Posts tagged disparities

Latinos & Cancer: Experts Tackle Cancer Myths, Disparities and Health Care in Webinar

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1 month ago
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MaldanadoA trio of experts discussed Latino cancer issues, including disparities, cancer myths, and health care issues in a webinar April 4, 2013, for National Minority Health Month.

Speakers were:

  • Amelie Ramirez, DrPH, director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio
  • Elena Rios, MD, MPH, president of the National Hispanic Medical Association
  • Rosa Villoch-Santiago, MPA, director of health disparities for the American Cancer Society’s South Atlantic Division

Ramirez indicated that the rising U.S. Latino population faces heightened risks of certain cancer, compared to whites, according to a Saludify news report.

Ramirez also said Latino cancers are expected to rise 142% by 2030.

She also highlighted ways to reduce and prevent cancer, including making lifestyle changes like eating healthier and exercising.

Villoch-Santiago described the “Ventanilla de Salud” program, a national initiative that uses community health workers to reduce cancer disparities.

Rios said that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) can provide additional assistance for Hispanics regarding health care.

Read Saludify‘s full recap of the webinar here.

Active Living Research Re-Tools Website

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1 year ago
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Active Living Research, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation national program, has launched an enhanced website to make it easier for practitioners, advocates and policy-makers working on health equity to find needed, helpful information.

New features include:

  • MOVE! blog – The latest information on our work and a way for you to stay updated with what’s going on in the field. You can share your stories by commenting on posts.
  • Search – A new search function allows you to search all of our resources by keywords or topic areas, including park access, inequality, minorities, and lower-income.
  • Audience-specific – We’ve added special pages for advocates, practitioners and policy-makers to help you locate information specific to your work depending on your role in the field.
  • Disparities-focused resources – Several resources focus on racial and ethnic minorities and lower-income groups who are at highest risk for obesity and physical inactivity. For example, a research synthesis called “Do All Children Have Places to Be Active? Disparities in Access to Physical Activity Environments in Racial and Ethnic Minority and Lower-Income Communities” pulls together research showing that people of color and lower-income people often live in neighborhoods that do not support walking and biking.

You can also follow Active Living Research on Twitter and Facebook.

Hispanic Patients’ Low Engagement in Health Care System Contributes to Inequalities in Care

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1 year ago
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Low “activation” among patients may contribute to racial and ethnic disparities in access and health care—particularly among Hispanic immigrants—as much as lack of insurance coverage, according to a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-supported study published this week in Health Affairs.

Activating patients means helping people get knowledge, skills, and confidence to manage their health and care.

In the study, which fuels to the increasingly pervasive belief among health care experts that activation is vital for a high-quality U.S. health system, authors from RWJF, the Center for Studying Health System Change, and the University of Oregon showed patient activation among Hispanics and blacks was low compared to that of whites.

Just 25% of Hispanics were at the highest level of patient activation, compared to 40% of blacks and 45% of whites.

Patients who scored higher on the 100-point patient activation scale tended to be more proactive in managing their health and therefore more likely to get preventive services, follow treatment regimens, seek information and ask questions. Those who scored lower tended to be more passive and have unmet medical needs.

The researchers also found that foreign-born and second-generation Hispanics achieved significantly lower patient activation levels, a result attributable to differences in familiarity with the system and assimilation to U.S. society.

Cancer Facts & Figures 2011 Now Available

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1 year ago
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Epidemiologists predict about 1.6 million new cancer cases and 571,950 cancer deaths in the U.S. in 2011, according to the new Cancer Facts & Figures 2011.

Cancer Facts & Figures provides a concise summary of frequently used cancer statistics, including projections of new cancer cases and deaths, general information on leading cancer sites, and information on major cancer risk factors, such as tobacco use, nutrition, and physical activity.

This year’s special section focuses on cancer disparities, including providing the estimated numbers of premature cancer deaths that occurred in 2007 as a result of socioeconomic disparities.

Other highlights from Cancer Facts & Figures 2011 include:

  • Cancers of the lung and bronchus, prostate, and colorectum in men, and cancers of the lung and bronchus, breast, and colorectum in women continue to be the most common causes of cancer death.
  • Among men, prostate, lung and bronchus, and colorectum cancers account for 52% of newly diagnosed cases.
  • Among women, breast, lung and bronchus, and colorectum cancers account for 52% of newly diagnosed cases.

View more on Cancer Facts & Figures 2011 here.

VIDEO: Tackling Latino, African-American Health Issues

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1 year ago
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multiculturalwebinarIf you missed it June 2, go here to watch the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) webinar, “A Multicultural Lens: Focusing on RWJF’s Work in African-American and Latino Communities.”

The event highlighted RWJF programs to address health issues within these communities.

It also featured the RWJF Multicultural Newsroom, a dynamic online site that provides extensive health-related resources for journalists whose coverage serves African-Americans and Latinos.

