A Qualitative Case Study Examining
Intervention Tailoring for Minorities
Nelda Mier, PhD; Marcia G. Ory, PhD; Deborah J. Toobert, PhD;
Matthew Lee Smith, PhD, MPH, CHES, CPP; Diego Osuna, MD, MPH;
James R. McKay, PhD; Edna K. Villarreal, MPH; Ralph J. DiClemente, PhD;
Barbara K. Rimer, DrPH
Objectives: To explore issues of
intervention tailoring for ethnic minorities based on information and
experiences shared by researchers
affiliated with the Health Maintenance Consortium (HMC). Methods:
A qualitative case study methodology was used with the administration of a survey (n=17 principal investigators) and follow-up telephone
interviews. Descriptive and content
analyses were conducted, and a synthesis of the findings was developed.
Results: A majority of the HMC
projects used individual tailoring
strategies regardless of the ethnic
background of participants. Followup interview findings indicated that
T
here is evidence that the overall
health of the US population has improved1-3 with social and behavioral
interventions playing a crucial role in the
key considerations in the process of
intervention tailoring for minorities
included formative research; individually oriented adaptations; and
intervention components that were
congruent with participants’ demographics, cultural norms, and social
context. Conclusions: Future research should examine the extent to
which culturally tailoring long-term
maintenance interventions for ethnic minorities is efficacious and
should be pursued as an effective
methodology to reduce health disparities.
Key words: cultural, tailoring,
ethnic minorities, disparities
Am J Health Behav. 2010;34(6):822-832
process.4,5 The Institute of Medicine (IOM)
(2006), however, has noted that ethnic
minorities experience higher mortality
and morbidity rates than do nonminorities.
Nelda Mier, Associate Professor and Edna K. Villarreal, Graduate Research Assistant both from the
Department of Social and Behavioral Health, School of Rural Public Health, McAllen Campus, Texas
A&M Health Science, McAllen, TX. Marcia G. Ory, Regents' Professor and Matthew Lee Smith, Research
Associate both from Department of Social and Behavioral Health, School of Rural Public Health, A&M
Health Science Center, College Station, TX. Deborah Toobert, Senior Research Scientist, Oregon
Research Institute, Eugene, OR. Diego Osuna, Clinician Researcher, Kaiser Permanente Colorado
Institute for Health Research, Denver, CO. James McKay, Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry,
University of Pennsylvania Center on the Continuum of Care in the Addictions, and Philadelphia VAMC,
Philadelphia, PA. Ralph J. DiClemente, Chandler Professor, Emory University School of Public Health,
Atlanta, GA. Barbara K. Rimer, Dean, Alumni Distinguished Professor, NC Gillings School of Global
Public Health, Chapel Hill, NC.
Address correspondence to Dr Mier, Department of Social and Behavioral Health, School of Rural Public
Health, McAllen Campus, Texas A&M Health Science Center, 2101 S McColl Rd McAllen, TX 78572. Email: nmier@tamhsc.edu
822
Mier et al
Hispanics and African Americans experience more age-adjusted years of potential
life lost before age 75 than do non-Hispanic whites due to stroke, chronic liver
disease and cirrhosis, diabetes, and homicide. 6,7 Both Hispanics and African
Americans have higher rates of obesity
and report lower levels of physical activity
than those of non-Hispanic whites.6-8 Asian
populations suffer a higher incidence of
tuberculosis, certain types of cancer, and
Hepatitis B than do non-Hispanic whites.9
Native Americans are more likely to report poorer health outcomes than any
other ethnic group.10 In addition, disparities exist in access to health care and are
associated with higher mortality rates
among ethnic minority groups.1
The increasing diversification of the
United States underlines the need to address ethnic health disparities and weigh
the significance of using a cultural sensitivity paradigm in the design and dissemination of health interventions targeting
minorities. Whereas ethnic minorities
currently constitute about one third of the
US population, it is expected that by 2050
minorities will become the majority and
represent 54% of the national population.
It is also estimated that by 2050, the Hispanic population will grow almost 3-fold
(from 49 million to 132.8 million); the Asian
group will more than double from 14.4
million to 34.4 million; and the African
American population will increase almost
43% (to become 56.9 million).11 If ethnic
minorities continue to experience health
disparities,1,2,6-10 the estimated population
growth of these groups may exacerbate the
negative impact of these disparities.
