A Note from the Guest Editors

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities at the National Institutes of Health (NIMHD/NIH), and the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved (JHCPU) are pleased to present this special issue, entitled Advancing Obesity Prevention: Quality Improvements, Emerging Models, and Best Practices. Investigators affiliated with HRSA and NIH examined emerging and innovative methods and best practices in obesity prevention that have the potential to reduce health disparities.

The obesity epidemic presents a major threat to the health of the U.S. population across all ages, races, and socioeconomic groups, and in particular within disadvantaged and underserved communities. Obesity is a major contributor to serious health conditions including type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Promoting healthy weight requires concerted efforts from health care, public health practitioners, and communities to feature best practices and quality improvement efforts. Quality improvement is a continuous process that requires considerable effort from stakeholders to achieve measurable improvements in efficiency, effectiveness, performance, accountability, and outcomes to improve the health of the community. In addition, innovative strategies and approaches are needed to translate and sustain effective interventions at the community level.

This issue showcases quality improvements, emerging models, and best practices with respect to obesity prevention and focuses on the following questions:

1. 1. What evidence-based interventions or promising practices in obesity prevention yield improved, sustainable outcomes across U.S. populations, particularly within populations at disproportionate risk for obesity and related co-morbidities?

2. 2. How can primary care, public health, and community organizations effectively integrate to address obesity prevention?

3. 3. What approaches have the potential to translate and disseminate obesity research/ interventions into widespread and sustainable practice and policy?

4. 4. How can the application of quality improvement and collaborative models accelerate change and achieve measurable improvements in obesity prevention?

The articles in this collection highlight a number of promising and innovative approaches that have the potential to identify, prevent, treat, and manage obesity. Okihiro et al. examine a comprehensive team approach to strengthen community engagement and investment within disadvantaged, rural Hawaiian communities. Greenmills et al. describe a multi-component family-centered obesity prevention program with parents of Head Start children to increase awareness and address common parental misconceptions. Rose et al. address the influence of primary care provider weight counseling and its effects on patient weight perceptions and weight loss in a Kentucky Medicaid patient population. Slusser et al. examine the Catch Kids Club Curriculum—a pilot intervention initiative in targeted after-school programs in Los Angeles, California—that focuses on overweight, at-risk minority youth.

Many papers feature the role of community partnerships in implementing strategies to improve quality of care to vulnerable populations. Burnet et al. discuss implementation of a weight management quality improvement collaborative model at community health centers in rural America. Bazos et al. describe an Action Learning Collaboratives as a platform to facilitate community-based participatory research (CBPR) in promoting obesity prevention. Quality improvement is featured in the paper by Serpas et al.: specifically, the article describes a strategy and process to align multiple partners in primary care, public health, university research, schools and community organizations in a Latino underserved population in San Diego, California. Snelling et al. discuss a community-academic partnership engaging teachers as role models that leads to healthy behaviors and academic success of their students in a Washington, D.C. public school. Hargreaves et al. illustrate early outcomes from a long-term project linking primary care, public health, and communities through healthy weight collaborative.

Sorkin et al. provide evidence for the successful partnership between federally qualified health care centers and several community-based organizations in implementing a culturally-tailored intervention to prevent obesity among Mexican American women in California. Schwartz et al. use an innovative CBPR approach to reduce the risks for metabolic syndrome among Hispanic families in rural Idaho; and Ariza et al. link obesity identification, care, and management in primary care settings to community services. Hakim et al...