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 Youth Mentor Dietary Outcomes and Waist Circumference Improvement: Camp NERF Study Findings(SAGE Journals, 2019-02-28) Hopkins, Laura; Webster, Alison; Kennel, Julie; Purtell, Kelly; Gunther, CarolynBackground. The health impact of youth mentors serving in the delivery of child nutrition and physical activity (PA) interventions on youth mentors themselves has been understudied. Objective. The primary objective of the current study was to examine the impact of engaging youth mentors in the delivery of a summertime childhood obesity prevention intervention on youth mentors’ behavioral health. Method. Data were collected at baseline and postintervention. A survey of validated nutrition, mental health, PA, and psychosocial questionnaires was administered. Diet was assessed via 24-hour recall. Height, weight, and waist circumference (WC) were measured. In-depth interviews were conducted with youth mentors. Results. Eleven youth mentors enrolled: 60% were female, mean age was 16.1 ± 0.38 years, and 100% were Black. Mean kilocalories (p = .05), sugar-sweetened beverage intake (p = .08), and waist circumference (p = .04) decreased. In-depth interviews were conducted with 11 youth mentors, and three themes emerged: perceived improvement in nutrition, PA, and mental health-related behaviors; formation of a positive role modeling relationship with the child campers; and strengthening of higher education goals and future career aspirations. Conclusions. Youth mentor staffing may be an important intervention strategy for changing health behaviors among youth mentors. Results from this study can be used to inform utilization of youth mentors in the delivery of this and similar health behavior interventions in the future.Item The CHAMPIONS NETWork: Training Chicago High School Students as Health Advocates to Improve Health Equity(Health Promotion Practice, 2019-01) Heinert, Sara; Del Rios, Marina; Arya, Arjun; Amirsoltani, Ramin; Quasim, Nasseef; Gehm, Lisa; Suarez, Natalia; Vanden Hoek, TerryIn Chicago, major disparities exist across ethnic groups, income levels, and education levels for common chronic conditions and access to care. Concurrently, many of Chicago's youth are unemployed, and the number of minorities pursuing health professions is low. In an effort to eliminate this health equity gap, the University of Illinois at Chicago convened a community–university–hospital partnership to implement the CHAMPIONS NETWork (Community Health And eMPowerment through Integration Of Neighborhood-specific Strategies using a Novel Education & Technology-leveraged Workforce). This innovative workforce training program is a "High School to Career Training Academy" to empower underserved youth to improve population health in their communities, expose them to careers in the health sciences, and provide resources for them to become community and school advocates for healthy lifestyles. This program differs from other traditional pipeline programs because it gives its students a paid experience, extends beyond the summer, and broadens the focus to population health with patient contact. The CHAMPIONS NETWork creates a new type of health workforce that is both sustainable and replicable throughout the United States.Item “I Come from a Black-Eyed Pea Background”: The Incorporation of History into Women's Discussions of Diet and Health(2012) Smith, Katherine Clegg; Kromm, Elizabeth Edsall; Brown, Natasha Ann; Klassen, Ann CarrollAbstract available at publisher's website.Item Health Disparities Beginning in Childhood: A Life-Course Perspective(2009) Braveman, P.; Barclay, C.Abstract available at publisher's website.Item State-specific prevalence of selected health behaviors, by race and ethnicity--Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 1997.(2000) Bolen, J C; Rhodes, L; Powell-Griner, E E; Bland, S D; Holtzman, DPROBLEM/CONDITION: In the United States, disparities in risks for chronic disease (e.g., diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer) and injury exist among racial and ethnic groups. This report summarizes findings from the 1997 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) of the distribution of access to health care, health-status indicators, health-risk behaviors, and use of clinical preventive services across five racial and ethnic groups (i.e., whites, blacks, Hispanics, American Indians or Alaska Natives, and Asians or Pacific Islanders) and by state. REPORTING PERIOD COVERED: 1997. DESCRIPTION OF SYSTEM: The BRFSS is a state-based telephone survey of the civilian, noninstitutionalized, adult (i.e., persons aged > or = 18 years) population. In 1997, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico participated in the BRFSS. RESULTS: Variations in risk for chronic disease and injury among racial and ethnic groups exist both within states and across states. For example, in Arizona, 11.0% of whites, 26.2% of Hispanics, and 50.5% of American Indians or Alaska Natives reported having no health insurance. Across states, the median percentage of adults who reported not having this insurance ranged from 10.8% for whites to 24.5% for American Indians or Alaska Natives. Other findings are as follows. Blacks, Hispanics, American Indians or Alaska Natives, and Asians or Pacific Islanders were more likely than whites to report poor access to health care (i.e., no health-care coverage and cost as a barrier to obtaining health care). Blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians or Alaska Natives were more likely than whites and Asians or Pacific Islanders to report fair or poor health status, obesity, diabetes, and no leisure-time physical activity. Blacks were substantially more likely than other racial or ethnic groups to report high blood pressure. Among all groups, American Indians or Alaska Natives were the most likely to report cigarette smoking. Except for Asians or Pacific Islanders, the median percentage of adults who reported not always wearing a safety belt while driving or riding in a car was > or = 30%. The Papanicolaou test was the most commonly reported screening measure: > or = 81% of white, black, and Hispanic women with an intact uterine cervix reported having had one in the past 3 years. Among white, black, and Hispanic women