Responding to both the IOM recommendation to eliminate disparities and
the NIH mandate for a more systematic
inclusion of ethnic minorities in research12,13 to reflect national demographic
trends will require, among other public
health strategies, the diffusion of effective health interventions that are culturally sensitive to ethnic minorities.
This paper through a case study approach aimed to explore ways in which
the Health Maintenance Consortium
(HMC) (a collective of 21 NIH-sponsored
research projects) addressed issues of
cultural tailoring explicitly for ethnic
minority participants. We wanted to understand to what extent, and what types
of, culturally sensitive strategies were
used by the consortium for tailoring mainAm J Health Behav.
2010;34(6):822-832
tenance health interventions that were
inclusive of ethnic minority participants.
This case study is based on information and experiences shared by researchers who participated in the HMC. Consortium researchers were funded by NIH to
conduct studies to test different theoretical models for achieving long-term behavioral change. Intervention outcomes
in these studies included lifestyle behaviors associated to chronic disease (ie,
eating behaviors, physical activity, cigarette smoking, and alcohol consumption),
more risky behaviors (ie, suicide, drug
abuse, and HIV-related sexual behaviors),
and preventive practices (ie, mammography and mental health screening).
Cultural Sensitivity Paradigm
The cultural sensitivity paradigm guiding the process of intervention tailoring or
adaptation for diverse groups in public
health and behavioral research has
emerged from multiple disciplines, including health communication,14,15 psychology,16
substance abuse prevention,17-23 HIV research,24,25 and health care systems.26-30
The paradigm is not only consistent with
the movements of patient-centered care
and the chronic care model,31 but its relevance is also underscored within the
health-disparity literature addressing ethnic disparities.2,28,30,32
The concept of cultural sensitivity has
been used interchangeably as cultural
competence, cultural appropriateness, or
cultural consistency. Although there is
not a single theoretical framework or a
standard definition in reference to the
cultural sensitivity paradigm, we defined
the concept as “the extent to which ethnic and cultural characteristics, experiences, norms, values, behavioral patterns,
and beliefs of a target population, and
relevant historical, environmental, and
social forces” (p493) are taken into account in intervention design, implementation, and assessment.33
The application and impact of the cultural sensitivity paradigm has also been
investigated. Considerable research supports the notion that addressing the individual needs and sociocultural context of
ethnic minorities in behavioral interventions results in statistically significant health-outcome modifications among
participants.34-39
Despite the emergence of cultural frameworks and the evidence showing that cul-
823
Tailoring for Minorities
Table 1
Survey Instrument Items and Interview Themes
Survey instrument items related to cultural sensitivity (the list of possible responses is not shown):
· In what ways have the treatment strategies that are being used in your study been adapted to be
culturally sensitive (cultural sensitivity refers to the extent to which ethnic/cultural characteristics,
experiences, norms, values, behavioral patterns, and beliefs of target populations are incorporated in the
design, delivery, and evaluation of your intervention materials . This might involve for example using
different recruitment strategies for different ethnic groups)?
· To what extent has the content of your intervention strategies been adapted to be culturally sensitive?
· In what language(s) are the intervention materials provided?
· What formats/considerations were used to address issues regarding literacy in these materials?· Are your
interventionists required to speak a language other than English?
· Are your interventionists required to meet specific criteria regarding age, gender, race/ethnicity, and/or
other?
Theme guide with open-ended questions used in follow-up interviews:
· What minority groups did you target?
· How did you tailor the intervention to be culturally sensitive for this group?
· What formative research activities did you conduct to tailor the intervention?
· What are the main components that made your intervention culturally sensitive?
· What lessons did you learn from tailoring your intervention to minority participants?
· What worked and what did not? What would you do differently in future studies?
turally tailored interventions are effective
in improving, in the short term, the health
status of ethnic minorities,34-39 there is
paucity of studies examining cultural sensitivity applications in long-term maintenance of behavior change in minority
health research. This case study, therefore, was proposed as an instructive exercise to gain insights on culturally sensitive issues as addressed by HMC researchers.
Background of the Health
Maintenance Consortium
The case study consortium was established in 2004 with funding from the
National Institutes of Health (NIH). The
HMC is a collective of 21 behavioral research projects focused on understanding the long-term maintenance of behavior change as well as identifying intervention components for achieving sustainable health promotion and disease
prevention. Coordinated by the NIH Office
of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, the HMC comprised NIH administrators, 21 research investigators in the
United States, and the HMC Resource
Center program staff and advisors.
