National Health Outreach and Engagement Conference 2024

Harrison, S.
Children are among the most vulnerable to exposures from environmental risks where they live,
play, and go to school, that impact from the time of conception and throughout their
development to adulthood. The body of research on children’s environmental health (CEH)
over the past two decades provides a strong foundation of evidence-based programs, practices,
and policies but there is a need to accelerate the translation of CEH knowledge into community
action. Oregon State University’s (OSU) ASPIRE Center is one of six NIEHS-funded center
charged with maximizing the impact of CEH scientific discovery in U.S. communities by
improving research translational processes. Recognizing that effective translation of research
findings requires specialized expertise and collaboration of researchers from various
disciplines, the Center includes three cores (Administration, Development and Translation),
which are led by a multidisciplinary team of researchers with discipline-specific expertise in
environmental health, communication, behavioral and social sciences, dissemination and
implementation science, and methodological expertise in community engagement.

The Center aligns and amplifies children’s environmental health research findings by creating
and translating new research-based tools, approaches, and interventions, that can be used or
adapted by diverse stakeholders to improve children’s health. Activities include 1) synthesizing
and translating CEH findings by testing and implementing new tools, methods, intervention and
prevention strategies; 2) engagement and identification of best practices for moving science into
public health and clinical practice; 3) outreach to policymakers and community organizations
via webinars and trainings; 4) gathering qualitative data related to stakeholder needs; 5)
stimulating pilot research and practice through hosted ignite sessions; and 6) developing
collaborative networks intra-organizationally at OSU, in Oregon, and nationwide.

The ASPIRE Center’s focus is facilitating knowledge-sharing interactions among experts and
communities to shape behaviors that can mitigate harmful environmental exposures and priority
is placed on those communities where children have higher exposures to environmental
hazards. Often, these same communities are less likely to have access to various resources
needed to address the hazards themselves. Equally, research teams tasked with community-
engaged work require skills and experiences outside of typical clinical and research training
programs. Opportunities exist for research teams to experience, respond to, and protect children
from environmental threats through deeper relationships with existing local community-driven
resources.

The OSU ASPIRE Center is the only Land Grant University (LGU) among the six
Collaborative Centers in Children’s Environmental Health Research and Translation (CEHRT).
The Cooperative Extension System (CES) among LGUs offers a community-driven approach
and network of county-level infrastructure for cross-cultural translation. To accelerate best
practices for research translation through the CES, OSU ASPIRE is exploring existing
partnerships with community organizations, volunteers, and school systems. By determining
key elements of localized community engagement through the system in Oregon, OSU ASPIRE
can actively participate in reciprocal knowledge exchange. Qualitative team observations
through CES will expose OSU ASPIRE researchers to community-led dialogue, reflexivity, and
ultimately, the formulation of a more responsive CEH research translation process for OSU
ASPIRE’s priority areas. Findings can inform similar translation planning through the network
of CES and NIEHS-funded Centers within the CEHRT Collaborative Centers.