Supporting Cook Island communities to access DOHaD evidence
Siobhan Tu'akoi1, Neti Tamarua-Herman1, Karen Tairea2
1Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
Summary
Community engagement in the Cook Islands co-created an early-life nutrition resource to address high rates of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). This participatory approach ensured the resource met local needs, empowering communities to improve health outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Community-Based Participatory Research
- Global Health
Background:
- Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) links early-life environment to non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
- Limited translation of DOHaD knowledge in developing nations like the Cook Islands, which face high NCD burdens.
- Cook Islands leaders recognized the need for enhanced community awareness regarding early-life nutrition.
Purpose of the Study:
- To engage Cook Islands community representatives in co-constructing a contextually relevant early-life nutrition resource.
- To address the high NCD burden by improving early-life nutrition awareness and practices.
Main Methods:
- Employed a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach.
- Utilized semi-structured focus groups (n=60) with community representatives to adapt an existing resource.
- Incorporated iterative feedback through multiple rounds of focus groups to ensure community voice representation.
Main Results:
- Identified three core themes: understanding early-life nutrition importance, recognizing the need for resources, and emphasizing context specificity.
- Co-constructed a draft early-life nutrition booklet reflecting community input and validated through further focus groups.
- Gathered suggestions for additional relevant material beyond the original resource.
Conclusions:
- Community co-construction successfully created a relevant early-life nutrition resource for the Cook Islands.
- The developed resource has the potential to stimulate community-level discussions on early-life nutrition.
- Emphasizes the critical importance of active community involvement in research and health intervention decision-making.
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