METHODS
A qualitative case study methodology
824
was used for the study. The data collection process consisted of 2 phases: a descriptive analysis of data from a survey
administered to 17 HMC principal investigators (PIs) and telephone interviews
with 4 HMC PIs to follow up on issues of
cultural sensitivity specifically related to
ethnic minority participants.
Survey
Using a community-based participatory approach, a task force was established as part of the HMC activities to
investigate the role that different intervention strategies played in the longterm maintenance of behavior change.
The task force comprised 9 HMC members, including HMC PIs, advisors, and
staff and NIH administrators. We all participated on a voluntary basis. The goal of
the task force was to compile an inventory of interventions for projects affiliated
with the HMC and to identify intervention
components. Using a consensus process,
the task force designed a structured 52item questionnaire to be administered to
HMC PIs conducting studies that tested
the effects of long-term interventions.
The task force also established the content validity of the questionnaire. The
survey instrument was then pilot tested
to assure it met the group’s aim and to
Mier et al
Table 2
Studies Included in the Interview Data Analysis
Study 1
HIV Prevention Maintenance for African American Teens. Aim: To determine the efficacy of an
HIV maintenance prevention intervention to sustain condom-protected sexual intercourse among
African American females aged 14-20 years, over an 18-month follow-up period.
Study 2
!Viva Bien! This project was a cultural adaptation for Latinas of the Mediterranean Lifestyle
Program (MLP) (affiliated with HMC). Aim of the MLP and !Viva Bien!: To improve multiple
health behaviors in postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes
Study 3
Finding the M.I.N.C. for Mammography Maintenance. Aim: To identify the minimum
intervention needed for change for annual mammography use and maintenance among women of
diverse occupations and backgrounds.
Study 4
Weight Loss Maintenance in Primary Care. Aim: To evaluate 2 interventions for weight loss
maintenance in primary care patients recruited by their physicians.
test its readability and comprehension.
The instrument was administered via email to 21 PIs. A total of 17 PIs responded.
The survey queried the PIs about the
characteristics of their interventions,
including topics related to ways in which
the intervention was tailored to be culturally sensitive.
For purposes of this case study, we
examined data obtained from responses
to only 6 close-ended items included in
the instrument survey. These 6 items
were related to cultural sensitivity (as
shown in Table 1). The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.
After written consent was obtained,
interviews with the 4 PIs were conducted
by telephone and recorded. All interviews
were transcribed verbatim. For Study 2,
the PI and a research team member were
interviewed, but both interviews were
treated as one set of data or transcript.
Transcripts were reviewed independently.
Then, using a focused coding process in
which concepts that emerged throughout
the data were identified, transcript findings were combined into larger, overreaching themes.40 This study was approved by the Texas A&M University Institutional Review Board.
Follow-up Interviews
In addition to analyzing the survey data
collected by the task force, authors of this
paper also conducted telephone interviews
with 4 HMC PIs to expand on issues of
cultural-tailoring processes applied to ethnic minority groups. The interviews were
based on a theme guide (Table 1).
Principal investigators who responded
to the survey (n=17) were asked to state
via e-mail whether or not they tailored
their interventions to make them culturally sensitive for ethnic minority participants. Of the 17 PIs who replied to the email inquiry, 4 responded affirmatively.
One of the interviews was related to an
intervention not affiliated to HMC, but
was nevertheless considered because the
PI culturally adapted the HMC-related
intervention to an ethnic minority group.
A description of the 4 studies is shown in
Table 2.
RESULTS
Survey Instrument Data
The descriptive analysis of survey responses revealed that the most frequent
tailoring strategy was matching intervention schedules with participants’
availability (76.5%). Another prevailing
strategy was delivering the intervention
in accessible locations to participants or
meeting their transportation needs
(64.7%).
Half of the HMC projects tailored the
interventions based on formative research. In addition, 8 studies (47%) reported that their interventions were delivered by individuals who were knowledgeable of the cultural views and values
of participants (it is worth noting that the
descriptive data did not capture details or
examples of such cultural views and values; Table 3).
Almost 2 thirds of the HMC studies
Am J Health Behav.
2010;34(6):822-832
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Tailoring for Minorities
Table 3
Percentage of HMC Projects (n=17 ) by
Intervention Tailoring Strategy
Intervention tailoring strategiesa
%b
The design of the treatment strategies was based on formative research experiences, norms,
beliefs, values, behavioral patterns, socioeconomic level, or other cultural characteristics
of participants.
