Background: The past two decades have been marked by increased community involvement in the research process. Community-engaged research (CEnR) is increasingly promoted in the literature, and academic programs with a community–academic partnership focus. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is an approach to frame equitable community involvement in research and is a critical component of the CEnR continuum. As with CEnR, noted benefits of using CBPR expressed in the literature, which include enhancing the relevance and application of the research data, expertise to complex problems at all stages of research, overcoming community distrust, and improving community health. This article presents a community engagement (CE) model that includes seven defined designations for CEnR. In addition, this model includes equity indicators and contextual factors for consideration at the various levels of engagement along the continuum. Methods: The CE model described in this article combines the principles of CE and CBPR in conjunction with a continuum model. The continuum integrates a focus on health equity and contextual factors providing perspectives from both community and academic partners at each point of engagement. Conclusions: A broadly defined CEnR continuum will allow researchers, community members and organizations to readily identify 1) where they are on the continuum of CEnR, 2) appropriate access points to enter the continuum based on existing contextual factors, and 3) actions to promote progression on the continuum. Funders have the opportunity to specify the appropriate level of CE needed to accomplish the goals of their identified priorities.

Study Objectives:. We investigated cross-sectional associations of individual-level socioeconomic position (SEP) and neighborhood characteristics (socia

Demographic risk factors for multimorbidity have been identified in numerous population-based studies of older adults; however, there is less data on younger populations, despite the fact that approximately 24% of US adults age 18+ have multimorbidity. Understanding multimorbidity earlier in the life course is critical because of the increased likelihood of long-term disability and loss of productivity associated with chronic disease progression. To examine the associations of education and race/ethnicity with mutimorbidity among adults aged 30-64 using cross-sectional data from the 2002-2014 National Health Interview Surveys. Multimorbidity was defined as having at least 2 of 9 self-reported health conditions. Educational attainment was categorized as less than high school (HS), completed HS or some college, and bachelor's degree or higher. Logistic regression models of multimorbidity controlled for time since last doctor's visit, demographic and socioeconomic measures. Compared to having a bachelor's degree or higher, completing less than HS (OR=1.58, 95% CI = 1.50-1.66) or HS/some college (OR=1.32, 95% CI = 1.27-1.37) were both associated with increased odds of multimorbidity net of all included covariates. Non-Hispanic Blacks had greater odds of multimorbidity (OR=1.07, 95% CI = 1.02-1.11) compared to Non-Hispanic Whites with comparable characteristics. Epidemiologic and demographic research on the burden of multimorbidity among non-elderly adults is limited, but warrants renewed attention given the potential for long-term loss of quality of life, productivity, and well-being for non-elderly adults. Reducing multimorbidity through health promotion efforts across the socioeconomic spectrum and earlier in the life course will be a requirement to age successfully and support overall well-being in the aging US population.

This paper presents data from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies with a focus on the interrelationships among health information seeking behavior (HISB), and health status or use of preventive health measures for U.S. adults both with and without a high school diploma. Key results of ordinal and binary logistic regression analyses indicated that, after controlling for demographic factors, (1) adults with a high school diploma use more text-based health information sources while adults without a high school diploma use more oral sources, (2) using the Internet as a source of health information is more strongly related to reporting excellent/very good health status than having a high school diploma, (3) those without a high school diploma who use the Internet report the largest increase in health status over any other health information source, and (4) for those with learning disability or vision problem, a high facility in reading English is an important predictor of whether the Internet is used as a health information source. The Internet appears to play a key role in both enhancing health status and enabling use of preventive measures for those with and without a high school diploma; although, individuals without a high school diploma who use the Internet for health information derive substantial benefit in health status.