Reliability and Validity of the Perceived Racism Scale-Racism on the Job Subscale-in a Sample of Black Nurses.

We utilized the Perceived Racism Scale-Racism on the Job subscale-to assess how frequently Black nurses experienced racism on the job in the past year (ROTJ-Y) and throughout their lifetime (ROTJ-L). We aimed to assess the reliability and assess construct validity of each subscale in a sample of 53 nurses. Reliability was evaluated using coefficient alphas, item correlations, and interitem correlations.

Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Diagnosis of Alcohol Use Disorder in Veterans.

Objective: Studies show that racially and ethnically minoritized veterans have a higher prevalence of alcohol use disorder (AUD) than White veterans. The investigators examined whether the relationship between self-reported race and ethnicity and AUD diagnosis remains after adjusting for alcohol consumption, and if so, whether it varies by self-reported alcohol consumption.

Methods: The sample included 700,012 Black, White, and Hispanic veterans enrolled in the Million Veteran Program.

Examining Race-Based Discrimination, Depression, and Occupational Stress in Black Registered Nurses.

Nursing is a highly stressful and demanding profession that can negatively affect mental health, as shown by nurses' high rate of depression. Furthermore, Black nurses may experience additional stress due to race-based discrimination in the work environment. This research aimed to examine depression, experiences of race-based discrimination at work, and occupational stress among Black nurses.

What does critical race theory have to do with academic medicine?

Critical Race Theory (CRT) has recently become a target of national attention due to recent Presidential Executive Orders and state and local governmental bodies banning its use in public school settings. However, such attention has only led to critical race theory being misconstrued by the media and misunderstood by the common lay person. Critical Race Theory is a specific pedagogical and theoretical approach to understand how racialized historical contexts influence contemporary society.

A View of Health Disparities among African Americans Through a COVID-19 Lens.

COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted African Americans. Political and social determinants of health-the impact of the environments where people play, work, and live-account for up to 80% of individual and population health risk. This article provides an overview of how historical and contemporary systemic structural violence and racist structures embedded within the political and social determinants of health have led to African Americans experiencing high rates of morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19.

COVID-19 and the impact on rural and black church Congregants: Results of the C-M-C project.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating effects on Black and rural populations with a mortality rate among Blacks three times that of Whites and both rural and Black populations experiencing limited access to COVID-19 resources. The primary purpose of this study was to explore the health, financial, and psychological impact of COVID-19 among rural White Appalachian and Black nonrural central Kentucky church congregants. Secondarily we sought to examine the association between sociodemographics and behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs regarding COVID-19 and intent to vaccinate.

Challenges and Considerations Related to Studying Dementia in Blacks/African Americans.

Blacks/African Americans have been reported to be ∼2-4 times more likely to develop clinical Alzheimer's disease (AD) compared to Whites. Unfortunately, study design challenges (e.g.

Racially classified social group differences in cigarette smoking, nicotine dependence, and readiness to quit.

The purpose was to determine racially classified social group differences in smoking, nicotine dependence, and readiness to quit between African American and Caucasian smokers. The cross-sectional study included 53 African American and 839 Caucasian smokers participating in a larger population-based cessation intervention study. Data were analyzed from the interview conducted before the intervention; half of the participants were in the treatment group, recruited from those who had joined a cessation contest, whereas control group participants were recruited using random-digit dialing and were not in the contest.

Local smoke-free public policies, quitline call rate, and smoking status in Kentucky.

Purpose: The study investigated the relationships among local smoke-free public policies, county-level quitline call rate, and adult smoking status.

Design: A retrospective cross-sectional examination of demographic characteristics, smoking status of Kentuckians, and data from the Kentucky Tobacco Quitline were used to investigate the relationship of local smoke-free ordinances or Board of Health regulations together with county-level quitline use rates and population-level adult smoking status.

Setting: One hundred and four Kentucky counties.

Cultural protective factors for community risks and substance use among rural African American adolescents.

Relatively little attention has been afforded to protective factors for community-level risks among non-urban populations. This study examined the extent to which traditional cultural attitudes and behaviors of 137 African American adolescents (ages 12-17) from a rural community moderated the relationship between perceived community disorganization and substance use behaviors. Results from hierarchical linear regression revealed that traditional cultural attitudes and behaviors were differentially related to community disorganization and adolescent substance use.

Menthol smoking, smoke-free policies and cessation services.

Aims: This study examined whether menthol cigarette smoking is related to exposure to smoke-free home and work-place policies, availability of cessation services at work and knowledge of cessation resources among current smokers.

Design: Secondary analysis was conducted using logistic regression of cross-sectional data.

Setting: The 2003 and 2006/07 Tobacco Use Supplement (TUS) to the Current Population Survey, administered by the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Census Bureau, formed the basis for this investigation.

Are age of smoking initiation and purchasing patterns associated with menthol smoking?

Aims: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between age of cigarette smoking initiation and cigarette purchasing patterns on menthol smoking among current smokers.

Design: Secondary analyses were conducted using logistic regression with balanced replicated weights.

Setting: Data from the 2003 and 2006/07 Tobacco Use Supplement (TUS) to the Current Population Survey (CPS), collected by the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Census Bureau, formed the basis for this investigation.

Race-related stress and smoking among pregnant African-American women.

Objectives: To examine the association between the psychosocial construct of race-related stress and smoking among pregnant African-American women.

Design: Inferential statistical analyses were performed.

Setting: Participants were recruited primarily at a medical clinic as well as through word-of-mouth consistent with the snowball sampling technique.

End-of-treatment smoking cessation among African American female participants in the Breathe Free for Women smoking cessation program: results of a pilot study.

Objective: Quitting smoking is particularly imperative for African American women due to their disproportionate rates of smoking-related morbidity and mortality. However, very few smoking cessation interventions have demonstrated successful quit rates for African American women. This study sought to examine the Breathe Free for Women (BFFW) smoking cessation lifestyle program among African American female smokers.

Smoking risk and the likelihood of quitting among African-American female light and heavy smokers.

While African-American females are more likely to be light smokers compared to their counterparts of other racially classified social groups (RCSGs), they are more likely to carry a heavier burden of smoking-related morbidity and mortality. Thus, it is critical that African-American female light smokers are targeted to engage in smoking cessation. Research has revealed that African-American women are less likely to have a successful quit attempt following a cessation intervention than females from other RCSGs.

Racially classified social group tobacco-related health disparities: what is the role of genetics?

Certain racially classified social groups suffer disproportionately from tobacco-caused morbidity and mortality. Recent advances in genetics are leading researchers to examine variables that may account for this. However, it is critical that investigators proceed with caution and utilize transdisciplinary approaches.

A biopsychosocial approach to examining tobacco-related health disparities among racially classified social groups.

Aims: To articulate a broader, multi-causal model that incorporates psychosocial and environmental factors that can differ systematically across racially classified social groups (RCSGs) and impact biological pathways related to the development of tobacco-related diseases.

Methods: This paper is built upon a review of the existing scientific literature on selected biopsychosocial factors (diet/nutrition, obesity, alcoholic intake, psychosocial stress, occupational/environmental exposures and exposure to other diseases and illnesses) and tobacco use in examining the biological contributions to differences in tobacco-related health outcomes among RCSGs.

Findings: Recent work has focused on RCSG genetic variations as a possible explanation for differences in tobacco-related health disparities.

Addressing tobacco-related health disparities.

Aims: The aim of this review is to outline a transdisciplinary research framework for identifying, explaining and intervening to address tobacco-related health disparities (TRHD). We will show the importance of an approach that integrates the human life-cycle (developmental) and tobacco addiction cycle (behavioral) for interventions that address group-specific vulnerabilities.

Methods: The existing empirical knowledge base on tobacco-related health disparities is mapped onto a conceptual framework built around life-cycle and addiction cycle trajectories for disparate population groups.

Identifying health disparities across the tobacco continuum.

Aims: Few frameworks have addressed work-force diversity, inequities and inequalities as part of a comprehensive approach to eliminating tobacco-related health disparities. This paper summarizes the literature and describes the known disparities that exist along the tobacco disease continuum for minority racial and ethnic groups, those living in poverty, those with low education and blue-collar and service workers. The paper also discusses how work-force diversity, inequities in research practice and knowledge allocation and inequalities in access to and quality of health care are fundamental to addressing disparities in health.

Heterogeneity in the smoking behavior of African American women.

Objective: To assess the association between sociodemographic variables and smoking behavior patterns of African American women.

Methods: Six years of data (N=14,903) from the National Health Interview Surveys were analyzed using multiple logistic regression.

Results: African American women in the South were more likely to never smoke and to start smoking later than women in the Northeast.

Characteristics of six-month tobacco use outcomes of Black patients seeking smoking cessation intervention.

Although Blacks experience disproportionately greater morbidity and mortality attributable to smoking than other racially-classified social groups, few studies have examined the impact of clinical interventions for nicotine dependence within this population. The main objective of this study was to examine 6-month outcomes among 146 self-identified adult Black patients who received an individually-tailored nicotine dependence intervention in an academic medical setting. Measures included a baseline demographic questionnaire and telephone follow-up to obtain self-reported 6-month tobacco use status.

Gender differences in depression and smoking among youth in Cape Town, South Africa.

Objective: Gender differences in the association between depression and smoking has received inconsistent support among youth in national samples in the United States and other countries. However, the examination of depression and smoking among South African male and female youth has not been sufficiently studied. This paper examines gender differences in the association between depression, racially classified social group (RCSG) status, social amenities, and grade level with smoking among South African youth in Cape Town.

Exploring the type-of-crime hypothesis, religiosity, and spirituality in an adult male prison population.

This study examined the association between measures of spirituality and religiosity and characteristics of current criminal conviction in a male prison population. Spirituality was operationalized as spiritual well-being and existential well-being. Religiosity was operationalized as frequency of religious service attendance, whether an individual considered himself to be religious, and how strongly an individual believed his religious beliefs influenced his behavior.