58.8
Recruitment staff are from the participants’ community.
11.8
The treatment strategies include activities that involve family and friends of participants.
29.4
The intervention delivery setting was selected to make it accessible to, or meet the
transportation needs of, participants (eg, community setting, church, neighborhood).
64.7
The delivery of the intervention is facilitated by individuals or organizations from the
participants’ community (eg, community health workers, community leaders).
11.8
The intervention delivery schedules were adapted to match the participants’ availability.
76.5
The treatment strategies address trust issues related to research participation.
23.5
The interventionists are knowledgeable of cultural views and values of participants.
47.1
The interventionists’ racial/ethnic background is matched to the participants.
11.8
The interventionists’ age is matched to the participants.
5.9
The interventionists’ gender is matched to the participants.
Recruitment was done in minority newspapers, churches, and community events.
17.6
5.9
Intervention content was based on the socioeconomic status of the participants.
35.3
Intervention content was developed to match the participants’ cultural views and values.
23.5
Intervention content was developed to match the participants’ literacy level.
58.8
Intervention content was developed in the preferred language of the participants.
23.5
Notes.
a This is the list of statements as presented in the survey instrument. Survey respondents were
asked to check each statement that applied to their study.
b Percentage of respondents that checked the corresponding item box
developed intervention contents that met
the literacy level of the target population
(Table 3). All interventions were delivered in English, and only one reported
having an interpreter in the intervention
classes.
All 17 projects included some ethnic
minority participants. The average percentage of ethnic minority inclusion was
826
40.18%, and the range was from 6% to
100%, with only one study having all
participants from an ethnic minority
group (Figure 1).
Follow-up Interview Data
Three major themes emerged from data
obtained through the follow-up interviews:
the importance of formative research in
Mier et al
Figure 1
Percentage of Ethnic Minority Participants by Study (n=17)
cultural tailoring, intervention cultural
components, and main lessons learned.
Formative Research
The intervention tailoring process in 3
projects was informed by formative research including literature searches, focus groups, interviews, theatrical testing, and pilot testing:
You can read the literature, but unfortunately, even the African American
community is not homogeneous. So if
you were dealing with Caribbean Americans, African Americans, or Africans,
people who have lived in the North
versus the South, there really are some
differences that need to be taken into
account. The only way to really get at
those nuanced differences is by doing
some in depth formative work.
(Study 1)
Study 2 began the formative process by
searching the literature for “some insights into things that we should consider
changing from the parent program [The
Mediterranean Lifestyle Program]. There
could be some factors unique to Latinas
Am J Health Behav.
2010;34(6):822-832
that would make a difference in terms of
learning self- management procedures.
In that literature we frankly didn’t find
anything that was very profound.”
Study 2 also conducted focus groups,
but again “we were left with the sense
that the overall format in the parent program was feasible for implementation
with Latinas. Childcare and transportation were 2 of the areas the participants
thought we should be sensitive to because they thought the intervention would
be rather demanding.”
Study 1 conducted 2 pilots assessing
the feasibility and cultural appropriateness of the program: “The pilot studies
were sort of a dress rehearsal. We went
through all the procedures, including randomization, and we delivered our intervention, and at the end of each intervention session, that’s when we requested
specific information about the session.
Were the activities appropriate? Were
the health educators appropriate?”
Study 2 also pilot tested shortened versions of the intervention: “We were able
to pilot the measures to see if they were
clear and could be understood by the
women—whether the literacy level was
827
Tailoring for Minorities
appropriate. We piloted the recruitment
procedures. Probably the biggest thing we
learned from the pilot was that we needed
to add a family component to the intervention.”
Study 3 conducted interviews and focus groups to find out women’s perceptions about their experiences with mammography screening.
Study 1 used theatrical testing “where
we had members of the community actively participating as consultants in each
of the components of the study, and then
evaluated it for its appropriateness, in
terms of linguistic and cultural relevance.”
Intervention Components
The interviewees highlighted the main
components they included to make the
interventions culturally sensitive. These
components were related to the demographic characteristics, cultural norms,
and social environment of participants.
Demographic characteristics of delivery agents and participants were matched
in some of the studies. Study 1 hired
health educators who were African American females, and about 95% of the research team was also African American.
Study 2 presented intervention materials in English and Spanish and had bilingual staff.
