Engagement of community participation is an innovative driver of modern research. However, to benefit the communities being studied, it is imperative to continuously evaluate ethical considerations, the relationship dynamic between researchers and community members, and the responsiveness of research teams to the needs and preferences of communities. Northwestern University's Center for Health Equity Transformation founded a community scientist program in 2018 that implemented a study using the Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) model.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Dobbs decision overturned the right to abortion in the United States and allowed states to enact total abortion bans. In addition to restricting access to abortion, laws criminalizing pregnancy outcomes deter providers from offering timely, appropriate care for pregnancy complications. To avoid litigation or prosecution, providers are under pressure to strictly guard the privacy of patient health information related to pregnancy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn the U.S., disparities in the healthcare workforce have led to inadequate health outcomes in communities of historically underserved groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRacial health disparities within gynecologic cancers persist. We aim to explore the impact of epigenetics on these disparities and how social determinants of health fuel this effect. We queried PubMed with terms associated with social determinants of health and epigenetics in the scope of 3 gynecologic cancers: ovarian, endometrial, and cervical.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnderrepresentation of individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP) who speak Spanish is ongoing in phase 3 biomedical clinical trials and exacerbates health inequity. This article suggests strategies for increasing representation of Spanish speakers in clinical rials by emphasizing the importance of early engagement with Spanish language communities, inclusive participant recruitment, and collaborative trial design and implementation. Although investigators and institutions administering government-funded research must meet federal requirements for language assistance, journal editors, peer reviewers, institutional review board members, academic health centers, and all beneficiaries of the biomedical and behavioral research enterprise in the United States must motivate linguistic inclusion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe maternal mortality ratio for the United States (US) has consistently risen over recent decades. This mortality is especially pronounced within minority populations who experience a maternal mortality and morbidity rate that are much higher than their non-Hispanic white counterparts. Qualitative data are critical in gaining true insight from minority pregnant and postpartum persons.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFemale genital cutting (FGC) is a form of gender-based violence with obstetrical and gynecological complications that require recognition and care. Data suggest that United States' physicians are not prepared to care for those who have been affected by this practice. This study evaluated the knowledge and practices of United States' obstetricians and gynecologists to care for patients who have undergone FGC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Inadequate diversity in clinical trials is widely recognized as a significant contributing factor to health disparities experienced by racial/ethnic minorities and other diverse populations in the US. To address this in a scalable way, we sought to develop a web tool that could help enhance underserved minority participation in clinical research.
Methods: We used our research literacy support flashcard tool as the initial prototype for human-centered design and usability testing of the web tool Health for All in public library settings.
Purpose: Patient navigation uses trained personnel to eliminate barriers to timely care across all phases of the health care continuum, thereby reducing health disparities. However, patient navigation has yet to be systematized in implementation models to improve processes of care at scale rather than remain a band-aid approach focused solely on improving care for the individual patient. The 4R systems engineering approach (right information and right treatment to the right patient at the right time) uses project management discipline principles to develop care sequence templates that serve as patient-centered project plans guiding patients and their care team.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Because lifetime trauma exposure has been linked to multiple adverse pregnancy outcomes, there is a need for all perinatal care providers to be versed in trauma-informed care practices. However, there are few data to guide trauma-informed practice during the perinatal period. The objective of this study was to refine ongoing development of a trauma-informed care framework for perinatal care by conducting a qualitative study of all trauma experiences and preferred screening practices of pregnant patients at an urban prenatal clinic.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHelping Her Live (HHL) is a community health worker-led outreach model that navigates women from vulnerable communities to mammography screening and diagnostic follow-up. The objective of this study was to evaluate HHL implementation on the southwest side of Chicago. HHL has been implemented on the west side of Chicago since 2008, where it has increased mammogram completion and diagnostic follow-up rates among Black and Hispanic women from resource poor communities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRacial/ethnic minorities are underrepresented in clinical research in the USA for multifarious reasons, including barriers to effective communication between researchers and potential research participants. To address the communication barriers between researchers and potential participants, we developed a Research Literacy Support (RLS) tool. The focus of this report is to present findings from the second and third phases of development that refined and assessed usability of the RLS tool.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLanguage is powerful and can have a strong impact on perceptions as well as behavior. A task force, consisting of representatives from the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) and the American Diabetes Association (ADA), convened to discuss language in diabetes care and education. This document represents the expert opinion of the task force.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLanguage is powerful and can have a strong impact on perceptions as well as behavior. A task force, consisting of representatives from the American Association of Diabetes Educators and the American Diabetes Association, convened to discuss language in diabetes care and education. The literature supports the need for a language movement in diabetes care and education.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: The purpose of this report is (1) to describe the use of the American Association of Diabetes Educators' (AADE's) model of implementation of the National Diabetes Prevention Program through nationally certified diabetes self-management education (DSME) programs and (2) to report the aggregated program outcomes as defined by the Diabetes Prevention and Recognition Program standards of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Methods: In 2012, the AADE worked with the CDC to select 30 certified DSME programs for National Diabetes Prevention Program delivery. For the following 3 years, the AADE continued to work with 25 of the 30 original programs.
Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine the field of diabetes education along with identifying facilitators and barriers for future health care professionals entering the specialty field of diabetes education.
Method: Faculty members who were currently teaching in a health-related discipline, the students of those faculty members, and nursing students who were members of the National Student Nursing Association were surveyed to gather descriptive data.
Results: While faculty members reported they are promoting diabetes education to their health professions students, many nursing students are not aware of this career path.
Purpose: The purpose of this comprehensive role delineation study of the Board Certification for Advanced Diabetes Management (BC-ADM) examination was to ensure its content validity.
Method: The comprehensive role delineation study was conducted in 3 phases. In the first phase, a panel of 12 currently credentialed BC-ADM subject matter experts produced a list of practice domains, a unique set of content subdomains for each, and a series of knowledge statements for every subdomain.
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to gain insight about patient experience of diabetes self-management education in a patient-centered medical home.
Methods: Six focus groups consisting of 37 people with diabetes, diverse in race and ethnicity, were conducted at 3 sites. Participants described their experience in the program and their challenges in diabetes self-management; they also suggested services to meet their diabetes care needs.
Protein kinase (PK)Calpha and epsilon are rational targets for cancer therapy. However, targeted experimental therapeutics that inhibit PKCalpha or epsilon are unavailable. The authors established recently that covalent modification of an active-site cysteine in human PKCepsilon, Cys452, by small molecules, for example 2-mercaptoethanolamine, is necessary and sufficient to render PKCepsilon kinase-dead.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCritical roles played by some protein kinases in neoplastic transformation and progression provide a rationale for developing selective, small-molecule kinase inhibitors as antineoplastic drugs. Protein kinase Cepsilon (PKCepsilon) is a rational target for cancer therapy, because it is oncogenic and prometastatic in transgenic mouse models. PKCepsilon is activated by sn-1,2-diacylglycerol (DAG).
View Article and Find Full Text PDF