 6. Torres ME, Meetze EG, Smithwick-Leone J. Latina voices in childhood obesity: a pilot study using Photovoice in South Carolina. Am J Prev Med 2013;44(3S3):S225–S231. 7. He M, Wilmoth S, Bustos D, Jones T, Leeds J, Yin Z. Latino church leaders’ perspectives on childhood obesity prevention. Am J Prev Med 2013;44(3S3):S232–S239. 8. Gao Z, Hannan P, Xiang P, Stodden DF, Valdez V. Video game– based exercise, Latino Children’s physical health, and academic achievement. Am J Prev Med 2013;44(3S3):S240 – S246. 9. Boudreau ADA, Kurowski DS, Gonzalez WI, Dimond MA, Oreskovic NM. Latino families, primary care, and childhood obesity: a randomized controlled trial. Am J Prev Med 2013;44(3S3):S247–S257. 10. Olvera N, Leung P, Kellam SF, Smith DW, Liu J. Summer and follow-up interventions to affect adiposity with mothers and daughters. Am J Prev Med 2013;44(3S3):S258 –S266. 11. Cortés DE, Millán-Ferro A, Schneider D, Vega RR, Caballero AE. Food purchasing selection among low-income, Spanish-speaking Latinos. Am J Prev Med 2013;44(3S3): S267–S273. 12. Rosado JI, Bennett Johnson S, McGinnity KA, Cuevas JP. Obesity among Latino children within a migrant farm worker community. Am J Prev Med 2013;44(3S3):S274 –S281. 13. Ottoson JM, Ramirez AG, Green LW, Gallion KJ. Exploring potential research contributions to policy: the Salud America! experience. Am J Prev Med 2013;44(3S3):S282–S289. 14. Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Kit BK, Flegal KM. Prevalence of obesity and trends in body mass index among US children and adolescents, 1999 –2010. JAMA 2012;307(5):483–90. 15. Nyberg K, Ramirez AG, Gallion KJ. Influence of media on overweight and obesity among Latino youth, 2011. www.rwjf. org/en/search-results.html?u⫽&k⫽influence⫹of⫹media⫹ on⫹overweight⫹and⫹obesity⫹in⫹Latino⫹youth. 16. Hirschhorn L, Gilmore TN. Ideas in philanthropic fıeld building: where they come from and how they are translated into actions. New York NY: The Foundation Center, 2004. foundationcenter. org/gainknowledge/research/pdf/practicematters_06_execsum. pdf.
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