Translational Medical Research 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 …

Advancing Health Equity In The Us Military, James D. Mancuso, John Young, Jennifer Rusiecki, Shauna Stahlman, Natasha Schvey, Toya Randolph, Candy Wilson, Catherine Witkop, Patrick Hyde, Althea Green, Patcho Santiago, Donald Shell, Tracy Sbrocco

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Eliminating health disparities and achieving health equity are central to US national health objectives and the Military Health System’s “quadruple aim,” which has readiness as its core aim. Because military service members enjoy universal eligibility for health care, it is sometimes assumed that health disparities do not exist in the Department of Defense (DoD). However, while some studies have shown that disparities have been attenuated or eliminated in the DoD, others suggest that significant disparities remain. Reasons these disparities may remain include that universal eligibility for care does not necessarily result in equal to access to care, and that equal …

Implementing A Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Intervention For Safer Conception Among Hiv Serodiscordant Couples: Recommendations For Health Care Providers, Mari-Lynn Drainoni, Dea L. Biancarelli, Ashley A. Leech, Meg Sullivan, Angela R. Bazzi

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Couples in HIV serodiscordant relationships frequently desire children. Although partners who are virally suppressed pose almost no risk of transmitting HIV to their partners, partners who are inconsistently on therapy may transmit HIV to their partners when attempting to conceive. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is an available safer conception strategy for these couples but is not consistently offered. We sought to better understand barriers to PrEP implementation for couples seeking conception and patient perceptions on what providers could do to encourage use. We conducted in-depth, qualitative interviews with 11 participants representing six couples taking PrEP for safer conception in a safety-net …

The Impact Of The Patient-Centered Medical Home On Health Disparities In Adults: A Systematic Review Of The Evidence, J. Nwando Olayiwola 2062970, Sonali Sheth, Victor Mleczko, Anna L. Choi, Anjana E. Sharma

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Introduction: The objective of this study was to review the empirical evidence on Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) impact on health disparities in adults.

Methods: We searched PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar to identify studies on PCMH/health homes and health disparities published in English between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2014. Articles met inclusion criteria if they investigated at least one component of PCMH or health homes in vulnerable populations, defined by PROGRESS-PLUS criteria, and reported differences in one of five clinical quality measures.

Results: 964 articles were identified through database searching and subsequent snowballing. 60 articles underwent full text …

Unique Breast Cancer Features Within The Vietnamese Population, Polly Niravath, Melissa Bondy, Susan G. Hilsenbeck

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is known to be a heterogeneous disease across women, and even within individual tumors. However, relatively little is known about heterogeneity across cultures. There has been some evidence to suggest that Asian women are more likely to have HER2+ breast cancer than their Caucasian counterparts.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to further investigate the unique pattern of breast cancer incidence and subtype in the Vietnamese population.

METHODS: We retrospectively collected data on all Vietnamese women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer at the Lester & Sue Smith Breast Center in Houston, Texas over a four year …