Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Promoting Mammography Screenings In African American Women: Media, Church, And Health Providers, Lasonya Little, Debra C. Wallace, K.Jay Poole

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Due to the underutilization of screening mammography, African American women (AAW) are more likely to experience negative health outcomes after receiving a late-stage breast cancer diagnosis than White Women (WW). The purpose of this article is to examine the roles of the media, health community and the African American church and pastor and their potential impact in AAW screening decisions. Fifteen AAW, ages 45 and older, were invited to participate in a semi-structured interview. Most women agreed the African American pastor and church as well as the health community, and media are an integral part of their lives. Therefore, specific …

Context Matters: Construct Framing In Measures Of Physical Activity Engagement Among African American Women, Stephanie M. Mcclure, Travis Loux, Enbal Shacham, Eileen Gillespie, Denise Hooks-Anderson

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Assessment of psychosocial factors influencing health behavior typically privileges conceptual consistency (framing constructs similarly across contexts) over conceptual specificity (context-specific framing). Modest statistical relationships between these factors and health behaviors, and persistent racial disparities in health outcomes raise questions about whether conceptually consistent framing fully captures relevant predictors. Ethnographic studies suggest not - that perceptions influencing health behaviors are multifaceted and contextual. To test this, we added items querying contextualized predictors of intention to engage in leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) to a Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)-based survey and examined the psychometrics of the adapted subscales. We measured internal consistency …

African American And Non-Hispanic White Births In Enhanced Prenatal Care Programs And Wic, Monica Cain

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

North Carolina uses Maternity Care Coordination (MCC), an enhanced prenatal care program, to improve birth outcomes for high risk women. The WIC program provides similar services to achieve the same goal. Women in North Carolina Medicaid can choose to participate in either, both, or neither the MCC and WIC programs. The study compares the percentages of low birth weight (LBW)—less than 2500 grams—births and maternal risk characteristics of women: (1) participating in the MCC program only, (2) participating in WIC only, or (3) participating in both programs, to those women who receive conventional Medicaid prenatal care. The analysis is further …

Process Evaluation In Action: Lessons Learned From Alabama Reach 2010, M. C. Nagy, Rhoda E. Johnson, Robin C. Vanderpool, Mona N. Fouad, Mark Dignan, Theresa A. Wynn, Edward E. Patridge, Isabel Scarinci, Cheryl Holt, Sharina D. Person

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

The CDC-funded Alabama Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH 2010) project is designed to reduce and eliminate disparities in breast and cervical cancer between African American and white women in six rural and three urban counties in Alabama. In this manuscript, we report on the development, implementation, results, and lessons learned from a process evaluation plan initiated during the Phase I planning period of the Alabama REACH 2010 program. The process evaluation plan for Alabama REACH 2010 focused on four main areas of activity that coincided with program objectives: assessing coalition development, building community capacity, conducting a needs …

Predictors Of Depression For Low-Income African American Single Mothers, Jennifer Hatcher, Mary K. Rayens, Ann R. Peden, Lynne A. Hall

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Purpose: To test a model of predictors of depression in low-income single African American mothers. Design: Secondary analysis of existing data collected as part of a study of women at risk for clinical depression.

Methods: Cross sectional secondary data analysis of a study of low-income African American single mothers with children ages 2-6. Path analysis was used to test a model of the potential mediating role of negative thinking. It was hypothesized that negative thinking mediates the effects of chronic stressors, general health status, and self-esteem on depressive symptoms

Finding: Negative thinking mediated the relationships of chronic stressors and self-esteem …

The Context Of Sexual Risk Among African-American Female College Students, Lucy Annang, Shacara D. Johnson, Malaika A. Pepper-Washington

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Objective: To assess the sexually transmitted infection (STI) awareness, sexual risk behaviors, and related contextual factors of African-American female college students.

Participants: Eighty-nine African-American first year female students attending a majority public four-year college in the southern U.S. participated in the study in Spring, 2006.

Methods: Participants completed an anonymous self-administered paper-and-pencil survey and received a $15 cash incentive.

Results: Participants were highly knowledgeable and aware about STIs and their consequences. While this awareness translated into low levels of risk for many, still others engaged in behaviors and maintained beliefs that could potentially put them at high risk for contracting …

Inflammatory Biomarkers And Subclinical Atherosclerosis In African-American Women With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (Sle), Edith Williams, Carlos Crespo, Joan Dorn

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Women with lupus are at increased risk for developing cardiovascular disease (CVD). Previous studies of atherosclerosis in SLE have not been representative of the minority groups most affected by lupus and its complications. Therefore, a study of 41 lupus cases and 83 controls was conducted to investigate the relationship between carotid atherosclerosis and inflammation in African-American women. Participation consisted of a questionnaire, physical examination, fasting blood draw, and ultrasound of the carotid arteries. There were observed differences between cases and controls with regard to carotid intima media thickness (IMT) and traditional cardiovascular risk factors, although few reached statistical significance. Tumor …

Race/Ethnicity As A Risk Factor Of Mother To Child Transmission Among Hiv Infected Mothers, Wei Yang, Fares Qeadan, Mona L. Brown, Michelle Chino, Scott Hall, Mary Guinan

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Objectives: African American women, living with HIV, exhibit a higher percentage of giving birth as compared to other race/ethnicity groups. The aim of this study is to understand the apparent black and non-black differences (health disparities) among the HIV Infected Mothers group and examine whether race/ethnicity can explain the high variation in different prenatal and HIV mother-to-child-transmission (MTCT) risk factors.

Methods: Data-Linkage was conducted on all women HIV+ cases, who delivered a child during the time period and reported to the Nevada state HIV with the live birth registries. Demographic and social data, separated into black and Non-black groups, were …

Perceptions Of Barriers That Inhibit African American Women And Adolescent Girls From Participation In Physical Activity, Sonya Daniels Walker

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study examined the barriers to leisure time physical activity for African American women and their adolescent daughters. Six mother-daughter dyads were interviewed who have access to physical activity opportunity. Three of the dyads participated in a follow-up focus group. A qualitative research design that utilized a grounded theory approach identified two themes for the women and two themes for the girls. Themes for the women include influence of culture and low physical activity IQ. Sub-themes of influence of culture are (a) hair and (b) body image. Sub-themes of low physical activity IQ are (a) mommy guilt, (b) perception of …

Barriers, Control And Identity In Health Information Seeking Among African American Women, Jennifer R. Warren, Lynette Kvasny, Michael L. Hecht, Diana Burgess, Jasjit S. Ahluwalia, Kolawole S. Okuyemi

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Qualitative research methods were used to examine the role of racial, cultural, and socio-economic group (i.e., communal) identities on perceptions of barriers and control related to traditional and internet resources for seeking health information. Eighteen lower income, African American women participated in training workshops on using the internet for health, followed by two focus groups. Transcripts were analyzed using standardized coding methods. Results demonstrated that participants perceived the internet as a tool for seeking health information, which they believed would empower them within formal healthcare settings. Participants invoked racial, cultural, and socio-economic identities when discussing barriers to seeking health information …