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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Item The Urban Context: A Place to Eliminate Health Disparities and Build Organizational Capacity(2010) Gilbert, Keon L.; Quinn, Sandra Crouse; Ford, Angela F.; Thomas, Stephen B.This study seeks to examine the process of building the capacity to address health disparities in several urban African American neighborhoods. An inter-organizational network consisting of a research university, community members, community organizations, media partners, and foundations was formed to develop a community-based intervention designed to provide health promotion and disease prevention strategies for type 2 diabetes and hypertension. In-depth qualitative interviews (n = 18) with foundation executives and project directors, civic organization leadership, community leaders, county epidemiologist, and university partners were conducted. Our study contextualizes a process to build a public health partnership using cultural, community, organizational, and societal factors necessary to address health disparities. Results showed 5 important factors to build organizational capacity: leadership, institutional commitment, trust, credibility, and inter-organizational networks. These factors reflected other important organizational and community capacity indicators such as: community context, organizational policies, practices and structures, and the establishment of new commitments and partnerships important to comprehensively address urban health disparities. Understanding these factors to address African American health disparities will provide lessons learned for health educators, researchers, practitioners, foundations, and communities interested in building and sustaining capacity efforts through the design, implementation, and maintenance of a community-based health promotion interventionItem Obese African-American Women’s Perspectives on Weight Loss and Bariatric Surgery(2007) Lynch, Cheryl Sterling; Chang, Judy C.; Ford, Angela F.; Ibrahim, Said A.BACKGROUND: African-American (AA) women have higher rates of obesity and obesity-related diseases but are less likely than other women to undergo bariatric surgery or have success with conventional weight loss methods. OBJECTIVE: To explore obese AA women’s perceptions regarding barriers to weight loss and bariatric surgery. DESIGN: Focus groups to stimulate interactive dialogueabout beliefs and attitudes concerning weight management. PARTICIPANTS AND APPROACH: We partnered with acommunity organization to recruit women who were AA, were ≥18 years old, and had a body mass index (BMI) of ≥30 kg/m2. We audiotaped the 90-minute focus groups and used content analysis for generating and coding recurring themes. RESULTS: In our sample of 41 participants, the mean age was 48.8 years and mean BMI was 36.3. Most participants were unmarried, had some postsecondary education, and reported good or fair health. About 85% knew someone who had undergone bariatric surgery. Qualitative analysis of 6 focus group sessions revealed that the most common barriers to weight loss were lack of time and access to resources; issues regarding selfcontrol and extrinsic control; and identification with a larger body size. Common barriers to bariatric surgery were fears and concerns about treatment effects and perceptions that surgery was too extreme or was a method of last resort. CONCLUSIONS: Only through the elimination of barriers can AA women receive the care needed to eliminate excess weight and prevent obesity-related morbidity and mortality.Item Take a Health Professional to the People: A community outreach strategy for mobilizing African American barber shops and beauty salons as health promotion sites(2006) Browne, Mario C.; Ford, Angela F.; Thomas, Stephen B.Objectives In September 2002, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services launched “Take a Loved One to the Doctor Day”, a national effort to promote health and wellness in the African American community. The Center for Minority Health (CMH) at the Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh adopted this model and tailored it to meet local needs by partnering with seven barbershops, two beauty salons, and over one hundred health professionals (HPs) to create what is now known as “Take a Health Professional to the People Day”. The focus of this partnership was to provide screenings and health information to patrons and transform these shops and salons into health promotion sites.