Minority Health and Health Equity Archive

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/21769

Welcome to the Minority Health and Health Equity Archive (MHHEA), an electronic archive for digital resource materials in the fields of minority health and health disparities research and policy. It is offered as a no-charge resource to the public, academic scholars and health science researchers interested in the elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities.

Browse

Author: search.filters.author.Carter-Pokras, Olivia

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Addressing the challenges of Latino health research: participatory approaches in an emergent urban community.
    (2009) Martinez, Iveris Luz; Carter-Pokras, Olivia; Brown, Pamela Bohrer
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Providing linguistically appropriate services to persons with limited English proficiency: a needs and resources investigation.
    (2004) Carter-Pokras, Olivia; O'Neill, Marla J F; Cheanvechai, Vasana; Menis, Mikhail; Fan, Tao; Solera, Angelo
    Increasing numbers of persons in the United States cannot speak, read, write, or understand the English language at a level that permits them to interact effectively. These limitations can hamper encounters between patients and healthcare providers, often leading to misunderstandings as to diagnosis and treatment, which in turn may result in poor patient compliance, unsatisfactory outcomes, and increased costs. A questionnaire was developed and distributed to clinical practice managers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine to assess the needs for language interpretation services and resources among clinical faculty providing healthcare to persons with limited English proficiency (LEP). Literature review, search of key Web sites, and consultation with national experts on issues pertaining to language access, health services, and reimbursement strategies also were done. Then, recommendations regarding the costs and benefits of language interpretation in healthcare settings were developed. Because recipients of federal financial assistance from the Department of Health and Human Services must provide meaningful access to persons with LEP at no cost to the client, there are clear benefits to providing language interpretation. Providers and managers should be made aware of interpretation service options and cost-saving strategies.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Healthcare disparities and models for change.
    (2004) Baquet, Claudia R; Carter-Pokras, Olivia; Bengen-Seltzer, Barbara
    With Healthy People 2010 making the goal of eliminating health disparities a national priority, policymakers, researchers, medical centers, managed care organizations (MCOs), and advocacy organizations have been called on to move beyond the historic documentation of health disparities and proceed with an agenda to translate policy recommendations into practice. Working models that have successfully reduced health disparities in managed care settings were presented at the National Managed Health Care Congress Inaugural Forum on Reducing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care on March 10-11, 2003, in Washington, DC. These models are being used by federal, state, and municipal governments, as well as private, commercial, and Medicaid MCOs. Successful models and programs at all levels reduce health disparities by forming partnerships based on common goals to provide care, to educate, and to rebuild healthcare systems. Municipal models work in collaboration with state and federal agencies to integrate patient care with technology. Several basic elements of MCOs help to reduce disparities through emphasis on preventive care, community and member health education, case management and disease management tracking, centralized data collection, and use of sophisticated technology to analyze data and coordinate services. At the community level, there are leveraged funds from the Health Resources and Services Administration's Bureau of Primary Health Care. Well-designed models provide seamless monitoring of patient care and outcomes by integrating human and information system resources.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Latino Health Status
    (John Wiley and Sons, 2001) Carter-Pokras, Olivia; Zambrana, Ruth Enid
    Health status data for Latinos have become increasingly available, and significant progress has been made in data collection methods over the past decade. This chapter provides an overview of national data on morbidity and mortality among Latin populations in comparison with such data on African Americans and Whites. The writing f this book takes place at the outset of a major shift in national health policy. Launched in January 2000 (see United States Department of Health and Human Services, 2000),, the national disease prevention and health promotion agenda for the year 2010 have an overarching goal of eliminating disparities.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Race/ethnicity, social class and their relation to physical inactivity during leisure time: results from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988–1994
    (2000) Crespo, Carlos J; Smit, Ellen; Andersen, Ross E; Carter-Pokras, Olivia; Ainsworth, Barbara E
    Background: Physical inactivity is more prevalent among racial and ethnic minorities than among Caucasians. It is not known if differences in participation in leisure time physical activity are due to differences in social class. Thus, this paper provides estimates of the prevalence of physical inactivity during leisure time and its relationship to race/ethnicity and social class. Methods: This was a national representative cross-sectional survey with an in-person interview and medical examination. Between 1988 and 1994, 18,885 adults aged 20 or older responded to the household adult and family questionnaires as part of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey . Mexican-Americans and African-Americans were over-sampled to produce reliable estimates for these groups. Multiple assessment of social class included education, family income, occupation, poverty status, employment status, and marital status. Results: The age-adjusted prevalence (per 100) of adults reporting leisure time inactivity is lower among Caucasians (18%) than among African-Americans (35%) and Mexican-Americans (40%). African-American and Mexican-American men and women reported higher prevalence of leisure time inactivity than their Caucasian counterparts across almost every variable, including education, family income, occupation, employment, poverty and marital status. Conclusions: Current indicators of social class do not seem to explain the higher prevalence of physical inactivity during leisure time among African-American and Mexican-American. More research is needed to examine the effect of other constructs of social class such as acculturation, safety, social support and environmental barriers in promoting successful interventions to increase physical activity in these populations.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    The health of Latino children: urgent priorities, unanswered questions, and a research agenda.
    (2002) Flores, Glenn; Fuentes-Afflick, Elena; Barbot, Oxiris; Carter-Pokras, Olivia; Claudio, Luz; Lara, Marielena; McLaurin, Jennie A; Pachter, Lee; Ramos-Gomez, Francisco J; Mendoza, Fernando; Valdez, R Burciaga; Villarruel, Antonia M; Zambrana, Ruth E; Greenberg, Robert; Weitzman, Michael; Gomez, Francisco J Ramos
    Latinos recently became the largest racial/ethnic minority group of US children. The Latino Consortium of the American Academy of Pediatrics Center for Child Health Research, consisting of 13 expert panelists, identified the most important urgent priorities and unanswered questions in Latino child health. Conclusions were drawn when consensus was reached among members, with refinement through multiple iterations. A consensus statement with supporting references was drafted and revised. This article summarizes the key issues, including lack of validated research instruments, frequent unjustified exclusion from studies, and failure to analyze data by pertinent subgroups. Latino children are at high risk for behavioral and developmental disorders, and there are many unanswered questions about their mental health needs and use of services. The prevalence of dental caries is disproportionately higher for Latino children, but the reasons for this disparity are unclear. Culture and language can profoundly affect Latino children's health, but not enough cultural competency training of health care professionals and provision of linguistically appropriate care occur. Latinos are underrepresented at every level of the health care professions. Latino children are at high risk for school dropout, environmental hazards, obesity, diabetes mellitus, asthma, lack of health insurance, nonfinancial barriers to health care access, and impaired quality of care, but many key questions in these areas remain unanswered. This article suggests areas in which more research is needed and ways to improve research and care of Latino children.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    What is a "health disparity"?
    (2002) Carter-Pokras, Olivia; Baquet, Claudia
    With the launch of Healthy People 2010 in January 2000, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) committed the nation to an overarching goal, to “eliminate health disparities.” Like the preceding Healthy People 2000 initiative, Healthy People 2010 outlines a comprehensive disease prevention and health promotion agenda. Although this goal has met with considerable support throughout the nation, upon further examination, it is clear that the term “health disparity” has been used with a number of very different meanings. Since the scope of the eliminating disparities goal for the DHHS Imitative to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health is narrower than that of Healthy People 2010, discussion of the two goals in the same context can lead to confusion.