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 A Survey of African American Men in Chicago Barbershops: Implications for the Effectiveness of the Barbershop Model in the Health Promotion of African American Men(2016) Moore, Nataka; Wright, Matara; Gipson, Jessica; Jordan, Greg; Harsh, Mohit; Reed, Daniel; Murray, Marcus; Keeter, Mary Kate; Murphy, AdamThe barbershop has been used to target African American (AA) men across age groups for health screenings, health interventions, and for research. However, few studies explore the sociodemographic characteristics of barbers and their clients. Additionally, few have evaluated the client's relative comfort with receiving health information and screenings in barbershops and other non-clinical settings. Lastly, it is unknown whether barbers feel capable of influencing health-decision making of AA men. AA male clients and barbers completed a self-administered survey in barbershops in predominantly AA neighborhoods throughout Chicago, Illinois. We assessed sociodemographic characteristics and attitudes towards receiving physical and mental health education and screenings in barbershops and other settings. Barbers were also surveyed regarding their most and least common clients by age group and their perceived ability to influence the decision-making of AA males by age group. AAs surveyed in barbershops have similar rates of high school completion, poverty and unemployment as the AA residents of their neighborhood. AA males prefer to receive health education and screening in clinician offices followed by barbershops and churches. Barbers reported serving males age 18-39 years of age most frequently while men 50 years and older were the least served group. Overall, barbers did not believe they could influence the decision-making of AA men and in the best case scenario, only 33 % felt they could influence young men 18-29 years old. Barbershops reach AA men that are representative of the demographics of the neighborhood where the barbershop is located. Barbers reach a small population of men over age 49 and feel incapable of influencing the decisions of AAs over age 39. Further studies are needed to assess other locales for accessing older AA men and to evaluate the feasibility of mental health interventions and screenings within the barbershop.Item Feasibility Study of Engaging Barbershops for Prostate Cancer Education in Rural African-American Communities(2015) Luque, J. S.; Siddartha, Roy; Tarasenko, Yelena; Levi, Ross; Johnson, Jarrett; Gwede, Clement K.The barbershop is a promising setting where African-American men might receive information and education about prostate cancer. In this study, we assessed the feasibility of engaging rural barbershops as venues for barbers to deliver a prostate cancer education intervention to increase informed decision-making for prostate cancer screening among customers. Twelve barbershops were recruited from two separate micropolitan areas in Georgia as intervention and control sites. Structured interviews were conducted with 11 barbers in both sites about customer characteristics as well as their willingness to participate in the study. The interviews were audio recorded and transcribed for analysis. In the intervention site, six barbers completed a survey and a pre-/posttest prostate cancer knowledge instrument following training classes. Barbers reported a wide average range of customers served per week (50 to 300). African-American men made up an average of 87 % of customers. Barbers thought prostate cancer was an important discussion topic, felt they would be comfortable discussing it, and supported the participation of their barbershop in the study. For intervention group barbers, there was a statistically significant difference between the average pretest knowledge score of 72 % (mean 12.2, SD = 3.2) and the posttest knowledge score of 89 % (mean 15.2, SD = 1.1) (P = 0.03) on the 17-item prostate cancer knowledge instrument. Based on the multiple interactions with the barbers, there was high receptivity to the topic and consensus about the importance of addressing prostate cancer with their customers. Rural barbershops represent feasible venues for delivering a prostate cancer education intervention.Item Qualitative Systematic Review of Barber-Administered Health Education, Promotion, Screening and Outreach Programs in African-American Communities(2014) Luque, J. S.; Ross, Levi; Gwede, Clement K.The barbershop has been portrayed as a culturally appropriate venue for reaching Black men with health information and preventive health screenings to overcome institutional and socio-cultural barriers. The purpose of this review is to synthesize the peer-reviewed literature on barbershop-based health programs to provide lessons learned for researchers and practitioners. A literature search was conducted to identify articles for the review. Inclusion criteria specified that studies had to be based in the United States and reported about research where barbers were either being assessed for the feasibility of their participation or recruited to administer health education/screening outreach or research activities. The literature search produced 901 unique bibliographic records from peer-reviewed publications. After eliminating articles not meeting the inclusion criteria, 35 articles remained for full-text review. The final article sample consisted of 16 articles for complete abstraction to assess characteristics of studies, role and training of barbers, outcomes targeted, effectiveness, and key findings. All barbershop-based studies reviewed targeted Black men in urban settings. Common study designs were cross-sectional studies, feasibility studies, needs assessments, and one-shot case studies. Barber administered interventions addressed primarily prostate cancer and hypertension, and barbers provided health education, screening, and referrals to health care. Nonintervention studies