Toward a Sustainable Future: Advancing Health Promotion in Underserved Populations Through Collaborative Engagement

Abstract

Effective community health initiatives are grounded in strategic collaboration among community-based organizations and local residents to ensure the interventions are responsive to the community’s unique needs. Drawing on insights from community partners and project participants, this study explored key factors that facilitated, hindered, and strengthened community engagement, collaboration, and sustainability in health promotion efforts for underserved populations on the U.S.-Mexico border. This study utilized semi-structured interviews to gather the perspectives and insights of community partners and participants regarding effective health promotion strategies developed through our collaborative project. Data were collected from 15 community partners who have collaborated with our project and 15 participants who had attended our project events (n = 30). Our study identified four major themes: (1) key attributes and perceived value of effective health promotion activities, (2) tailored approaches for engaging underserved populations, (3) strategies for successful partnerships, and (4) ways to enhance health promotion and barriers to overcome. Practice implications are discussed.