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 Attributes of researchers and their strategies to recruit minority populations: Results of a national survey(2012) Quinn, Sandra Crouse; Butler, James; Fryer, Craig S.; Garza, Mary A.; Kim, Kevin H.; Ryan, Christopher; Thomas, Stephen B.Despite NIH mandates for inclusion, recruiting minorities is challenging for biomedical and public health researchers. Little is known about how attributes of researchers affect their choice of recruitment strategies. The purpose of this study was to address this gap by examining how use of recruitment strategies relates to other researcher characteristics. To do this, we conducted an online survey from May to August 2010 with researchers (principal investigators, research staff, and IRB members) in which we measured the number and types of recruitment strategies utilized, along with other characteristics of the researchers and their research. We identified two clusters of researchers: comprehensive researchers who utilized a greater number and more diverse and active recruitment strategies, and traditional researchers, who utilized fewer and more passive strategies. Additional characteristics that distinguished the two groups were that comprehensive researchers were more likely than traditional researchers to 1) report racial and ethnic differences as one of their specific aims or hypotheses, 2) receive federal (CDC and NIH) funding, 3) conduct behavioral or epidemiological research, and 4) have received training in conducting research with and recruiting minorities. Traditional researchers, on the other hand, were more likely to conduct clinical research and a greater (though non-significant) percentage received funding from pharmaceutical sources. This study provides a novel description of how researcher attributes are related to their recruitment strategies and raises a number of future research questions to further examine the implications of this relationship.Item A Plan to Facilitate the Early Career Development of Minority Scholars in the Health Sciences(2010) Berget, Rachael J.; Reynolds, Charles F.; Ricci, Edmund M.; Quinn, Sandra C.; Mawson, Anthony R.; Payton, Marinelle; Thomas, Stephen B.Item The National Bioethics Research Infrastructure Initiative: Building Trust Between Minorities and Researchers.(University of Maryland Center for Health Equity, 2012) Thomas, Stephen B.This video short is one product of our Building Trust between Minorities and Researchers training curriculum. This work is made possible through a grant from the NIH National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. For more information visit www.healthequity.umd.eduItem Attitudes and Beliefs of African-Americans Toward Genetics, Genetic Testing, and Sickle Cell Disease Education and Awareness(2011) Long, Katie A.; Thomas, Stephen B.; Grubs, Robin E.; Gettig, Elizabeth A.; Krishnamurti, LakshmananResearch among African-Americans indicates this population perceives sickle cell (SCD) to be a serious disease and sickle cell trait (SCT) screening an important intervention. However, studies have consistently demonstrated a lower than desired uptake of SCD education, inadequate knowledge regarding personal and family trait status, and a low perceived susceptibility of giving birth to a child with the disease. We examined general attitudes and beliefs regarding genetics and genetic testing including prenatal testing and newborn screening; we used this information as the foundation to more specifically assess attitudes and beliefs regarding SCD and perceived barriers to SCD education and awareness. Thirty-five African-American adult men and women participated in one of four focus groups. Thematic analysis identified that both prenatal testing and newborn screening are acceptable forms of genetic testing. Based largely on their personal experiences, participants possessed an understanding of the natural progression of SCD but had a limited understanding of the inheritance and probable risk of giving birth to a child with the disease. Barriers to education and greater awareness of SCD were classified as personal, familial, and societal. Community based interventions focused on sharing the stories of individuals with first-hand experiences with SCD should be considered.Item Toward a fourth generation of disparities research to achieve health equity(2011) Thomas, Stephen B.; Quinn, Sandra Crouse; Butler, James; Fryer, Craig S.; Garza, Mary A.Achieving health equity, driven by the elimination of health disparities, is a goal of Healthy People 2020. In recent decades, the improvement in health status has been remarkable for the U.S. population as a whole. However, racial and ethnic minority populations continue to lag behind whites with a quality of life diminished by illness from preventable chronic diseases and a life span cut short by premature death. We examine a conceptual framework of three generations of health disparities research to understand (a) data trends, (b) factors driving disparities, and (c) solutions for closing the gap. We propose a new, fourth generation of research grounded in public health critical race praxis, utilizing comprehensive interventions to address race, racism, and structural inequalities and advancing evaluation methods to foster our ability to eliminate disparities. This new generation demands that we address the researcher's own biases as part of the research process.Item Mapping a Course for Community Action and Research to Eliminate Disparities: Welcoming Remarks and Introductions(2001) Thomas, Stephen B.MP3 audio files recorded by the Pennsylvania and Ohio Public Health Training Center at the First Annual Minority Health Leadership SummitItem Racial Differences in Parents' Distrust of Medicine and Research(2009) Rajakumar, Kumaravel; Thomas, Stephen B.; Musa, Donald; Almario, Donna; Garza, Mary A.Objective To assess and compare the attitudes and trust that African American and white parents have toward their children participating in research. Design Self-administered, cross-sectional survey of a convenience sample of parents. Setting Primary Care Center at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh from August 2004 through April 2005. Participants One hundred ninety parents (140 African American and 50 white parents). Outcome Measure Parental distrust of medical research as measured by a summative score of distrusting responses to 8 questions assessing trust in research. Results African American parents had significantly greater distrust than white parents (67% vs 50%, P = .04). Education was also associated with having significantly greater distrust (74% of those withItem Mapping a Course for Community Action and Research to Eliminate Disparities Closing Session: Where Do We Go From Here?(2001) Thomas, Stephen B.; Kaler, StephenIntroduction to the Morning Session; The Community Break Out Session (note: this is long); Report from the Community Break Out; Reports from the Research Break Out Group; Wrap up and other Comments; MP3 audio files recorded by the Pennsylvania and Ohio Public Health Training Center at the First Annual Minority Health Leadership SummitItem Mapping a Course for Community Action and Research to Eliminate Disparities NIH Strategic Plan to Eliminate Racial/Ethnic Health Disparities: Translating Public Policy to Research and Community Action(2001) Kaler, Stephen G.; Thomas, Stephen B.MP3 audio files recorded by the Pennsylvania and Ohio Public Health Training Center at the First Annual Minority Health Leadership SummitItem African Americans' views on research and the Tuskegee Syphilis Study(2001) Freimuth, Vicki S.; Quinn, Sandra Crouse; Thomas, Stephen B.; Cole, Galen; Zook, Eric; Duncan, TedThe participation of African Americans in clinical and public health research is essential. However, for a multitude of reasons, participation is low in many research studies. This article reviews the literature that substantiates barriers to participation and the legacy of past abuses of human subjects through research. The article then reports the results of seven focus groups with 60 African Americans in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, DC, and Atlanta during the winter of 1997. In order to improve recruitment and retention in research, the focus group study examined knowledge of and attitudes toward medical research, knowledge of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, and reactions to the Home Box Office production, Miss Evers' Boys, a fictionalized version of the Tuskegee Study, that premiered in February, 1997. The study found that accurate knowledge about research was limited; lack of understanding and trust of informed consent procedures was problematic; and distrust of researchers posed a substantial barrier to recruitment. Additionally, the study found that, in general, participants believed that research was important, but they clearly distinguished between types of research they would be willing to consider participating in and their motivations for doing so.