Participant Perspectives on a Community Health Worker Intervention to Reduce Infant Mortality: A Mixed Methods Assessment of the Bronx Healthy Start Partnership.

Introduction: Healthy Start is an initiative to reduce infant mortality and improve birth equity throughout the US, in large part by deploying community health workers (CHWs) to conduct home visits and provide educational and emotional support to new and expectant parents.

Methods: A mixed-methods assessment of the Bronx Healthy Start Partnership (BxHSP) was conducted as part of a quality improvement initiative to understand client perspectives regarding the impact of BxHSP on short- and intermediate-term outcomes that affect long-term well-being. Phone interviews (n = 16) and online surveys (n = 62) were conducted in English and Spanish with BxHSP participants in 2020 and 2022.

Eliciting patient past experiences of healthcare discrimination as a potential pathway to reduce health disparities: A qualitative study of primary care staff.

Objective: To understand whether and how primary care providers and staff elicit patients' past experiences of healthcare discrimination when providing care.

Data Sources/study Setting: Twenty qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with healthcare staff in primary care roles to inform future interventions to integrate data about past experiences of healthcare discrimination into clinical care.

Study Design: Qualitative study.

A Randomized Trial Evaluating Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Smart Phone Care Management Application to Augment Buprenorphine Therapy for Opioid Use and Chronic Pain.

There is high comorbidity of opioid use disorder (OUD) and chronic pain (CP), which is often addressed by prescribing buprenorphine (BUP). While BUP is effective in preventing overdose, it does not address the psychological aspects of OUD and CP comorbidity and treatment retention rates are as low as 50%. The Virtual Opioid use disorder Integrated Chronic Pain Treatment (VOICE) study (NCT05039554) is a novel effectiveness-implementation trial to test a 12-week virtual group Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) protocol and a care management smartphone application (app; Valera Health) on pain and opioid use in patients with OUD and CP receiving BUP.

Low-Dose Buprenorphine Initiation for Hospitalized Patients With Chronic Pain and Opioid Use Disorder or Opioid Misuse: Protocol for an Open-Label, Parallel-Group, Effectiveness-Implementation Randomized Controlled Trial.

Buprenorphine is an effective medication for both opioid use disorder (OUD) and chronic pain (CP), but transitioning from full opioid agonists to buprenorphine, a partial opioid agonist, can be challenging. Preliminary studies suggest that low-dose buprenorphine initiation can overcome some challenges in starting treatment, but no randomized controlled trials have compared low-dose and standard buprenorphine initiation approaches regarding effectiveness and safety or examined implementation in hospital settings. In a pragmatic open-label hybrid type I effectiveness-implementation trial based in a single urban health system, 270 hospitalized patients with (a) CP and (b) OUD or opioid misuse are being randomized to buprenorphine treatment initiation using 5-day low-dose or standard initiation protocols.

Introduction to Special Issue on Advancing Health Equity Among Black Communities.

The current paper serves as an introduction to this special issue, Advancing Health Equity among Black Communities, in which we provide an overview of the papers included. Specifically, we summarize the papers covered in the special issue and highlight some of the common themes. The impetus for this special issue originated from a culmination of the COVID-19 pandemic, continued murders of Black people by police officers, and an unsettling political climate (e.

Typologies of mental healthcare discrimination experiences and associations with current provider care ratings: A latent class analysis.

Background: Discrimination is experienced across demographic attributes (e.g., race and gender) and vantage points (e.

Effect of Early Infant GG Supplementation in Preventing Viral Respiratory Illness.

The role of early probiotic supplementation in infants for the prevention of respiratory viral illnesses is unclear. We examined the association of GG (LGG) supplementation during the first 6 months of life with the frequency and severity of viral illnesses during the first 24 months of life. We conducted a secondary analysis of data from the randomized controlled Trial of Infant Probiotic Supplementation ( = 184).

Mental Health Disparities Among Sexual and Gender Minority Frontline Health Care Workers During the Height of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This study measured mental health disparities in a Bronx, New York sample of frontline health care workers collected May-July, 2020, during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using survey data ( = 741), we compared demographics, COVID-19 stressors, and adverse mental health outcomes between sexual and gender minority (SGM,  = 102) and non-SGM ( = 639) health care workers through chi-square/Kruskal-Wallis tests, crude/adjusted odds, and prevalence ratios. SGM frontline health care workers had significantly higher depression, anxiety, impact of COVID-19, and psychological distress.

Engaging Young Black Males in Sexual and Reproductive Health Care: A Review of the Literature.

Young Black males (YBM) ages 18 to 24 years are more at risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and have a substantially greater need for sexual reproductive health (SRH) services than other groups. Despite this significant need, the extant literature does not provide a comprehensive picture of how YBM seek preventive care services (e.g.

Racial/Ethnic Disparity Trends in Children's Mental Health Care Access and Expenditures From 2010-2017: Disparities Remain Despite Sweeping Policy Reform.