Although Study 3 did not plan to match
gender characteristics of interventionists and participants, the intervention
counselors were of mammography-seeking age, a similar age of participating
women: “We wanted to have telephone
advisors and counselors who were mature and who could relate to women.”
Taking into account the cultural norms
of the target population was also relevant
in studies 1 and 2 when selecting intervention activities and materials:
“We wanted to look at symbolism because clearly that is an important cultural component. Even the logo that we
eventually used was symbolic of African
culture” (Study 1).
Study 2 also took into account Hispanic
cultural symbolism in some group activities, in which “all the decorations had a
fiesta style.”
In Study 1, the researchers emphasized the importance of cultural congruence:
“For example, in our study one of the
key themes was to be safe for yourselves,
your family, and your community. In Afri-
828
can American communities young women
are important, not only to their family, but
to their community. So the whole issue of
altruism, collectivism, which is an African American trait, was emphasized”
(Study 1).
Studies 2 and 4 included ethnic foods of
the target population. In Study 4, interventionists taught African Americans
“ways to either avoid fried food or preparing that food in ways that didn’t involve so
many extra calories.”
In studies 1 and 2, culturally sensitive
music and poetry were also incorporated
into the intervention. The researcher
from Study 1 stated the intervention included materials from African American
artists such as the musician Lauren Hill
and the poet Maya Angelou. Study 2 introduced music that participants would like:
“We definitely had a Latin flavor to the
music that we used for the physical activity sessions. We had salsa dancing at our
different functions.”
The social context of the target population was another intervention component in 3 studies:
“Our intervention addressed the realities of being an African American woman.
What are the threats in the community?
What are the barriers to practicing safer
sex? We also addressed future orientation as perceived by African Americans. A
lot of them don’t perceive they have a
future. You also have to address gender
norms, critical issues that not only in
African-American communities are
prominent, but in general” (Study 1).
Study 2 included social support groups
for participants and also met their transportation needs to attend sessions:
“Women came together at the end of each
of our group sessions, and had an opportunity to socialize and talk about their successes and failures with the program,
which we felt was a critical element in
maintaining their involvement in the
program.”
In Study 4, the weight-control specialist provided nutrition advice to participants based on their cultural background
or the neighborhood: “Our whole approach
to weight-control programs is focused
much more on the food environment and
much less on the psychological characteristics of our participants. There were
was a big difference between African
Americans and Caucasians in terms of
the food environment. That was at least
Mier et al
partly based on the fact that in general
the African Americans came from lower
social economic levels and lived in different neighborhoods; therefore they had
less money to spend on healthy foods and
healthy foods were less available to them.”
oversampled racial and ethnic minorities in order to “do some better comparisons across race and ethnicity.”
The PI of Study 4 also emphasized the
importance of an individually oriented
tailoring process:
Main Lessons Learned
Two themes emerged as common lessons among interviewees: the tailoring
process has to be individually oriented
and is time-consuming.
“I think that is one reason why our
interventions are not nearly as effective
as they could be, because they are so
broad. By designing a really broad intervention it is really targeted at no one”
(Study 1).
The PI of Study 1 also mentioned that
researchers need to understand the target population and involve individuals
from this population in the intervention
design, implementation, and evaluation:
“The more tailoring you do and the more
personalized you make it, the better it is.
So there are different levels of tailoring.
Tailoring is not a yes or no issue. Think
of tailoring as a continuum. Your intervention has to target an individual, not a
group.”
The main lesson for researchers in
Study 2 was acknowledging the heterogeneity of the target population:
We have to realize that our interventions don’t work very well with everyone. But I don’t think it has anything to
do with tailoring. It has to do with the
huge difficulty everyone has in changing their habits, food choices, given
that we are living in an extremely unhealthy food environment. So when
you think about behavior modification
procedures, they are all about tailoring
to begin with. In other words, the whole
idea is teach general principles, but
then help people apply those principles to their particular life situations,
and that is true regardless of who they
are. Participants want a helper who
addresses their particular challenges,
as opposed to just applying a one size
fits all.
(Study 4)
If you have a group of Latinas living in
Denver, in terms of acculturation and
nationality there is a lot of diversity. I
think the main lesson is that with
tailoring you have to be extremely flexible. We incorporated family night because of our pilot study participant
feedback, but there were some women
who said, ‘I don’t care what my family
thinks, I’d rather have an evening where
they stay at home and I can just enjoy
my time with the other women here.’ In
terms of language and bilingualism,
we have monolingual Spanish speakers, monolingual English speakers, and
people who are bilingual. I think the
lesson is to not make narrow stereotyped assumptions because there is so
much diversity in each ethnic group.
