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Introduction: The purpose of this article is to review the beliefs, perceptions, and experience of maternal health among Marshallese women. Methodology: The study utilized a qualitative descriptive design with a brief survey of participant demographics. A purposive sample of 43 participants were enrolled. Results: The mean age of participants was 40 years. Four a priori themes were identified as follows: (a) family planning beliefs and experiences, (b) prenatal beliefs and experiences, (c) birthing beliefs and experiences, and (d) postpartum beliefs and experiences. Discussion: This study identified beliefs, perceptions, and experiences among Marshallese that have implications for policy and practice related to culturally congruent health care for Marshallese mothers.

Pacific Islanders are the second fastest-growing population in the United States; however, Pacific Islanders, and Marshallese specifically, are underrepresented in health research. A community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach was used to engage Marshallese stakeholders and build an academic-community research collaborative to conduct health disparities research. Our CBPR partnership pilot tested a multicomponent consent process that provides participants the option to control the use of their data. Consent forms used concise plain language to describe study information, including participant requirements, risks, and personal health information protections, and were available in both English and Marshallese. This study demonstrates that when provided a multicomponent consent, the vast majority of consenting study participants (89.6%) agreed to all additional options, and only five (10.4%) provided consent for some but not all options. Our description of the development and implementation of a multicomponent consent using a CBPR approach adds a specific example of community engagement and may be informative for other indigenous populations.

Background Marshallese face significant health disparities, with particularly high rates of type 2 diabetes. Engaging stakeholders in the research process is essential to reduce health inequities. Methods A community- and patient-engaged research approach was used to involve community Marshallese stakeholders in a randomized comparative effectiveness trial testing two Diabetes Prevention Program interventions. Results The article outlines the engagement process and the specific influence that stakeholders had on the research planning and implementation, discussing the areas of agreement and disagreement between community and patient stakeholders and academic investigators and documenting changes to the research protocol. Conclusion The article provides an example of methods that can be used to design and conduct a randomized controlled trial testing with a population who has been underrepresented in research and suffered significant historical trauma.