Primary Submission Category: Methodological approaches to studying public health
A Community-Based Participatory Approach to Identify Feasible and Equitable Health Policies: Adapting the Citizen Panel Method for An Under-Resourced Rural Setting
Authors: Kesia Garibay, Denise Diaz Payán, Rose Ruiz, Irene H. Yen,
Presenting Author: Kesia Garibay*
Community-based participatory strategies can help researchers and practitioners identify local health policies that are responsive and relevant to address public health concerns. We partnered with a local group of Community Health Workers (CHWs) in an under-resourced rural setting, who identified housing insecurity and culturally appropriate mental health care services as top public health priorities. We adapted a citizen panel approach presenting viable policy options that were contextually feasible (e.g. could be supported by local policymakers) and could help address the identified concerns. This modification considered the county’s political environment and demographics – predominantly rural/agricultural, with a substantial immigrant population and a Latino majority of 60%. This citizen panel approach, developed by Subica and Brandon, is a community-based participatory research (CBPR) method designed to engage stakeholders and community members in tailoring research and interventions aimed to reduce health inequities. In April and August 2024, we organized two citizen panel sessions (duration: 2 hours) with CHWs from a local nonprofit organization. Our team prepared materials with three policy options to address housing insecurity and mental health service needs in the county. Selected policies had been implemented in other U.S. cities. All materials were translated into and presented in Spanish since this was the dominant or preferred language of attendees. The session began with a presentation of the policies, then CHWs were divided into smaller groups to discuss and rank which policies seemed most feasible given socio-political and resource constraints in their county. We learned a few lessons from the sessions, including that CHWs very much appreciated knowing about existing policies from other locations, wanted local officials to be aware of them. We will present other take aways from this collaborative process.