Approaches to Community Engagement That Optimize the Reach and Utility of Health Education Campaigns in Newcomer Communities

Abstract

Linguistic and cultural factors are significant barriers to health education for newcomers, defined for this report as people who recently arrived to the United States as refugees, asylees, immigrants, migrants, and others in need of international protection. However, many newcomers are in a good position to influence health education strategies. The National Resource Center for Refugees, Immigrants and Migrants (NRC-RIM) developed campaigns using both community-informed and community co-design approaches in order to optimize their reach and utility. A community-informed approach allows organizations to create linguistically and culturally relevant health education materials relatively quickly on a large scale to meet communities’ needs. The six steps included (1) Listen, (2) Write, (3) Design, (4) Translate, (5) Validate, and (6) Scale. A community co-design approach leverages the wisdom and experience of community leaders to create hyperlocal campaigns that are rooted in community values. The three steps included (1) Inspiration, (2) Ideation, and (3) Implementation. A mixed-methods evaluation showed a complementary approach to be effective in promoting informed decision-making and health-seeking behavior among newcomers. The findings underscore the crucial need for culturally relevant communications created in genuine partnership with communities, and suggest that by investing time and resources to this process, organizations can be well-positioned to address health inequities among newcomers.