Uses of theory in racial health disparities research: a scoping review and application of public health critical race praxis.

Purpose: Given the persistence of racial health disparities, scholars have called for investigations into structural origins of health inequity and deeper engagement with theory. We systematically assessed uses of theory-including theory informed conceptualizations of race and ethnicity, social structure, and racial hierarchy-in epidemiology and other quantitative population health literature on racial health disparities.

Methods: We conducted a scoping review of systematically identified original research articles (n=650) that sought to explain racial health disparities; articles were published in 17 high-impact epidemiology, public health, and social science journals.

Intimate Partner Violence and Structural Violence in the Lives of Incarcerated Women: A Mixed-Method Study in Rural New Mexico.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a common feature in the lives of incarcerated women returning to rural communities, enhancing their risk of mental ill-health, substance use, and recidivism. Women's experiences of IPV intersect with challenges across multiple social-ecological levels, including risky or criminalizing interpersonal relationships, geographic isolation, and persistent gender, racial, and economic inequities. We conducted quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews with 99 incarcerated women in New Mexico who were scheduled to return to micropolitan or non-core areas within 6 months.

The legacy of structural racism: Associations between historic redlining, current mortgage lending, and health.

Structural racism, which is embedded in past and present operations of the U.S. housing market, is a fundamental cause of racial health inequities.

Intersectionality Research for Transgender Health Justice: A Theory-Driven Conceptual Framework for Structural Analysis of Transgender Health Inequities.

Transgender people experience intersecting forms of social marginalization and are disproportionately affected by health inequities. We elucidate a novel conceptual framework for transgender health research that theorizes the constructs and pathways through which social inequities produce health inequities for transgender populations. Drawing on theories of intersectionality and structural injustice, Intersectionality Research for Transgender Health Justice (IRTHJ) posits that social and health inequities affecting transgender populations are the result of status quo power relations produced within and between oppressive structures, institutional systems, and socio-structural processes.

Exploring traditional end-of-life beliefs, values, expectations, and practices among Chinese women living in England: Informing culturally safe care.

Objective: This study explores the end-of-life (EoL) beliefs, values, practices, and expectations of a select group of harder-to-reach Chinese women living in England.

Method: A cultural safety approach was undertaken to interpret 11 in-depth, semistructured interviews. Interviews were conducted in Mandarin and Cantonese.

Explaining aboriginal/non-aboriginal inequalities in postseparation violence against Canadian women: application of a structural violence approach.

Adopting a structural violence approach, we analyzed 2004 Canadian General Social Survey data to examine Aboriginal/non-Aboriginal inequalities in postseparation intimate partner violence (IPV) against women. Aboriginal women had 4.12 times higher odds of postseparation IPV than non-Aboriginal women (p < .

Behavioral health and social correlates of reincarceration among Hispanic, Native American, and white rural women.

Objective: To identify community reentry needs, this study examined mental illness, substance dependence, and other correlates of reincarceration in an ethnically diverse, rural population of women prisoners.

Methods: A purposive, cross-sectional sample of 98 women in a New Mexico state prison completed structured interviews. Analyses examined associations of substance dependence, mental illness, lifetime trauma, and sociodemographic variables with previous incarceration.

Investigating maternal risk factors as potential targets of intervention to reduce socioeconomic inequality in small for gestational age: a population-based study.

Background: The major aim of this study was to investigate whether maternal risk factors associated with socioeconomic status and small for gestational age (SGA) might be viable targets of interventions to reduce differential risk of SGA by socioeconomic status (socioeconomic SGA inequality) in the metropolitan area of Vancouver, Canada.

Methods: This study included 59,039 live, singleton births in the Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area (Vancouver) from January 1, 2006 to September 17, 2009. To identify an indicator of socioeconomic SGA inequality, we used hierarchical logistic regression to model SGA by area-level variables from the Canadian census.

Primary prevention of lead poisoning in rural Native American children: behavioral outcomes from a community-based intervention in a former mining region.

The current study examined the effectiveness of a community-based lay health advisor intervention, combined with youth engagement, in improving lead poisoning prevention behaviors and associated beliefs in a rural Native American population located in and near a Superfund site containing mining waste. Three sequential (1997, 2000, and 2004) cross-sectional assessments involving in-person interviews with Native American and White caregivers of young children were conducted. Results showed significant improvements over time for Native American, but not for White, for children washing their hands before meals and snacks, and for annual blood lead testing of both Native American and White children.

Intimate partner violence and alcohol, drug, and mental disorders among American Indian women in primary care.

