Proyecto Latino
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Politics & Policy at UT
Project Summary:
Proyecto Latino: Politics & Policy at UT is a research collaborative that focuses on the implementation and dissemination of social science evidence-based research on the growing Texas Latino community and its most pressing needs. The collaborative is composed of students, faculty, and community partners at UT Austin and in the greater Austin area.
We seek not only to take the pulse of the Texas Latino electorate in and around local, state, and national elections, but to provide data-driven information that can inform politics, policymaking, and community advocacy. Our aim is to provide culturally competent research that is rigorous and cutting-edge, attentive to community needs and accessible to a public audience. Our efforts are designed to empower and support community leaders, policymakers, and researchers at UT Austin, across Texas, and beyond as they work to advance meaningful, lasting change that addresses the critical needs of Latino communities.
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Principal Investigators: Danielle Clealand, Ph.D; Angie Guitierrez, Ph.D; Angela Ocampo, Ph.D
Promoting obesity prevention among children with developmental disabilities and families through engaged research (PODER)
Project Summary:
There is very limited research on the health and obesity among Latino children and adolescents with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). This research address the intersection of Latino ethnicity and IDD among children and adolescents. We address this gap in research by conducting three studies to examine health, obesity, and health behaviors among children and adolescents with IDD and their maternal caregivers, and develop and test an intervention for Latino children and adolescents with IDD and their families to promote healthy lifestyles. This study will yield important findings about Latino children with IDD and their family caregivers, and will develop evidence-based approaches to promote health and prevent obesity among Latino children and youth with IDD. Our dissemination and training activities will contribute towards disseminating findings about Latino children with IDD and health, and scaling up the intervention by creating train the trainer programs.
The first study will examine social determinants that contribute to poor health and obesity among Latino and African American children and adolescents with IDD using the National Survey of Children’s Health. The second study will gather important baseline information among Latino children and adolescents with IDD and their families through a two-site cross-sectional study that will collect rigorous data on physical activity, nutrition, height, weight and waist circumference, family environmental factors and cultural practices. The third study will merge two evidence-based interventions, one designed for Latino caregivers of children with IDD and the other designed for Latino children and adolescents with IDD and their families, to develop a new intervention that integrates caregivers, children with IDD and their families. The newly developed study will be tested through a small randomized control trial.
Project Details:
Principal Investigators: Sandy Magaña, PhD, MSW; Deborah Parra-Medina, MPH, PhD, FAAHB, Vanessa Errisuriz and Sandra Venegas
Project Title: PODER: Promoting obesity prevention among children with developmental disabilities and families through engaged research
Funders: National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR)
Project Period: 2019-2024