Objective: To examine trends in mental health care use for Black and Latinx children and adolescents.

Method: Data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey for 2010-2017 were analyzed to assess trends among youth ages 5-17 in use and expenditures for any mental health care, outpatient mental health care, and psychotropic medication prescription fills. Unadjusted trends for all youth and the subpopulation of youth reporting need for mental health care and disparities adjusting for need were examined.

Major Depressive Episode Severity Among Adults from Marginalized Racial and Ethnic Backgrounds in the US.

This observational study analyzes nationally representative data to estimate differences in major depressive episode prevalence, persistence, and severity among racial and ethnic groups.

Reducing HIV/STI Risk Among Adolescents Aged 12 to 14 Years: a Randomized Controlled Trial of Project Prepared.

Despite calls for evidence-based HIV/STI prevention programs for youth aged 12 to 14 transitioning to adolescence, few effective programs exist. In a two-group intent-to-treat randomized trial in the Bronx, NY, 397 participants were randomly assigned to Project Prepared or an attention control, TEEN. Participants completed surveys at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months.

Deeply Rooted: Maximizing the Strengths of a Historically Black University and Community-based Participatory Research to Understand Environmental Stressors and Trauma among Black Youth.

This paper explores a partnership between an HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) and a community to understand trauma given the high rates of reported violence among youth locally. The accumulative stress of living in high-stress, high-poverty environments coupled with the normative developmental tasks of adolescence is thought to place these youths at risk for negative mental and physical outcomes (Murry et al., 2011).

Understanding the Role of Past Health Care Discrimination in Help-Seeking and Shared Decision-Making for Depression Treatment Preferences.

As a part of a larger, mixed-methods research study, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 21 adults with depressive symptoms to understand the role that past health care discrimination plays in shaping help-seeking for depression treatment and receiving preferred treatment modalities. We recruited to achieve heterogeneity of racial/ethnic backgrounds and history of health care discrimination in our participant sample. Participants were Hispanic/Latino ( = 4), non-Hispanic/Latino Black ( = 8), or non-Hispanic/Latino White ( = 9).

Type 1 diabetes self-management behaviors among emerging adults: Racial/ethnic differences.

Background: Emerging adulthood is a vulnerable period for poor blood glucose control and self-management behaviors (SMBs) among individuals with type 1 diabetes. Racial/ethnic minority young adults have poorer glycemic outcomes than non-Hispanic whites; however, little is known about possible racial/ethnic differences in frequency of SMBs among emerging adults (EAs).

Objective: To examine racial/ethnic differences in SMBs and to determine associations between SMBs and blood glucose control.

Disparities in Mental Health Care Utilization and Perceived Need Among Asian Americans: 2012-2016.

Objective: The objective was to examine mental health treatment access disparities between Asians and whites in the United States as well as the role of perceived and objective need and barriers to treatment in these disparities.

Methods: Data are five annual cross-sections (2012-2016) of responses from Asian Americans and whites to the nationally representative National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Multivariate logistic regression analyses adjusting for sociodemographic factors were conducted to compare past-year treatment access rates between Asians and whites across three need subgroups: those with perceived need for treatment, those with past-year serious psychological distress, and those with a past-year major depressive episode.

Developing a Policy Brief on Child Mental Health Disparities to Promote Strategies for Advancing Equity among Racial/Ethnic Minority Youth.

Research has identified a broad range of risk factors during early childhood that have neurobiological consequences and negatively affect children's mental health. Such risk factors disproportionately affect racial/ethnic minority youth. Disparities in children's mental health service use have also been documented for minority youth.

Translating research to support practitioners in addressing disparities in child and adolescent mental health and services in the United States.

Despite increased recognition of disparities in youth mental health, racial/ethnic disparities in mental health burden and in mental health service use persist. This phenomenon suggests that research documenting disparities alone has not led to extensive action in practice settings in order to significantly reduce disparities. In this commentary, we present a framework to actively target this research-to-practice gap by describing the development of a resource titled, "Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Racial and Ethnic Minority Youth-A Guide for Practitioners.

Cognitive and Behavioral Resilience Among Young Gay and Bisexual Men Living with HIV.

Purpose: HIV/AIDS disproportionately affects young gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (Y-GBMSM). Resilience remains understudied among Y-GBMSM living with HIV, but represents a potentially important framework for improving HIV-related outcomes in this population. We sought to explore cognitive and behavioral dimensions of resilience and their correlates among Y-GBMSM to gain insights to inform future interventions.

Engaging and sustaining adolescents in community-based participatory research: structuring a youth-friendly community-based participatory research environment.

Community-Based Participatory Research partnerships typically do not include adolescents as full community partners. However, partnering with adolescents can enhance the success and sustainability of adolescent health interventions. We partnered with adolescents to address health disparities in a low-income urban community.