Publications by authors named "Alana LeBron"

This essay describes a process for integrating US Latiné communities as drivers of a grassroots vision for healthy Latiné communities and health equity planning that addresses racial injustices. Transforming structural conditions to promote Latiné community health happens alongside creating conditions for community-level self-determination to foster community-based ecosystems of health. Integrating a life course perspective, we describe a vision for community-based ecosystems of Latiné health that is rooted in forging connections and cultivating community; building community power to address structural drivers of health; leveraging the expertise and assets of to reach, engage, and mobilize communities; scaling solutions through policy, system, and environment changes; and grounding research processes in community-driven priorities.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Endometrial cancer is one of few cancers that has continued to rise in incidence over the past decade with disproportionate increases in adults younger than 50 years old. We used data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Registry (2000-2019) to examine endometrial cancer incidence trends by race/ethnicity and age of onset among women in the United States. Case counts and proportions, age-adjusted incidence rates (per 100,000), and average annual percent changes were calculated by race/ethnicity, overall and stratified by age of onset (early vs late).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: A growing literature has documented the social, economic, and health impacts of exclusionary immigration and immigrant policies in the early 21st century for Latiné communities in the US, pointing to immigration and immigrant policies as forms of structural racism that affect individual, family, and community health and well-being. Furthermore, the past decade has seen an increase in bi-partisan exclusionary immigration and immigrant policies. Immigration enforcement has been a major topic during the 2024 Presidential election cycle, portending an augmentation of exclusionary policies towards immigrants.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study examines how racialization processes (conceptualized as multilevel and dynamic processes) shape prenatal mental health by testing the association of discrimination and the John Henryism hypothesis on depressive symptoms for pregnant Mexican-origin immigrant women. We analyzed baseline data (n = 218) from a healthy lifestyle intervention for pregnant Latinas in Detroit, Michigan. Using separate multiple linear regression models, we examined the independent and joint associations of discrimination and John Henryism with depressive symptoms and effect modification by socioeconomic position.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Policy Points There is growing attention to the role of immigration and immigrant policies in shaping the health and well-being of immigrants of color. The early 21st century in the United States has seen several important achievements in inclusionary policies, practices, and ideologies toward immigrants, largely at subnational levels (e.g.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

While the incidence and prevalence of type 2 diabetes is higher among Latino/as, Latino men are disproportionately affected and have poorer outcomes. We aimed to determine whether gender impacted any outcomes in a culturally tailored type 2 diabetes (T2D) intervention and to evaluate the effects of gender and intervention participation intensity on outcomes at 6-month follow-up. Nested path and regression models were compared with the likelihood ratio test and information criteria in a sample of Latino/a adults with T2D ( = 222) participating in a T2D community health worker (CHW)-led intervention.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Lead (Pb) is an environmental neurotoxicant that has been associated with a wide range of adverse health conditions, and which originates from both anthropogenic and natural sources. In California, the city of Santa Ana represents an urban environment where elevated soil lead levels have been recently reported across many disadvantaged communities. In this study, we pursued a community-engaged research approach through which trained "citizen scientists" from the surrounding Santa Ana community volunteered to collect soil samples for heavy metal testing, a subset of which (n = 129) were subjected to Pb isotopic analysis in order to help determine whether contamination could be traced to specific and/or anthropogenic sources.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This paper investigates the historical sources of soil-lead contamination in Santa Ana, California. Even though dangerous levels of soil-lead have been found in a wide variety of communities across the United States, public health institutions lack clarity on the historical origins of these crises. This study uses geo-spatial data collected through archival research to estimate the impact of two potential sources of lead contamination in the past -- lead-paint and leaded gasoline.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Many workers seek care for work-related medical conditions in primary care settings. Additionally, occupational medicine training is not consistently addressed in primary care professional training. These patterns raise concerns about the health outcomes of low-wage Latina/o immigrant workers who make use of primary care settings to obtain care for work-related injuries and illnesses.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has exacerbated longstanding inequities throughout the United States, disproportionately concentrating adverse social, economic, and health-related outcomes among low-income communities and communities of color. Inequitable distribution, prioritization, and uptake of COVID-19 vaccines due to systemic and organizational barriers add to these disproportionate impacts across the United States. Similar patterns have been observed within Orange County, California (OC).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To examine which components of a culturally tailored community health worker (CHW) intervention improved glycemic control and intermediate outcomes among Latina/o and African American participants with diabetes.

