Since 2002 the International Institute of San Francisco has regularly engaged Gibson & Associates (G&A) to assess the effectiveness of their health promotion work with various immigrant groups.
The focus of their Bosnian Community Wellness Program was to aid in the successful resettlement of refugees from their war-ravaged cities near Bosnia-Herzegovina. G&A worked to develop indicators of wellness that were culturally meaningful to the clients and that were simultaneously helpful to program staff for purposes of reporting to their funders. This required skill in qualitative evaluation methods.
After conducting extensive focus groups with 30 refugees, personal interviews (both with a translator), the researcher was able capture the benefits of the program to them that aligned with the program’s mission (e.g., the importance of the assistance they received in: gaining citizenship; learning how to navigate their new community and access needed services; forming a mutual aid society with each other; learning to protect themselves from exploitation by landlords and shopkeepers; learning how to manage health emergencies).
The unmet needs that were surfaced during this research (e.g., for specific types of ESL classes, for decreasing their dependency on this time-limited program) were successfully addressed by the program staff after consulting with the G&A researcher.
In addition to the Bosnian project G&A is evaluating two health promotion projects with Russian immigrants in the Sunset District of San Francisco. One is focused on changing the tobacco environment of the immigrants and the other focused on helping them manage their metabolic disorders (i.e., high blood pressure, weight management, diabetes) in the most healthful ways possible.
Bay Area Community Resources contracted G&A (from 2005-2008) to evaluate their Asian immigrant youth leadership project. Specifically we are asked to explore and capture the effectiveness of project interventions within the youth import car culture to counter the influence of the tobacco industry on the youth in these environments.
This evaluation will be a case study (i.e., using surveys and participant/observer research at import car events, focus groups and analysis of the personal changes in the lives of the youth). We will learn about the most effective ways to engage Asian immigrant youth to become leaders in health promotion and community organizing among their peers.
Results of this study will be published in a peer review journal, and be promulgated throughout the state-wide network of tobacco prevention providers so that the “learning community” will extend beyond this individual program.
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