Trust and Biomedical Research Engagement of Minority and Under-Represented Communities in Mississippi, USA.

Trust is critical to the development and maintenance of effective research collaborations and community engagement. The purpose of this study was to assess the current attitudes and level of trust pertaining to health research among residents of Central Mississippi, the priority health region for the Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Center for Health Disparities Research (RCHDR) at Jackson State University. The cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2021 to April 2022.

Evaluating Levels of Community Participation in a University-Community Partnership: The Jackson Heart Study.

Objective: This research was designed to evaluate the perceptions of the Jackson Heart Study (JHS) community relating to their levels of involvement in JHS activities that were developed to address health disparities and promote health education and health promotion.

Methods: The participants for this study comprised 128 community members, who included JHS participants, as well as family members and other friends of the JHS who resided in the JHS community of Hinds, Madison, and Rankin Counties in Mississippi and attended the JHS Annual Celebration of Life. We used the Chi-Square test to analyze the participants' responses to the survey questions developed to address the six areas of focus: (1) ways to increase participation in community outreach activities; (2) reasons for participating in community outreach activities; (3) interest in research participation; (4) factors influencing engagement; (5) Participants' preferences for communicating; (6) Chronic disease prevalence.

Twenty Years of Leading the Way among Cohort Studies in Community-Driven Outreach and Engagement: Jackson State University/Jackson Heart Study.

Background: History has recorded the tremendous concerns and apprehension expressed by African Americans about participating in research studies. This review enumerates the collaborative techniques that were utilized by the Jackson State University (JSU) Jackson Heart Study (JHS) community-focused team to facilitate recruitment and retention of the JHS cohort and to implement health education and health promotion in the JHS communities.

Methods: This review describes the evolution of the JSU JHS community initiatives, an innovative community-driven operation, during the period 1999-2018.

Operational and Management Structure of the Jackson Heart Study Community Outreach Center.

The authors identified the key characteristics of the Jackson Heart Study Community Outreach Center as it worked to embed a sustainable, positive impact on the surrounding communities by engaging community partners to facilitate the mission of the Jackson Heart Study. This report provides an overview of the practice and infrastructure.

Preferences for Return of Genetic Results Among Participants in the Jackson Heart Study and Framingham Heart Study.

Background: Surveys suggest that most research participants desire access to secondary (incidental) genomic findings. However, few studies clarify whether preferences vary by the nature of the finding.

Methods: We surveyed members of the JHS (Jackson Heart Study, n=960), the FHS (Framingham Heart Study; n=955), and African American members of the FHS Omni cohort (n=160) who had consented to genomic studies.

Attitudes Toward Genetics and Genetic Testing Among Participants in the Jackson and Framingham Heart Studies.

Genetic analysis has become integral to many large cohort studies. However, little is known about longitudinal cohort study participants' attitudes toward genetics and genetic testing. We analyzed data from a survey of participants in the Jackson Heart Study ( = 960), Framingham Heart Study ( = 955), and Framingham Heart Study-Omni Cohort ( = 160).

Introduction: Impacting the Social Determinants of Health through a Regional Academic-Community Partnership: The Experience of the Mid-South Transdisciplinary Collaborative Center for Health Disparities Research.

Objective: The purpose of this article is to describe the background and experience of the Academic-Community Engagement (ACE) Core of the Mid-South Transdisciplinary Collaborative Center for Health Disparities Research (Mid-South TCC) in impacting the social determinants of health through the establishment and implementation of a regional academic-community partnership.

Conceptual Framework: The Mid-South TCC is informed by three strands of research: the social determinants of health, the socioecological model, and community-based participatory research (CBPR). Combined, these elements represent a science of engagement that has allowed us to use CBPR principles at a regional level to address the social determinants of health disparities.

Factors Affecting Dietary Practices in a Mississippi African American Community.

This study examined the practices, personal motivation, and barriers of African American communities in Mississippi regarding their dietary practices. We selected the Metro Jackson Area comprised of Hinds, Madison and Rankin Counties because it is a combination of urban and rural communities. The sample consisted of 70 participants from seven sites.

Perception of Policy and Environmental Action to Promote Healthy Behaviors in African American Communities.

The present study aimed to examine the perceptions of African American communities regarding the involvement of political leaders in facilitating policy and environmental change promoting healthy eating and physical activity. We selected the Metro Jackson Area comprised of Hinds, Madison and Rankin Counties because it is a combination of urban and rural communities. The sample consisted of 70 participants from seven sites.

Optimistic Bias, Risk Factors, and Development of High Blood Pressure and Obesity among African American Adolescents in Mississippi (USA).

Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions and is linked to hypertension among African American youth. Optimistic bias influences behavior of youth causing them to underestimate their susceptibility to negative health outcomes. This study explored adolescent behaviors and prevalence of high blood pressure and obesity in a school district.

Building Collaborative Health Promotion Partnerships: The Jackson Heart Study.

Unlabelled: Building Collaborative Health Promotion Partnerships: The Jackson Heart Study.

Background: Building a collaborative health promotion partnership that effectively employs principles of community-based participatory research (CBPR) involves many dimensions. To ensure that changes would be long-lasting, it is imperative that partnerships be configured to include groups of diverse community representatives who can develop a vision for long-term change.

Research participants' opinions on genetic research and reasons for participation: a Jackson Heart Study focus group analysis.

The Jackson Heart Study (JHS) convened focus groups to engage the community in dialogue on participation in the National, Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's Candidate Gene Resource (CARe) project. CARe, a genome wide association and candidate gene study, required the release of participant phenotypic and genotypic data with storage at NIH for widespread distribution to qualified researchers. The authors wanted to assess the willingness of an African American community to participate in the genetics research, given the past history of bioethical misconduct in ethnic minority communities.

Partnering to harmonize IRBs for community-engaged research to reduce health disparities.

Emerging advances in health disparities research include controlled trials and comparative effectiveness studies that are frequently conducted at multiple community and academic sites. Review by different institutional review boards (IRBs) presents a major impediment to the timely and effective conduct of such research. When research involves minority and underserved communities as well as multiple geographic regions, institutional requirements and interpretation of ethical standards may vary substantially.

Geographic representation of the jackson heart study cohort to the African-American population in Jackson, Mississippi.

Recent advances in geographic information systems software and multilevel methodology provide opportunities for more extensive characterization of "at-risk" populations in epidemiologic studies. The authors used age-restricted, geocoded data from the all-African-American Jackson Heart Study (JHS), 2000-2004, to demonstrate a novel use of the Lorenz curve and Gini coefficient to determine the representativeness of the JHS cohort to the African-American population in a geographic setting. The authors also used a spatial binomial model to assess the geographic variability in participant recruitment across the Jackson, Mississippi, Metropolitan Statistical Area.