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 HIV Risk Reduction Among African-American Women Who Inject Drugs: A Randomized Controlled Trial(2003) Sterk, Claire E; Theall, Katherine P; Elifson, Kirk W; Kidder, DanielA community-based HIV intervention for African-American women who are active injection drug users (IDUs) was evaluated. Seventy-one women (aged 20–54 years) were randomly assigned to one of two enhanced gender- and culturally specific intervention conditions or to the NIDA standard condition. Substantial decreases (p < .001) were found in the frequency of drug use and the frequency of drug injection as well as in the sharing of injection works or water and the number of injections. Trading sex for drugs or money, having sex while high, as well as other sexual risk behaviors were also reduced significantly. Furthermore, women in both enhanced intervention conditions were more likely to reduce their drug-using and sexual risk behaviors than were women in the standard condition. Results indicate the value of including additional components in interventions designed to reduce the risk of infection with HIV among women who inject drugs.Item HIV and AIDS Surveillance Among Inmates in Maryland Prisons(2001) Kassira, Edward N; Bauseman, Robert L; Tomoyasu, Naomi; Caldeira, Ellen; Swetz, Anthony; Solomon, LizaThe prevalence of those with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is higher among inmates of correctional facilities than among general population. This raises the need to identify inmates living with or at risk of HIV/AIDS and to provide counseling and appropriate services for HIV treatment and prevention. The Maryland Division of Corrections (DOC) offers voluntary testing to all inmates on entry and tests inmates when clinically indicated. We reviewed all 1998 HIV antibody tests and confirmed AIDS cases in the Maryland DOC. Inmate demographics, testing acceptance, rates of seropositivity, and AIDS cases and comparisons based on gender, race.ethnicity, and age were examined. Comparisons were also made to HIV testing and AIDS cases from the nonincarcerated Maryland population. Trends in DOC AIDS diagnoses and AIDS-related deaths over time were also examined. Of the inmates, 39% were voluntarily tested for HIV on entry to the Maryland DOC in 1998 (38% of males and 49% of females). Overall, HIV seropositivity was 3.3% (5% for females and 3% for males). The 888 cumulative AIDS cases diagnosed in the DOC inmate population were concentrated among males (90% vs. 77% statewide), African Americans (91% vs. 75% statewide), and among IDUs (84% vs. 39% statewide). Due to high rates of HIV and AIDS, inmate populations are a crucial audience for HIV/AIDS testing, treatment, and prevention efforts, especially women. Prison-based programs can identify significant numbers of HIV and AIDS cases and bring HIV prevention interventions to a population characterized by frequent high-risk behavior.Item Challenges to Masculine Transformation Among Urban Low-Income African American Males(2003) Aronson, Robert E; Whitehead, Tony L; Baber, Willie LIn this article we describe and analyze the challenges faced by an intervention program that addresses the fatherhood needs of low-income urban African American males. We used life history as the primary research strategy for a qualitative evaluation of a program we refer to as the Healthy Men in Healthy Families Program to better understand the circumstances and trajectory of men's lives, including how involement in the program might have benefitted them in the pursuit of their fatherhood goals. A model of masculine transformation, developed by Whitehead, was used to interpret changes in manhood.fatherhood attitudes and behaviors that might be associated with the intervention. We combined Whitehead's model with a social ecology framework to further interpret challenges at intrapersonal, interpersonal, community, and broader societal levels.Item Body and Soul: A Dietary Intervention Conducted Through African-American Churches(2004) Resnicow, Ken; Campbell, Marci Kramish; Carr, Carol; McCarty, Frances; Wang, Terry; Periasamy, Santhi; Rehotep, Simone; Doyle, Colleen; Williams, Alexis; Stables, GloriaObjectives: Body and Soul was a collaborative effort among two research universities, a national voluntary agency (American Cancer Society), and the National Institutes of Health to disseminate and evaluate under real-world conditions the impact of previously developed dietary interventions for African Americans. Methods: Body and Soul was constructed from two successful research-based interventions conducted in African-American churches. Components deemed essential from the prior interventions were combined, and then tested in a cluster randomized–effectiveness trial. The primary outcome was fruit and vegetable intake measured with two types of food frequency questionnaires at baseline and 6-month follow-up. Results: At the 6-month follow-up, intervention participants showed significantly greater fruit and vegetable (F&V) intake relative to controls. Post-test differences were 0.7 and 1.4 servings for the 2-item and 17-item F&V frequency measures, respectively. Statistically significant positive changes in fat intake, motivation to eat F&V, social support, and efficacy to eat F&V were also observed. Conclusions: The results suggest that research-based interventions, delivered collaboratively by community volunteers and a health-related voluntary agency, can be effectively implemented under real-world conditions.