Differences in Community Members' and Academics' Perceptions of Factors Contributing to Food Insecurity and Obesity among Mexican Immigrants: An Application of Concept Mapping.

Community-based participatory research has been identified as an approach to research where community members, organizational representatives, and academic researchers all participate in the research process. As research partners, community members and academics may find some common ground in identification of problems, but frequently differ in their perception of the cause of those problems and struggle with arriving at a "shared interpretation" of the data. Failure to account for these differences ultimately leads to issues with the design of interventions. Group concept mapping is a rigorous mixed-methods approach that lends itself well to the conduct of community-based participatory research and the results can be used to systematically compare the conceptualized models of different groups of participants. Building from a previous study, where group concept mapping was used to describe the factors felt to contribute to weight gain and obesity among Mexican immigrant families, this study described and statistically evaluated the different conceptualizations between community members and academicians. Using a Procrustean comparison approach and permutation strategy, we assessed the spatial correspondence of concept maps generated by the two independent community members and academic groups. The results indicated the conceptualized patterns, represented by the two multidimensional scaling configurations (i.e., concept maps) produced by community and academic groups, were more similar than expected by chance, although meaningful differences existed. We describe how these differences in perspective have important implications for the cooperative development of an intervention addressing the multiple factors related to the perceived causes of obesity.

Using Concept Mapping within a Community-Academic Partnership to Examine Obesity among Mexican Immigrants.

Background: Weight gain is common following migration to a new country. Mexican immigrants have a disparate prevalence of overweight/obesity and food insecurity. Social stressors, such as unemployment, discrimination, and the threat of deportation, may fuel both food insecurity and weight gain in this population. Objectives: We sought to (1) examine community-defined causes and correlates of obesity among Mexican-Americans; (2) determine how current social stressors, policies, and programs impact food insecurity and obesity; and (3) identify community-defined priorities for preventive interventions. Methods: Group concept mapping (GCM) was used in a community-academic partnership (CAP) to describe the factors contributing to weight gain and obesity among Mexican immigrant families. Activities included community brainstorming, sorting and rating, multivariate statistical analysis, and community interpretation of results. Results: Eighty statements were generated in the brainstorming sessions. These statements were sorted into nine clusters, which were organized into three regions: (1) intrapersonal factors; (2) community-level factors; and (3) social policy-related barriers. Statements reflecting the impact of immigration-related stressors were found in all three regions, addressing participants' fears of deportation, and the prioritization of resources away from healthy eating, resulting in food insecurity. Community members identified five priority areas for intervention planning: (1) lack of exercise; (2) lack of knowledge of a healthy diet; (3) expense of healthy foods; (4) "junk" food; and (5) stress management. Conclusions: Results suggest high levels of social stress are contributing to food insecurity and obesity among Mexican immigrant families. Areas identified for intervention planning reflect the need for a multifaceted approach toward obesity prevention.