Community-Based Research

We help improve the quality of life and life expectancy of Asian Americans by understanding their perspectives, researching barriers to care and increasing their participation in health and medical research. We work directly within the communities to gain understanding and turn that into community health support services.

Community Conversations

The Community Conversations program seeks to build trust and establish a presence within Asian and other communities of color, focusing on understanding their unique health needs and tailoring services accordingly. Through this program, AWFH connects, directs, and refers community members to relevant CBOs, clinics, and other organizations. These conversations allow AWFH to gain insight into the healthcare experiences of community members to enable us to provide them with the resources that can help them overcome health challenges and barriers to care. Currently, AWFH engages regularly with the Vietnamese population in the Dorchester area to understand their needs and offer tailored support and services.

laughing-mature-asian-woman-with-friend-at-a-table-on-an-outdoor-terrace

Community Conversations

The Community Conversations program seeks to build trust and establish a presence within Asian and other communities of color, focusing on understanding their unique health needs and tailoring services accordingly. Through this program, AWFH connects, directs, and refers community members to relevant CBOs, clinics, and other organizations. These conversations allow AWFH to gain insight into the healthcare experiences of community members to enable us to provide them with the resources that can help them overcome health challenges and barriers to care. Currently, AWFH engages regularly with the Vietnamese population in the Dorchester area to understand their needs and offer tailored support and services.

Understanding is a foundational element of the work we do and the impact we make at AWFH. Connections, conversations and collaboration need to be continuous. We need to have a network that grows and evolves like the web of the Internet.

For a typical project, the team conducts ethnographic research within select Asian communities in Eastern Massachusetts. These communities may include the Chinese and Cambodian and may include Vietnamese and Afghan, depending on funding and resource availability.

A typical team will include the following:

  • An executive lead
  • 1-2 community health workers
  • A design thinking advisor/coach
  • Support staff as needed

The goals of the project should focus on health equity for people meeting demographic criteria that are defined in advance. The goals may include the following:

  • Conduct in-depth, “guided” conversations with at least 20 people meeting our defined demographic criteria in the Chinese community
  • Conduct in-depth, “guided” conversations with at least 20 people meeting our defined demographic criteria in another Asian community
  • Analyze conversational data and use it to determine opportunities for impact in health equity
  • Define a plan of action for creating content in documents and/or videos to share with the communities in their native languages
  • Define a plan for workshops to educate the communities on findings and solutions to overcoming barriers for greater healthy living and health equity