Kaiser Permanente's Good Health & Great Hair Program: Partnering With Barbershops and Beauty Salons to Advance Health Equity in West Baltimore, Maryland.

Context: The Good Health & Great Hair program was developed by Kaiser Permanente in partnership with a network of trusted neighborhood barbershops and beauty salons in West Baltimore, Maryland.

Program: The initiative aimed to increase health awareness and knowledge and reduce health disparities by making no-cost health care services available beyond traditional health care settings in predominantly Black, historically redlined neighborhoods in West Baltimore.

Implementation: This initiative, established by an integrated health care system, is the first to utilize mobile health clinics into a holistic community health outreach program in partnership with barbershops and beauty salons to provide medical and social services to underserved populations.

A multi-stakeholder evaluation of the Baltimore City virtual supermarket program.

Background: Increasing access to healthy foods and beverages in disadvantaged communities is a public health priority due to alarmingly high rates of obesity. The Virtual Supermarket Program (VSP) is a Baltimore City Health Department program that uses online grocery ordering to deliver food to low-income neighborhoods. This study evaluates stakeholder preferences and barriers of program implementation.

Investigating the Occupational Challenges of Corner Store Workers Operating in Baltimore City Food Deserts.

A qualitative pilot study was conducted in Baltimore City with the aim of documenting specific occupational safety challenges of small-scale urban retailers, or "corner store" owners. Semistructured interviews with a small sample ( n = 4) revealed significant challenges for owners and workers, and revealed potential areas for occupational health intervention.

Food Insecurity and Depressive Symptoms: Comparison of Drug Using and Nondrug-Using Women at Risk for HIV.

Food insecurity has been linked to poor physical and mental health as well as HIV risk behaviors. While prior research has shown that drug users are prone to food insecurity it is unclear if drug use exacerbates the physical and psychosocial consequences. A sample of women who used drugs (DU) (specifically heroin and cocaine) and women who did not use drugs (NDU) were examined to determine if the relationship between food insecurity and depression varied by drug use status.

Relation between the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program cycle and dietary quality in low-income African Americans in Baltimore, Maryland.

Background: There has been limited research regarding the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) and recipients' dietary quality during the days and weeks after benefit disbursement.

Objective: We examined the relation between participants' stages in the SNAP cycle and their macronutrient consumption, Healthy Eating Index (HEI) scores, and fruit and vegetable intake.

Design: In this cross-sectional study, we analyzed single 24-h dietary recalls collected from 244 African American SNAP participants recruited near 24 corner stores in Baltimore City.