Research

CCHER affiliated researchers use a range of research methods and populations to understand health disparities and develop health equity-related interventions. Below are a few examples of community-based research conducted by our affiliates:

• Gambling Awareness Research Initiative: Drs. Kathryn Derose, Linnea Evans, and Rachel Volberg along with CCHER Community Research Liaison Brenda Evans and PhD student Geraldine Puerto partnered with the Springfield Department of Health and Human Services and New North Citizen’s Council to develop a community advisory board with young adults in Springfield, MA Young Adult Action Collective. The team developed a proposal that was funded by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, which awarded the City of Springfield a $275,000 grant intended to help understand and address gambling-related harm among youth.
• The Faith-Based Health Alliance: With the support of a PSEG award, CCHER core faculty Drs. Kate Derose and Linnea Evans along with Ms. Brenda Evans have been working with the Faith-Based Health Alliance in Springfield, MA on a congregational health needs assessment to identify community priorities and strategies for sustainable faith-based interventions with member congregations. This project completed 237 health surveys and focus groups across 7 churches and organized a congregational health forum with participating churches to discuss survey results and identify health priorities for future congregational programs.
• The Men of Color Health Awareness (MOCHA) program utilizes a community health worker approach to boost health outcomes and develop skills for coping with stress among African-American and Latino men in Springfield, MA. Co-PIs: David Buchanan, Aline Gubrium, Dean Robinson, Luis Valdez
• MI-CARE is an NIH-funded R01 intervention study uniting investigators at the University of Arizona and Caring Health Center in Springfield, MA, to test the effectiveness of a pharmacist-community health worker partnership to improve medication adherence among low-income, minority patients with hypertension. (MPIs: Susan J .Shaw and Jeannie K. Lee, Site PI: Cristina Huebner Torres.)
• The Medication Adherence, Health Literacy & Cultural Health Beliefs (RxHL) Study examines the effects of structural and cultural factors on medication adherence among diverse patient populations in Springfield, MA. PI: Susan J. Shaw
• Hear Our Stories: Diasporic Youth for Sexual Rights and Justice uses digital storytelling to examine sexual and reproductive health disparities among young parenting Latinas in Holyoke, Massachusetts. The project aims to reframe public conversations on young motherhood and sexuality, health, and reproductive rights across generations by prioritizing uprooted young women. PI: Aline Gubrium
• Successful Teens: Relationships, Identity and Values Education (STRIVE) Initiative: Drs. Gubrium and Salerno-Valdez seek to examine adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) inequities in Massachusetts by completing a comprehensive investigation to examine how structural racism, in combination with other systems of oppression, contributes to inequitable ASRH outcomes for youth. Co-PI's: Aline Gubrium, Elizabeth Salerno-Valdez. Read some of the publications that have come from this important study below:
  • Camille Collins Lovell, Elizabeth Salerno Valdez, Jazmine Chan, Elizabeth Beatriz & Aline Gubrium (2023) ‘It’s whether or not you got people’: school-based social support to address adolescent sexual and reproductive health inequities, Sex Education, 23:5,601-616, DOI: 10.1080/14681811.2022.2106560

  • Valdez, E. S., Chan, J., Donis, A., Collins-Lovell, C., Dixon, S., Beatriz, E., & Gubrium, A. (2023). Structural Racism and Its Influence On Sexual and Reproductive Health Inequities Among Immigrant Youth. Journal of immigrant and minority health, 25(1), 16–22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-022-01385-x

  • Caruso, I., Valdez, E. S., Lovell, C. C., Chan, J., Beatriz, E., & Gubrium, A. (2023). The Need for Community-Responsive and Flexible Sex Ed for Historically Marginalized Youth. Sexuality research & social policy : journal of NSRC : SR & SP, 20(1), 94–102. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-022-00717-8

• Biopsychosocial Approaches to Chronic Disease among Mixed-status Latino Families: The goal of this project is to examine how immigration enforcement policies are related to chronic stress and health outcomes in Latino households with at least one immigrant parent. PI: Airín Martinez
• Let’s Move Holyoke 5-2-1-0: the goal of this program is to create environments to support healthy choices in adults and children such as eating 5 or more fruits and vegetables per day, spending 2 hours or less of screen time, getting 1 hour of exercise, and drinking 0 sugary beverages a day. More than a dozen community partner organizations in the Holyoke area participate in this program and the researchers plan to produce a program evaluation to help streamline the “Let’s Move” implementation and to produce pilot data to support future funding efforts. PI: Airín Martinez
• Physical Activity to Prevent Childhood Obesity: Dr. Sofiya Alhassan’s research focuses on family-based physical activity interventions to reduce early onset cardiovascular disease risk factors (obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus) in preschool-age and pre-adolescent children of color. PI: Sofiya Alhassan
• The Thrive@Home/Roses study develops person-directed nursing approaches to support capability and well-being, including sexual well-being, among Puerto Rican breast cancer survivors residing in Western Massachusetts and on the island of Puerto Rico. PI: Rachel K. Walker (ROSES PI: Sherily Pereira, University of Puerto Rico)
• The Promoting Smoking Cessation among Individuals with Food Insecurity Study analyzes food insecurity, psychological distress, and the socioeconomic and racial/ethnic disparities in tobacco use and smoking cessation to aid in the development of tailored interventions for low-income people with food insecurity. PI: Jin Kim-Mozeleski

For more research related to health equity, see the webpages of CCHER affiliated faculty members.