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Objectives: To determine whether actual community-level risk for COVID-19 in the Black community influenced individual perceptions of community-level and personal risk and how self-assessment of personal risk was reflected in the adoption of COVID-19 precautionary behaviors., Methods: Semistructured interviews were conducted with 20 Black Chicago adults from February to July 2021. A grounded theory approach was used for the qualitative analysis and initial, focused, and theoretical coding were performed., Results: We developed a grounded model consisting of four major themes: (a) Pre-Existing Health Conditions; (b) Presence of COVID-19 Infection in Participant Social Network; (c) COVID-19-Related Information, Participant Trust, and Perceived Personal Risk; and (d) Perceived Higher Burden of COVID-19 in the Black Community., Conclusions: Higher perceptions of personal risk were shaped by pre-existing health conditions and experiences with COVID-19 in one's social network but were not influenced by perceived higher burden of COVID-19 in the Black community., Policy Implications: Black adults' perceptions of their individual risk and precautionary behaviors were not congruent with public health data and recommendations. Therefore, COVID-19 messaging and mitigation should be informed by local community engagement and transparent communication.

Background: Despite the need to consider multiple sources of evidence to guide locally and culturally relevant interventions, few studies have documented the process by which evidence is integrated., Objectives: We leveraged a community-academic partnership to describe a participatory approach to integrating community and academic sources of evidence to inform cancer programming priorities in the Arab American (ArA) community in Southwest Chicago., Methods: Informed by Intervention Mapping, this study comprised three phases led by community and academic partners: 1) qualitative assessment of cancer-related priorities through eight focus groups with 48 ArA community members, 2) a focused literature review to identify models of cancer interventions implemented with ArAs, and 3) integration of focus group and literature review findings and development of a strategy for a community-based cancer program administered by the community partner., Results: Focus groups revealed attitudes and beliefs across the cancer control continuum. The literature review highlighted two cancer interventions utilizing education, community health workers, and patient navigation components. Through facilitated discussions with community partners, we integrated community and academic sources of evidence to develop a comprehensive cancer program plan that is informed by the data we generated as well as our community partners' preferences and organizational capacity., Conclusions: Our participatory approach for integrating community and academic sources of evidence generated a locally relevant strategy to address cancer burden in the ArA community in Chicago. We discuss the benefits and challenges of utilizing this approach in intervention development.

Chicago is among the top five metropolitan areas in the United States where Arab Americans reside; however, we have little available data on their perceptions of personal or community health. We collected 200 community health surveys in collaboration with a community-based organization that serves mainly Arabs in Chicago's southwest suburbs. The survey evaluated perceived community and personal health. In a mostly female, married, and low-income sample, participants identified cancers, diabetes, and high blood pressure/cholesterol as the top three health problems, while alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and overweight/obesity as the top three risky behaviors within the community. Gender differences, age differences, and educational level differences were found on certain determinants of health regarding the health of the community, perceived health problems, and risky behaviors. Our data validates previous findings from the literature highlighting cancer, diabetes, and high blood pressure as health priorities among Arabs, but offers new insights into unidentified issues within the Arab American community in Southwest Chicago such as alcohol, drug abuse, and child neglect/abuse. Furthermore, our findings warrant the need for classifying Arabs as a separate minority population facing health disparities.