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.

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Author: search.filters.author.Corbie-Smith, GiselleSubject: search.filters.subject.Research

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    Towards a Unified Taxonomy of Health Indicators: Academic Health Centers and Communities Working Together to Improve Population Health
    (2014) Aguilar-Gaxiola, Sergio; Ahmed, Syed; Zeno, Franco; Kissack, Anne; Gabriel, Davera; Hurd, Thelma; Ziegahn, Linda; Bates, Nancy; Calhoun, Karen; Carter-Edwards, Lori; Corbie-Smith, Giselle; Eder, Milton; Ferrans, Carol; Hacker, Karen; Rumala, Bernice; Strelnick , Hal; Wallerstein, N.
    The Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) program represents a significant public investment. To realize its major goal of improving the public's health and reducing health disparities, the CTSA Consortium's Community Engagement Key Function Committee has undertaken the challenge of developing a taxonomy of community health indicators. The objective is to initiate a unified approach for monitoring progress in improving population health outcomes. Such outcomes include, importantly, the interests and priorities of community stakeholders, plus the multiple, overlapping interests of universities and of the public health and health care professions involved in the development and use of local health care indicators. The emerging taxonomy of community health indicators that the authors propose supports alignment of CTSA activities and facilitates comparative effectiveness research across CTSAs, thereby improving the health of communities and reducing health disparities. The proposed taxonomy starts at the broadest level, determinants of health; subsequently moves to more finite categories of community health indicators; and, finally, addresses specific quantifiable measures. To illustrate the taxonomy's application, the authors have synthesized 21 health indicator projects from the literature and categorized them into international, national, or local/special jurisdictions. They furthered categorized the projects within the taxonomy by ranking indicators with the greatest representation among projects and by ranking the frequency of specific measures. They intend for the taxonomy to provide common metrics for measuring changes to population health and, thus, extend the utility of the CTSA Community Engagement Logic Model. The input of community partners will ultimately improve population health.
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    Closing the circle between minority inclusion in research and health disparities.
    (2004) Corbie-Smith, Giselle; Moody-Ayers, Sandra; Thrasher, Angela D
    Increasing participation of minorities in clinical research has been a national scientific priority. Doubt and distrust, however, characterize many minorities' concern about whether their contributions as research participants will be reflected in improved health for them and their communities. What obligations do researchers have in ensuring that the societal benefits of research are enjoyed by underserved communities? What strategies can be used? Drawing on historical examples and recent policy initiatives, we describe how researchers can close the circle between inclusion of minorities in clinical research and reduction of health disparities by fulfilling obligations to methodology and community involvement.
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    Understanding the patient's perspective on rapid and routine HIV testing in an inner-city urgent care center
    (2004) Hutchinson, Angela B.; Corbie-Smith, Giselle; Thomas, Stephen B.
    The purpose of this study was to explore patient perspectives of rapid and routine HIV-testing in an urgent care center at an urban public hospital. We conducted structured focus groups during a clinical trial comparing routinely offered rapid HIV-testing, routinely offered enzyme immunoassay (EIA) testing, and conventional EIA testing. Participants of the six focus groups were 89% African American, 60% uninsured, and had a low educational status. Four independent coders analyzed the data using iterative content analysis. Rapid testing was preferred to EIA testing because it reduced the need for a return visit and stress of waiting for test results, though there were concerns about accuracy. Participants supported routinely offering testing, but there were concerns about privacy and cost. Fear and stigma were common reasons for refusing testing and not returning for results. Distrust and misconceptions about HIV, particularly regarding the importance of testing, were very common.