(Study 2)
For researchers of Study 3, the culturally sensitive process “is laborious and
time consuming.” Additionally, in retrospective Study 3 researchers would have
Am J Health Behav.
2010;34(6):822-832
DISCUSSION
Our case study analyses indicate that
all projects affiliated with the HMC included ethnic minority participants, as
required by NIH funding guidelines. Also,
most of the PIs reported to having used
individual tailoring strategies to make
their interventions more responsive to
their target populations regardless of the
ethnicity background of participants. This
case study highlights that intervention
tailoring explicitly applied to ethnic minorities was rarely performed in the HMC
interventions.
We found that culturally sensitive tailoring efforts in the HMC projects focused
mainly on conducting individual tailoring
to meet particular needs of target populations (ie, easy access to classes, transportation, adequate schedules, literacy level),
without further tailoring the interventions more specifically for their minority
participants. In other words, in most HMC
projects both minority and nonminority
participants were exposed to the same
tailored intervention. Notwithstanding
this finding, the practice of individual
tailoring is of great significance in behavioral research. Although our study did not
investigate the effects of intervention
tailoring on health outcomes, consider-
829
Tailoring for Minorities
able research shows that tailoring efforts
yield effective changes in behavioral
health outcomes.34-39,41
From the follow-up interviews with PIs
who worked to make their interventions
culturally sensitive to an ethnic minority
group, we learned that formative research
plays a key role in the tailoring process.
This finding is consistent with previous
research.15,34,35,42 Additionally, we found that
the tailored interventions for ethnic minorities included the following cultural
components: materials and activities
that were congruent with the participants’ demographics (ie, ethnicity, language, and age), cultural norms and practices (ie, ethnic foods, music), and social
environment (ie, socioeconomic status,
social support need, gender bias). These
findings resonate with studies in the
literature that also examined components
of culturally sensitive interventions for
minorities.27,28,31 Finally, the PIs highlighted that cultural tailoring for ethnic
minorities has to be individually based
and is time-consuming.
This study has limitations due to its
descriptive and qualitative nature and
specific focus on HMC-affiliated projects.
Despite its limitations, this case study is
instructive in that it provides valuable
insights into the individual and cultural
tailoring process of long-term behavioral
interventions. Although it is worth noting
that the main goal of the HMC-affiliated
projects was not to address health disparities, further steps for HMC members, and
behavioral scientists in general, may be
to explore the extent to which tailoring or
adapting long-term maintenance behavior interventions for ethnic minorities
can be efficacious and reduce health disparities.
In conclusion, our case study showed
the adoption of individual tailoring in
general, but less ethnicity–specific tailoring in the HMC projects. Case study
findings may suggest the need to address
a major research and practice gap. The
maintenance behavior research and
health disparities field can benefit from
more attention to the application of the
cultural sensitivity paradigm. There are
some research questions that require
our immediate attention. To what extent
do processes of culturally tailoring longterm interventions for ethnic minorities
change and sustain their health outcomes? What are effective tailoring strat-
830
egies in maintenance interventions for
ethnic minorities?
As the United States becomes more
ethnically diverse and health disparities
persist, the application of the cultural
sensitivity paradigm in behavioral research with minorities will become increasingly important. In a review of population-based interventions engaging ethnic minorities in healthy living, Yancey
et al43 call for rigorous trials in multiethnic and ethnic-specific settings to obtain sufficient evidence on the effectiveness of tailored interventions targeting
these diverse groups. The IOM also underlines that culturally appropriate education programs are key in comprehensive, multilevel strategies to eliminate
ethnic health inequalities.2 In addition,
previous research confirms that behavioral interventions tailored to meet the
cultural and social context of ethnic minorities are more likely to increase the
external validity of interventions,42 accelerate advances in minority health, 32,44
and address health disparities.30,32 Previous systematic reviews, which present
evidence of the effectiveness of interventions tailored for minority groups,45,46 conclude that the tailoring process should
consider community involvement, faceto-face interventions, inclusion of lay
facilitators, and formative research activities.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the
NIH—National Institute of Child Health
and
Human
Development
(3
"
R01HD047143-01S1).
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