Guadalupe X. Ayala, PhD, MPH¹, Kelley DeLeeuw, BS¹, and Sean M. Hanley, MPH Candidate². (1) Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of North Carolina School of Public Health, CB #7440, Rosenau Hall 315, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7440, 919-843-8043, gxayala@email.unc.edu, (2) Department of Health Behavior & Health Education, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, CB#7506, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7506

Obesity prevention researchers’ efforts to identify environmental influences can inform the design of more feasible and effective interventions. Despite its innovation and usefulness, current methods do not sufficiently capture environmental influences from the perspective of community members. The present study describes the process of engaging Latino families in identifying environmental influences using multiple qualitative methods.

Latino adults and families were recruited to participate in focus groups, depth interviews, community mapping activities, photo documentary work, and grocery store observations (N= 51). All participants were predominantly new immigrants to the U.S. from Mexico (range years in the U.S. = 1 to 18 years). Most respondents reported less than a 6th grade education.

Consistent with the socio-ecologic framework, environmental influences were identified at multiple levels. The parent-child relationship (interpersonal level) was a significant source of influence on diet and exercise. This was often attributed to differences in the rate of acculturation between parents and children, and parents’ motivation to facilitate cultural adaptation. Both the school and work environments (organizational level) promoted unhealthy dietary behaviors and less physical activity. Schools offered fewer healthy options at the same cost as less healthy options. Factory worksites were not designed to bring home-prepared foods to consume at work, and only offered high-fat, high-calorie foods from a vending machine. Community influences included long travel distances to obtain healthy options and reluctance to travel outside one’s activity space because of unknown sources of discrimination. These findings support the need to design context-specific interventions or those that address the person-environment fit.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the process of engaging Latino families to identify environmental influences on obesity risk
• Identify most common sources of influences on obesity risk among Latino families
• Introduce audience to triangulation process using multiple qualitative methods

Keywords: Latinos, Obesity

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.