Methods: The sample included 326 African American and Latina/o adults with type 2 diabetes in Detroit, MI. CHWs provided interactive group diabetes self-management classes and home visits, and accompanied clients to a clinic visit during the 6-month intervention period.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study examines how Mexican-origin women construct and navigate racialized identities in a postindustrial northern border community during a period of prolonged restrictive immigration and immigrant policies, and it considers mechanisms by which responses to racialization may shape health. This grounded theory analysis involves interviews with 48 Mexican-origin women in Detroit, Michigan, who identified as being in the first, 1.5, or second immigrant generation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To evaluate the association of race-ethnicity and neighborhood socioeconomic status with adherence to National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines for endometrial carcinoma.

Methods: Data are from the SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results) cancer registry of women diagnosed with endometrial carcinoma for the years 2006-2015. The sample included 83,883 women after inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Chronic care management (CCM) and community health worker (CHW) interventions hold promise for managing complex chronic conditions such as diabetes and related comorbidities. This qualitative study examines facilitators and barriers to the implementation of an expanded CCM intervention that explicitly incorporated program staff, clinic staff, CHWs, and partnerships with community-based organizations to enhance diabetes management among Mexican-origin adults.

Method: Grounded theory was used to analyze interviews conducted in 2018 with 24 members of the CCM team, including program staff, clinic staff, and community-based program partner staff.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

(1) Background: exposure to heavy metals is associated with adverse health effects and disproportionately impacts low-income communities and communities of color. We carried out a community-based participatory research study to examine the distribution of heavy metal concentrations in the soil and social vulnerabilities to soil heavy metal exposures across Census tracts in Santa Ana, CA. (2) Methods: soil samples (n = 1528) of eight heavy metals including lead (Pb), arsenic (As), manganese (Mn), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd), and zinc (Zn) were collected in 2018 across Santa Ana, CA, at a high spatial resolution and analyzed using XRF analysis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Adherence to National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines have been adopted as the standard of care for various cancers and have been cited to have survival benefits. Few studies have examined the association of adherent treatment and endometrial cancer survival among various racial/ethnic groups and socioeconomic statuses.

Methods: Between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2015, 83,673 women diagnosed with endometrial carcinomas were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Immigration detention centers are densely populated facilities in which restrictive conditions limit detainees' abilities to engage in social distancing or hygiene practices designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. With tens of thousands of adults and children in more than 200 immigration detention centers across the United States, immigration detention centers are likely to experience COVID-19 outbreaks and add substantially to the population of those infected.Despite compelling evidence indicating a heightened risk of infection among detainees, state and federal governments have done little to protect the health of detained im-migrants.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Hurricane Maria was the largest disaster in Puerto Rico's history, affecting Puerto Rican communities throughout the United States. We conducted focus groups using a grounded theory approach with adults displaced from Puerto Rico to a northeastern community 12 (n = 5) and 17 months (n = 7) postdisaster. Key informant interviews were also conducted with nine community advocates working with displaced hurricane survivors.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Lead (Pb) exposure is a problem that disproportionately impacts low-income communities and communities of color. We applied a community-based participatory research approach to assess the distribution of soil Pb concentrations and related social vulnerabilities across Census tracts in Santa Ana, CA.

Methods: Soil Pb samples (n = 1528) were collected by the ¡Plo-NO! Santa Ana! Lead-Free Santa Ana! partnership in 2018 across Santa Ana, CA, at a high spatial resolution and measured using XRF analysis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Although lead has been removed from paint and gasoline sold in the U.S., lead exposures persist, with communities of color and residents in urban and low-income areas at greatest risk for exposure.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Prior research has established associations between neighbourhood poverty and cumulative biological risk (CBR). CBR is conceptualized as indicative of the effects of stress on biological functioning, and is linked with increased morbidity and mortality. Studies suggest that supportive social relationships may be health protective, and may erode under conditions of poverty.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Policies that restrict access to U.S. government-issued photo identification (ID) cards adversely affect multiple marginalized communities.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF