The Research Justice Shop (RJS) was founded to transform research practices to be more inclusive by facilitating equitable collaboration between the university and the communities most impacted by our collective social and environmental problems. RJS does this, in part, by teaching and training Community-based Research (CBR), a practice of collaborative research with the people experiencing the problems being studied. CBR is a practice many labs and departments utilize across the University to empower communities. For example, Dr. Sunmin Lee, ScD’s lab is a proponent of this practice. The Lab focuses on social epidemiology to reduce health disparities among Asian Americans (Sunmin Lee Lab – University of California, Irvine, n.d.). I spoke with a member of Dr. Lee’s Lab, Nancy Mai (pictured on the right in a field wearing a white dress and blue graduation stole in a field), a recent Master of Public Health (MPH) graduate, to learn more about her experiences with CBR. This project is Nancy’s first experience with CBR. I asked her what her experiences involved, what she’s learned along the way, and what challenges and lessons she’s faced along the way.
Dr. Sunmin Lee’s Lab and DREAMS Study
Dr. Sunmin Lee’s lab partnered with the Vietnamese American Cancer Foundation (VACF), which is dedicated to preventing cancer, improving patient quality of life, and saving lives through cancer education, research, advocacy, and services in the Vietnamese community. Dr. Lee’s lab and VACF first met in 2020. In 2022, VACF was formally invited onto the Community Advisory Board for the new Disparity Research to Evaluate Asians’ Multifaceted Stress on Sleep and Health (DREAMS) Study. This study is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and is interested in investigating the mechanisms and impact of immigrant stressors on sleep and health disparities among three Asian immigrant subgroups (Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese Americans) 30 years old or older who reside in Orange County (Sunmin Lee Lab, 2022). The study will take place over the next 4 years collecting and analyzing two waves of data to investigate immigrant stressors, potential protective factors, sleep health, and cardiometabolic risk factors. This is an understudied area that the Lab aims to gain a better understanding of. This group is of particular interest due to the many unique issues they face such as being war refugees, experiencing anti-Asian discrimination throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and adapting to Western cultures while trying to preserve their own culture.
Nancy’s experience in the DREAMS study
Nancy is a recent MPH graduate with an emphasis in Sociocultural Diversity and Health. The Program in Public Health trains students to identify how culture, social inequities, and biological factors influence health and then apply their knowledge to implement creative interventions to decrease health disparities and increase health-promoting behaviors (UCI Public Health, 2022).
In her work on the study, Nancy conducts community outreach and corresponds with community partners. Specifically, she looks for opportunities to recruit study participants at local organizations and events that are tailored to Vietnamese Americans. Their goal throughout this process is to ensure the partnership is mutually beneficial and provides services to partnered organizations such as offering health seminars in various languages including Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese.
CBR presents challenges, however. Nancy acknowledges that fact stating “It’s challenging [conducting CBR]. I knew that from the start, but I understand how deep the challenges are now.” She states “the research team works with Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese communities and although some might think they’re all Asian and similar, the way we interact and do outreach is unique to each group.” For example, when the research team recruited participants for focus groups for another study on Helicobacter Pylori during COVID-19, Chinese and Korean teams had success in recruiting participants using social media and conducting focus groups by zoom. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese team found that tech-based recruitment efforts did not work as well with the Vietnamese population. This has presented a significant challenge during the pandemic when remote recruitment techniques were required to avoid community spread. The Vietnamese recruitment team explored additional methods of recruitment such as newspaper and radio ads which are much more expensive. Nancy states, “you can see how these issues sort of add up on top of each other.” For older less tech-savvy Vietnamese participants, the Vietnamese team found a solution and hosted an in-person focus group outdoors.
Nancy’s experiences demonstrated that often those who are most affected by the issues research teams are studying are unable to participate and be properly represented in the data. Researchers must work harder to ensure that all voices are being heard equally, and tailor methods to include those harder-to-reach communities.
Looking Onward with CBR
Nancy still hopes to learn more and gain further experience with CBR. She wants to learn how to better connect with these communities and how to encourage them to participate in these important studies. Several minority groups may not be aware of the importance of research and the significance of being properly represented in data. It’s a challenge explaining to potential participants that their involvement can positively impact research on a larger overarching issue among Asian Americans.
We asked Nancy how her experiences with CBR and Dr. Sunmin Lee’s labs have shaped her future goals and aspirations in public health. She said, “The CBR research work I’ve done with Dr. Lee has really confirmed my passion for addressing health inequalities among Asian Americans. I hope to continue this work and address health issues within the community I’ve grown up in. It feels surreal at times that the organizations [and] places my family attended when I was growing up are places I’m connecting to now professionally. The [reserarch participant] reminds me of a lot of my family members, and I hope I can do right by them and help improve my community”.
Thank you to Dr. Sunmin Lee and Nancy Mai for allowing RJS to feature their ongoing study and CBR practice. RJS aims to elevate this research approach and empower communities like the Vietnamese American Cancer Foundation. To learn more about Dr. Sunmin Lee’s lab and the DREAMS study, please visit this site. To learn more about the Research Justice Shop, please click here.
Stephanie Guizar is a second-year student in the Masters of Public Health Program at UCI. She is a social media intern with RJS. Stephanie is interested in promoting public health using communications and marketing methods. She has a BA in Public Health Policy with a minor in Civic and Community Engagement from UCI. For more information regarding the Research Justice Shop please visit the website or contact researchjustice@uci.edu or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
References
Sunmin Lee Lab. (2022). Sunmin Lee Lab. Dreams Study. https://faculty.sites.uci.edu/sunminleelab/sleep-disparities-study/
Sunmin Lee Lab – University of California, Irvine. (n.d.). SUNMIN LEE LAB. Retrieved June 5, 2022, from https://faculty.sites.uci.edu/sunminleelab/
UCI Public Health. (2022). Public Health | University of California, Irvine. UCI Public Health. https://publichealth.uci.edu/ph/_graduate/mph_program
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