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Community and population health

Supporting health in at-risk populations

We work with communities to research health needs and implement solutions. Community health research may assess ways to improve nutrition or fitness education. Often, multiple groups, such as schools and health care systems in specific cities, work together toward the same goal. Population research focuses on promoting health in at-risk populations.

Investigators

Key projects

Using systems science methods to study cardiac risk in the Somali community

We’re studying connections between social networks and risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes in the Somali population. The Somali community’s emphasis on clan structure has unique implications for health behaviors that influence these diseases. Understanding this relationship will help researchers evaluate potential benefits of health interventions like Somali-speaking or culturally tailored smoking cessation, exercise or wellness programs.

Choose your fish

With the Minnesota Department of Health, we produced a brochure and website aimed at increasing the consumption of fish low in mercury and other contaminants among Minnesota women of childbearing age and their families. This project, Choose Your Fish, used focus groups, surveys and other input from HealthPartners patients and members to develop fish consumption messages. Our research and patient education experts created materials that would resonate most with the target population. The resulting materials are a brochure and mobile-responsive website with videos, tips for cooking fish and a recipe page with a Pinterest-like format.

Increasing human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations in Hmong youth

We are developing and testing a web application to increase HPV vaccinations in 11- to 17-year-old Hmong youth. This culturally-responsive eHealth intervention involves promoting knowledge, awareness, support, and access to HPV and HPV vaccinations among Hmong adolescents and their parents via Smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktops. This is a collaboration with the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, The University of Alabama, School of Social Work, and SoLoHmo, a community-based research organization affiliated with the Westside Community Health Services Clinics, a federally qualified health center. Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this randomized controlled trial began in 2018.

Reduce suffering from gout in the Hmong community

We are identifying and developing a research agenda to reduce the suffering associated with gout in Minnesota’s Hmong community. This project involves collaboration with Westside Community Health Services Clinics, the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy and the Hmong Gout Coalition. It is funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. We have three educational videos on gout in Hmong and subtitled in English.

Key publications