aged > or = 50 years, > or = 63% reported having had a mammogram in the past 2 years. Approximately two thirds of white, black, and Hispanic women aged > or = 50 years reported having had both a mammogram and a clinical breast examination in the past 2 years; this behavior was least common among Hispanics and most common among blacks. Screening for colorectal cancer was low among whites, blacks, and Hispanics aged > or = 50 years: in each racial or ethnic group, < or = 20% reported having used a home-kit blood stool test in the past year, and < or = 30% reported having had a sigmoidoscopy within the last 5 years. INTERPRETATION: Differences in median percentages between racial and ethnic groups, as well as between states within each racial and ethnic group, are likely mediated by various factors. According to published literature, socioeconomic factors (e.g., age distribution, educational attainment, employment status, and poverty), lifestyle behaviors (e.g., lack of physical activity, alcohol intake, and cigarette smoking), aspects of the social environment (e.g., educational and economic opportunities, neighborhood and work conditions, and state and local laws enacted to discourage high-risk behaviors), and factors affecting the health-care system (e.g., access to health care, and cost and availability of screening for diseases and health-risk factors) may be associated with these differences. ACTION TAKEN: States will continue to use the BRFSS to collect information about health-risk behaviors among various racial and ethnic groups.Item Integrated connection to neighborhood storytelling network, education, and chronic disease knowledge among African Americans and Latinos in Los Angeles.(2011) Kim, Yong-Chan; Moran, Meghan B; Wilkin, Holley A; Ball-Rokeach, Sandra JCombining key ideas from the knowledge-gap hypothesis and communication infrastructure theory, the present study aimed to explain the relations among individuals' education, access to community-based communication resources, and knowledge of chronic diseases (diabetes, hypertension, breast cancer, and prostate cancer) among African Americans and Latinos in Los Angeles. Rather than explore the effect of isolated communication resources, this study explored the effect of an integrated connection to community-based storytellers on chronic disease knowledge. The authors hypothesized that individuals' access to a community-based communication infrastructure for obtaining and sharing information functions as an intervening step in the process where social inequality factors such as education lead to chronic disease knowledge gaps in a local community context. With random samples of African Americans and Latinos in Los Angeles, the authors found that access to community-based communication resources plays a mediating role in the case of breast cancer and diabetes knowledge, but not in hypertension and prostate cancer knowledge. The authors discussed these findings on the basis of communication infrastructure theory and knowledge-gap hypothesis.Item HIV Screening and Access to Care: Exploring the Impact of Policies on Access to and Provision of HIV Care(National Academies Press, 2011) Committee on HIV Screening , and Access to Care; Institute , of MedicineWith the widespread use of highly active anti-retroviral treatment (HAART), HIV has become a chronic, rather than a fatal, disease. But for their treatment to succeed, patients require uninterrupted care from a health care provider and uninterrupted access to anti-HIV medications. The IOM identifies federal, state, and private health insurance policies that inhibit HIV-positive individuals from initiating or continuing their care.Item Health Issues in the Black Community 3rd edition(Jossey-Bass, 2009) Braithwaite, Ronald L.; Taylor, Sandra E.; Treadwell, Henrie M.The third edition of Health Issues in the Black Community comes eight years following the release of the second edition and, to our chagrin, presents a picture of African American health replete with many of the disparities documented in the first two editions. Following virtually two decades of studies showing stark contrasts between black and white Americans, we are still faced with a situation that portends a lowered health status and overall quality of life for the black community. The third edition not only documents this continuing gap but also calls for all relevant sectors of U.S. society to actively acknowledge the disparities and move toward viable strategies for removing them.Item Meaningful Disparities Reduction Through Research and Translation Programs(2011) Chin, M. H.; Goldmann, D.Health care disparities are unacceptable, but progress toward reducing them has been painfully slow. Each year the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's (AHRQ’s) National Healthcare Disparities Report documents persistent differences in care by factors such as race, ethnicity, and insurance status. 1 Public awareness of these disparities is growing, and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 will hasten transparency by encouraging collection of race, ethnicity, and language data. However, recognizing the existence of disparities is not sufficient to catalyze meaningful action. Even the most motivated clinicians and health care organizations may not know how to proceed because information on which interventions work in specific contexts or at scale is limited. 2 There is broad agreement that meaningful efforts to reduce disparities are linked inextricably to quality improvement. In its 2001 report Crossing the Quality Chasm, the Institute of …Item Healthy Women, Healthy Babies(2008) UNSPECIFIEDTrust for America's Health (TFAH) released Healthy Women, Healthy Babies in conjunction with the release of the Annie E. Casey Foundation's KIDS COUNT DATABOOK 2008. The report explains why after 40 years of progress, infant mortality rates in the U.S. have stalled since 2000. TFAH finds that the deteriorating health of American women, due in part to wide-spread chronic disease epidemics like obesity and diabetes, is taking a toll on American infants, resulting in stagnated improvement when it comes to infant health. TFAH's report offers recommendations for Congress and the American health system to aggressively improve the health of new-born infants.