focused mostly on surveying or interviewing barbers for assessing the feasibility of future interventions. Barbershops are a culturally appropriate venue for disseminating health education materials in both print and media formats. Barbershops are also acceptable venues for training barbers to conduct education and screening. In studies where barbers received training, their knowledge of various health conditions increased significantly and knowledge gains were sustained over time. They were also able to increase knowledge and promote positive health behaviors among their customers, but these outcomes were variable and not consistently documented.Item A Cluster-Randomized Trial of Blood-Pressure Reduction in Black Barbershops(The New England Journal of Medicine, 2018) Victor, Ronald; Lynch, Kathleen; Li, Ning; Blyler , CiantelBACKGROUND Uncontrolled hypertension is a major problem among non-Hispanic black men, who are underrepresented in pharmacist intervention trials in traditional health care settings. METHODS We enrolled a cohort of 319 black male patrons with systolic blood pressure of 140 mm Hg or more from 52 black-owned barbershops (nontraditional health care setting) in a cluster-randomized trial in which barbershops were assigned to a pharmacist-led intervention (in which barbers encouraged meetings in barbershops with specialty-trained pharmacists who prescribed drug therapy under a collaborative practice agreement with the participants’ doctors) or to an active control approach (in which barbers encouraged lifestyle modification and doctor appointments). The primary outcome was reduction in systolic blood pressure at 6 months. RESULTS At baseline, the mean systolic blood pressure was 152.8 mm Hg in the intervention group and 154.6 mm Hg in the control group. At 6 months, the mean systolic blood pressure fell by 27.0 mm Hg (to 125.8 mm Hg) in the intervention group and by 9.3 mm Hg (to 145.4 mm Hg) in the control group; the mean reduction was 21.6 mm Hg greater with the intervention (95% confidence interval, 14.7 to 28.4; P<0.001). A blood-pressure level of less than 130/80 mm Hg was achieved among 63.6% of the participants in the intervention group versus 11.7% of the participants in the control group (P<0.001). In the intervention group, the rate of cohort retention was 95%, and there were few adverse events (three cases of acute kidney injury). CONCLUSIONS Among black male barbershop patrons with uncontrolled hypertension, health promotion by barbers resulted in larger blood-pressure reduction when coupled with medication management in barbershops by specialty-trained pharmacists. (Funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and others; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02321618.)Item Report of the State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of Danbury on the Shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School and 36 Yogananda Street, Newtown, Connecticut on December 14, 2012(2013) Sedensky III, Stephen J.The State’s Attorney’s Office for the Judicial District of Danbury is charged, pursuant to Article IV, Sec. 27 of the Connecticut State Constitution5 and Connecticut General Statutes (C.G.S.) Sec. 51-2766 et seq., with the investigation and prosecution of all criminal offenses occurring within the Judicial District of Danbury. The Connecticut State Police have the responsibility to prevent and detect violations of the law and this State’s Attorney has worked with and relied upon the Connecticut State Police since the incident occurred. The investigation has been local, state and federal agencies, both in and out of Connecticut. While no report is statutorily required of the State’s Attorney once the investigation is complete, it has been the practice of state’s attorneys to issue reports on criminal investigations where there is no arrest and prosecution if the state’s attorney determines that some type of public statement is necessary.7 Given the gravity of the crimes committed on December 14, 2012, a report is in order. The purpose of this report is to identify the person or persons criminally responsible for the twenty-seven homicides that occurred in Newtown, Connecticut,8 on the morning of December 14, 2012, to determine what crimes were committed, and to indicate if there will be any state prosecutions as a result of the incident. Many witnesses to this case have expressed great concern that their identities will be disclosed publicly and make them susceptible to threats or intimidation as a result of their cooperation or connection with the investigation.9 This cooperation has been essential and greatly appreciated. As a result of the witnesses’ concerns, this report will not identify lay witnesses, except where necessary. Consistent with Public Act 13-311,10 exceptions to the state Freedom of Information Act11 and C.G.S. Sec. 17a-101k(a) 12 this report will not list the names of the twenty children killed in Sandy Hook Elementary School, nor will it recite 911 calls made from within the school on that morning or describe information provided by witnesses who were in the classrooms or heard what was occurring in the classrooms. It is not the intent of this report to convey every piece of information contained in the voluminous investigation materials developed by the Connecticut State Police and other law enforcement agencies, but to provide information relevant to the purposes of this report.Item International Compilation of Human Research Standards(U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2015) UNSPECIFIEDItem Income and Poverty in the United States: 2013(U.S. Government Printing Office, 2014) DeNavas-Walt, Carmen; Proctor, Bernadette D.Item Consumer Guide to Hospice(2014) Keating, Dan; Tan, ShellyItem Health Care Equity Equity in Health(2014) Hussein, Carlessia A.Item Health Inequities in the EU(European Commission Directorate-General for Health and Consumers, 2013) Marmot, Michael