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

Yok-Fong Paat (), Angela V. Dorado, Diego Garcia Tovar, Nathan W. Myers, Sarah L. Ruiz, David A. Perez, Brenda L. Ramirez Vara, Elizabeth Camacho, Guillermina Gina Núñez-Mchiri, Hector Zamora, Karim C. Singh and Rosa A. Polanco
Additional contact information
Yok-Fong Paat: The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA
Angela V. Dorado: The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA
Diego Garcia Tovar: The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA
Nathan W. Myers: New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA
Sarah L. Ruiz: Sun City Dietitians, El Paso, TX 79905, USA
David A. Perez: Sun City Dietitians, El Paso, TX 79905, USA
Brenda L. Ramirez Vara: The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA
Elizabeth Camacho: The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA
Guillermina Gina Núñez-Mchiri: San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182, USA
Hector Zamora: Dismas Charities, El Paso, TX 79915, USA
Karim C. Singh: The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA
Rosa A. Polanco: Texas Health and Human Services, El Paso, TX 79901, USA

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 16, 1-21

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.

Keywords: health promotion; underserved populations; community engagement; sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/16/7507/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/16/7507/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:16:p:7507-:d:1728152

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().