Partnering With Churches to Address COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy and Uptake in Trustworthy Contexts.

The Black church has long been seen as a crucial partner in addressing public health issues. This paper describes the development, implementation, and evaluation of a community-engaged church intervention addressing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in underserved Black communities in Jefferson County, Alabama. We partnered with churches to implement and evaluate the intervention between March and June of 2022 and found that our church partners were capable of significant messaging reach, particularly through electronic means.

Social Determinants of Health and Incident Apparent Treatment-Resistant Hypertension Among White and Black US Adults: The REGARDS Study.

Background: We examined the association of multilevel social determinants of health with incident apparent treatment-resistant hypertension (aTRH).

Methods And Results: We analyzed data from 2774 White and 2257 Black US adults from the REGARDS (Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke) study taking antihypertensive medication without aTRH at baseline to estimate the association of social determinants of health with incident aTRH. Selection of social determinants of health was guided by the Healthy People 2030 domains of education, economic stability, social context, neighborhood environment, and health care access.

Design of the Equity in Prevention and Progression of Hypertension by Addressing Barriers to Nutrition and Physical Activity Study: A Cluster Randomized Trial.

Background: High rates of hypertension and poverty in the rural south contribute to health disparities with Black adults experiencing higher rates of cardiovascular disease than White adults, underscoring the need to identify prevention strategies.

Methods: The equity in prevention and progression of hypertension by addressing barriers to nutrition and physical activity (EPIPHANY) study is a cluster randomized controlled trial testing a multilevel intervention to reduce barriers to a healthy lifestyle to lower blood pressure (BP) among rural, Black adults. Health education fairs offered to 20 churches in the Alabama Black Belt are being used to screen and enroll adults with elevated BP or stage 1 hypertension (systolic BP 120-139 mmHg and diastolic BP < 90 mmHg) who are not recommended for antihypertensive medication, according to the 2017 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association BP guideline.

Hypertension and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Among Individuals With Versus Without HIV.

Background: A high proportion of individuals with HIV have hypertension, and the incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is high in individuals with HIV.

Methods: We determined if the association between hypertension and CVD, including acute myocardial infarction (AMI), stroke, and heart failure, differs between individuals with and without HIV. We analyzed data for 108 980 adults with HIV matched (1:4) to 435 920 adults without HIV in 2011 to 2019 from the Marketscan database, which includes US adults with health insurance.

A Qualitative Assessment of the Living Donor Navigator Program to Identify Core Competencies and Promising Practices for Implementation.

Introduction: The best strategy to increase awareness of and access to living kidney donation remains unknown. To build upon the existing strategies, we developed the Living Donor Navigator program, combining advocacy training of patient advocates with enhanced health-care systems training of patient navigators to address potential living donor concerns during the evaluation process. Herein, we describe a systematic assessment of the delivery and content of the program through focus group discussion.

Enhanced Advocacy and Health Systems Training Through Patient Navigation Increases Access to Living-donor Kidney Transplantation.

Background: To date, no living donation program has simultaneously addressed the needs of both transplant candidates and living donors by separating the advocacy role from the candidate and improving potential donor comfort with the evaluation process. We hypothesized that the development of a novel program designed to promote both advocacy and systems training among transplant candidates and their potential living kidney donors would result in sustained increases in living-donor kidney transplantation (LDKT). To this end, we developed and implemented a Living Donor Navigator (LDN) Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

How to empower a community? Helping communities take control of their health destiny.

•Engaged Empowerment Town Halls promote self-actualization through collective agency.•Optimal collective agency may promote participation in clinical trials.•Distrust in institutions may correlate with participation in research studies.

Surrounding community residents' expectations of HOPE VI for their community, health and physical activity.

Using a community-engaged participatory research approach, this study identified surrounding community residents' expectations for how a HOPE VI housing initiative might affect their community and individual health and physical activity. Fifty-nine women and men engaged in concept mapping, which is a mixed methods approach, where participants generate, sort, and rate ideas. Participants generated 197 unique statements.

The influence of HOPE VI neighborhood revitalization on neighborhood-based physical activity: A mixed-methods approach.

Objectives: This study uses a mixed methods approach to 1) identify surrounding residents' perceived expectations for Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere (HOPE VI) policy on physical activity outcomes and to 2) quantitatively examine the odds of neighborhood-based physical activity pre-/post-HOPE VI in a low socioeconomic status, predominantly African American community in Birmingham, Alabama.

Methods: To address aim one, we used group concept mapping which is a structured approach for data collection and analyses that produces pictures/maps of ideas. Fifty-eight residents developed statements about potential influences of HOPE VI on neighborhood-based physical activity.

Housing, the Neighborhood Environment, and Physical Activity among Older African Americans.

This study examines the association of neighborhood environment, as measured by housing factors, with physical activity among older African Americans. Context is provided on the effects of structural inequality as an inhibitor of health enhancing neighborhood environments. The study population included African Americans participating in the UAB Study of Aging (n=433).

Using nominal technique to inform a sexual health program for black youth.

Objectives: To describe how nominal group technique (NGT) was used to inform the development of a sexual health education program for black high school youth in the South.

Methods: NGT was used with a community advisory board (CAB) to obtain information regarding the key components of a sexual health program for youth in their community.

Results: The CAB identified 5 priorities to include in the program: sex education, "keeping it real," responsibility/consequences, self-esteem, and female aggressiveness.

The influence of community and the built environment on physical activity.

Objective: To examine associations between the built environment and leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) among African Americans and Whites.

Method: Independent and control variables were produced from the literature and theory to represent key components of built environment, sense of community, sociodemographic, and health status characteristics. Logistic regression analysis and descriptive statistics were used to measures correlative relationships with physical activity.

The Defining Moment: Children's Conceptualization of Race and Experiences with Racial Discrimination.

This paper examines whether children of marginalized racial/ethnic groups have an awareness of race at earlier ages than youth from non-marginalized groups, documents their experiences with racial discrimination, and utilizes a modified racism-related stress model to explore the relationship between perceived racial discrimination and self-esteem. Data were collected for non-Hispanic black, non-Hispanic white, and Hispanic children aged 7 - 12 using face-to-face interviews (n = 175). The concept of race was measured by assessing whether children could define race, if not a standard definition was provided.

Barriers to early detection and treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma in African American men.

Background: African Amercians afflicted with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) have a strikingly worse survival than do whites. One apparent cause is an advanced stage of presentation in African Americans. This study was designed to identify barriers to early treatment among African American men.