RWJF President and CEO Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey addressed the Foundation’s work within communities of color, and five RWJF senior leaders talked about programs targeting key issues, such as health care disparities, childhood obesity prevention, greater health care quality, the impact of social factors on health, and increased diversity within the health care workforce:

  • Jane Isaacs Lowe, Ph.D., team director and senior program officer, Vulnerable Populations
  • David M. Krol, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.A.P., team director and senior program officer, Human Capital
  • Debra Joy Perez, Ph.D., M.P.A., M.A., interim assistant vice president, Research and Evaluation
  • Dwayne C. Proctor, Ph.D., M.A., team director and senior program officer, Childhood Obesity
  • Anne F. Weiss, M.P.P., team director and senior program officer, Quality/Equality

Again, be sure to watch the archived webinar.

Healthcare Gaps Persist in Every State; Texas Among Least Improved

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1 year ago
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States are seeing improvements in health care quality, but disparities for their minority and low- income residents persist, according to new State Snapshots released today by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

New Hampshire, Minnesota, Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island showed the greatest overall performance improvement on a variety of healthcare quality measures in 2010. The five states with the smallest overall performance improvement were Kentucky, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

Among minority and low-income Americans, the level of health care quality and access to services remained unfavorable. The size of disparities related to race and income varied widely across the states.

“Every American should have access to high-quality, appropriate and safe health care, and we need to increase our efforts to achieve that goal because our slow progress is not acceptable,” said AHRQ Director Dr. Carolyn M. Clancy. “These AHRQ 2010 State Snapshots not only provide states with a benchmark on how they are doing in these areas, but they also provide resources that states can use to make improvements.”

To see the 2010 State Snapshots, go here.

The Life Course Approach to Obesity: A Focus on Latino Youth

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2 years ago
by admin in ,
Dr. Elsie Taveras

Dr. Elsie Taveras

Dr. Elsie M. Taveras, member of the advisory committee of Salud America! The RWJF Research Network to Prevent Obesity Among Latino Children, addresses Latino childhood obesity in an article in the journal Childhood Obesity.

Dr. Taveras mentions her research group at Harvard Medical School and their so-called “life course approach to obesity,” which has identified important factors for and disparities in obesity starting in pregnancy and through infancy, early childhood and adolescence.

“Latino children are also much less likely to be breast fed, and we know from some some studies that breastfeeding may be protective of overweight,” Dr. Taveras said in the article. “Additionally, Latino children are more likely to be introduced to solids early, they are more likely to drink sugar-sweetened beverages, more likely to have a television in their bedroom, more likely to watch more TV than white children, and more likely to get insufficient sleep.”

Dr. Taveras also told the journal she’d like to see future research focus “more on promoting sustainable changes at the community-level, in addition to the individual-level behavior change interventions we now know are effective.”

She also suggested several obesity prevention strategies for racial/ethnic minority families, including providers’ gaining a clear understanding of Latino cultural beliefs.

Find out more about Salud America! here.

Spanish-Speakers Can Get Free Cancer Info at 1-800-4-CANCER

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2 years ago
by admin in

Spanish-speakers are encouraged to call the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Information Service, 1-800-4-CANCER, to get free scientifically based information on cancer clinical trials, prevention, risk factors and more in their language.

In a new video, Aileen Ardizon, Director of Bilingual Services for the Cancer Information Service, explains how the number works and what type of servces are offered.

NCI cancer information is offered in English and Spanish online, too.

Hispanics, Other Minorities Less Likely to Get Treatment for Depression

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2 years ago
by admin in ,

The percentage of white adolescents who received any major depression treatment was higher (40%) than blacks (32%), Hispanics (31%), and Asians (19%), according to a new study.

Black, Hispanic, and Asian adolescents were also significantly less likely than whites to receive treatment for major depression from mental health professionals or medical providers, and to have any mental health outpatient visits (all after adjusting for demographics and health status).

The adjustment for socioeconomic status and health insurance status accounted for only a small portion of the estimated differences in major depression treatment measurements and outpatient utilization across racial/ethnic groups.

Other factors, such as stigma and limited proficiency in English, possibly contributed to the lower rates of service use in Hispanics and Asians.

In a study in the February 2011 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, researchers from Emory in Atlanta, Georgia evaluated a national representative sample of 7,704 adolescents ages 12-17 who were diagnosed with major depression in the past year.

“Investment in quality improvement programs implemented in primary care settings as well as school-based mental health services may reduce unmet need for mental health services in all adolescents with major depression and reduce the sizeable differences in service use across racial/ethnic groups,” study researchers said in a press release.

A Snapshot of Latinos’ Health Problems

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3 years ago
by admin in ,

With the nation facing a healthcare crisis, Latinos and racial/ethnic minorities are paying a high price for health care disparities: diminished health and, quite literally, lives lost, the New York Times-Union reports.

Hispanic women, for example, have the highest rates of new cases of cervical cancer and the second highest death rate from cervical cancer.

More from the story:

Studies have found that cultural and communications challenges lead to treatment delays, receipt of wrong benefits or services, misdiagnoses and medical errors.

People who have limited English proficiency are more likely to use expensive emergency room services for primary care since they may seek care only in emergency situations. Inadequate patient-provider communication negatively impacts medication compliance, self-management of chronic disease and overall health outcomes — all at greater cost.

When interpretation services are not available, a child or other non-medically trained interpreter often becomes the default interpreter. This practice violates professional standards and patients’ rights to privacy and results in errors in interpretation and treatment.

One immediate remedy to the communications challenge between patients and providers is greater availability of language interpretation services in health care settings.

Read more here.

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