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Using community based research frameworks to develop and implement a church-based program to prevent diabetes and its complications for samoan communities in south western sydney
Ndwiga, Dorothy McBride, Kate A. Simmons, David Thompson, Ronda Reath, Jennifer Abbott, Penelope Alofivae-Doorbinia, Olataga Patu, Paniani Vaovasa, Annalise MacMillan, Freya
Ndwiga, Dorothy
McBride, Kate A.
Simmons, David
Thompson, Ronda
Reath, Jennifer
Abbott, Penelope
Alofivae-Doorbinia, Olataga
Patu, Paniani
Vaovasa, Annalise
MacMillan, Freya
Abstract
Pasifika communities bear a disproportionate burden of diabetes compared to the general Australian population. Community-based participatory research (CBPR), which involves working in partnership with researchers and communities to address local health needs, has gained prominence as a model of working with underserved communities. This paper describes how Le Taeao Afua (LTA) Samoan diabetes prevention program was underpinned by two CBPR frameworks to develop a culturally tailored church-based lifestyle intervention to prevent diabetes and its complications in the Australian Samoan community. The name LTA, which means ‘a new dawn,’ was chosen by the community to signify a new dawn without diabetes in the Australian Samoan community. Strategies for engaging with the Australian Samoan community in South Western Sydney are discussed mapped to the key principles from the CBPR frameworks. In particular, this paper highlights the steps involved in building relationships with Samoan community leaders and the vital role of community activators and peer support facilitators in the success of delivering the program. Lessons learnt, such as the importance of church and maintaining a Samoan way of life in daily activities, and processes to build effective partnerships and maintain long-term relationships with the Australian Samoan community, are also discussed. Our paper, through providing a case example of how to apply CBPR frameworks, will help guide future community-based health promotion programs for underserved communities.
Keywords
Australian Samoan community, community-based participatory research, diabetes, obesity, health promotion, community activation
Date
2021
Type
Journal article
Journal
Book
Volume
18
Issue
17
Page Range
1-17
Article Number
ACU Department
School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
License
CC BY 4.0
File Access
Open
Notes
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).