- Community Policy Brief
COMMUNITY POLICY BRIEF
What Is the Purpose of this Study?
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• This study engaged Cambodian-led nonprofit organizations in six regions of the United States in a community–university partnership that used a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach to:
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1 further develop the Cambodian American community's capacity to design and conduct health research meaningful to their community via a CBPR approach;
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2 train and deploy bilingual community health workers to gather health-related data from their communities using mobile technology; and
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3 measure the feasibility and effectiveness of our efforts.
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What Is the Problem?
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• Cambodians who came to the United States as refugees have experienced high rates of trauma during the Khmer Rouge genocide and in refugee camps on the Thai–Cambodian border.
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• Those Cambodians who were adolescents in the United States have faced significant community violence and racial discrimination, and these experiences are associated with posttraumatic stress disorder and depression.
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• Cambodian Americans have higher rates of persistent health and mental health problems compared to the general U.S. population; are more likely to experience posttraumatic stress disorders, major depressive disorder, and co-occurring post-traumatic stress disorder and depression; and are also at greater risk for hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
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• Limited systematic study of community health and a relatively modest community capacity for collecting data contribute to these disparities.
What Are the Findings?
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• Community health workers, leaders, and community members reported largely positive experiences with the iPads and spoken Khmer format of the community health survey, despite inconsistent Internet connectivity.
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• The institutional capacity of Cambodian American community-based organizations to collect health-related data in their own communities was strengthened.
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• Our efforts proved to be both feasible and effective. [End Page 107]
Who Should Care Most?
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• Community-based organizations providing services to Cambodian communities or other vulnerable populations.
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• Cambodian community members living in the United States as well as other trauma survivors or refugees.
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• Health and mental health service providers.
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• Researchers studying the feasibility of using mobile technology in CBPR health studies.
Recommendations for Action
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• CBPR approaches that use technology should continue to be used to research health disparities in Cambodian American and other communities.
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• Community engagement in this research is essential.
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• Trained and experienced community health workers and community leaders are an asset to their communities and uniquely placed to protect the rights and well-being of their community members. [End Page 108]