The relationship of intimate partner violence (IPV) with mental disorders was investigated among 234 American Indian/Alaska Native female primary care patients. Results indicated that unadjusted prevalence ratios for severe physical or sexual abuse (relative to no IPV) were significant for anxiety, PTSD, mood, and any mental disorder. Adjusted prevalence ratios showed severe physical or sexual IPV to be associated with any mood disorder.

Risk factors for asthma and cough among Hispanic children in the southwestern United States of America, 2003-2004.

Objectives: To investigate the impact of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure and mother's place of birth (Mexico vs. United States of America) on the prevalence of asthma and dry nighttime cough among children 2-12 years old residing in the southwestern United States.

Methods: Data were collected from November 2003 through March 2004 as part of a health survey of Hispanic mothers with young children who sought emergency, nutrition, or other clinical services.

Using community-based participatory research to shape policy and prevent lead exposure among Native American children.

Problem: In the mid 1990s, the Indian Health Service (IHS) observed that the percent of Native American children in northeast Oklahoma with elevated blood lead levels was higher than in other comparable areas. Tribal Efforts Against Lead (TEAL) was designed and implemented to study and address this problem using a lay health advisor model.

Purpose: Using a case study approach, we studied the impacts of this community-based participatory research (CBPR) project on health-promoting public policy.

Prevalence and predictors of home and automobile smoking bans and child environmental tobacco smoke exposure: a cross-sectional study of U.S.- and Mexico-born Hispanic women with young children.

Background: Detrimental effects of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure on child health are well documented. Because young children's primary exposure to ETS occurs in homes and automobiles, voluntary smoking restrictions can substantially reduce exposure. We assessed the prevalence of home and automobile smoking bans among U.

Understanding the increased risk of neural tube defect-affected pregnancies among Mexico-born women in California: immigration and anthropometric factors.

Mexico-born women in the United States have an unexplained twofold increased risk of neural tube defect (NTD)-affected pregnancies. We examined whether immigration characteristics were associated with the NTD risk and whether anthropometric factors contributed to the increased risk among Mexico-born women. Data were derived from a large population-based case-control study in California.

Dietary sources of nutrients among rural Native American and white children.

Objective: To identify important food sources of energy, fiber, and major macro- and micronutrients among rural Native American and white children.

Design: In a 1997 cross-sectional study, food frequency questionnaire data were collected during in-person interviews with caregivers of young children.

Subjects/setting: Participants included a representative sample of 329 rural Native American and non-Hispanic white children aged 1 through 6 years living in northeastern Oklahoma.

Cesarean delivery in Native American women: are low rates explained by practices common to the Indian health service?

Background: Studying populations with low cesarean delivery rates can identify strategies for reducing unnecessary cesareans in other patient populations. Native American women have among the lowest cesarean delivery rates of all United States populations, yet few studies have focused on Native Americans. The study purpose was to determine the rate and risk factors for cesarean delivery in a Native American population.

Results from a lay health advisor intervention to prevent lead poisoning among rural Native American children.

Objectives: We tested the effectiveness of a community-based lay health advisor intervention for primary prevention of lead poisoning among Native American children who lived in a former mining area.

Methods: We conducted cross-sectional population-based blood lead assessments of Native American and White children aged 1 to 6 years and in-person caregiver interviews before (n=331) and after (n=387) a 2-year intervention.

Results: Mean childhood blood lead levels decreased and selected preventive behaviors improved for both Native American and White (comparison) communities.

Anti-smoking socialization beliefs among rural Native American and White parents of young children.

This study assesses similarities and differences in anti-smoking socialization beliefs of White and Native American parents in a low-income, rural population in northeastern Oklahoma. Data are from a population-based, cross-sectional children's environmental health study in which in-home interviews were conducted with 356 parents (56.2% White, 43.

Socioeconomic disparities in intimate partner violence against Native American women: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women is a global public health problem, yet data on IPV against Native American women are extremely limited. We conducted a cross-sectional study of Native American women to determine prevalence of lifetime and past-year IPV and partner injury; examine IPV in relation to pregnancy; and assess demographic and socioeconomic correlates of past-year IPV.

Methods: Participants were recruited from a tribally-operated clinic serving low-income pregnant and childbearing women in southwest Oklahoma.

Child maltreatment prevalence and mental disorders outcomes among American Indian women in primary care.

Objective: To examine (1) the prevalence, types, and severity of child abuse and neglect (CAN) and (2) the relationship between CAN and lifetime psychiatric disorders among American Indian women using primary care services.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 234 American Indian women, age 18-45 who presented for outpatient ambulatory services at a community-based Indian Health Service Hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Dependent measures included mood, substance abuse, and anxiety disorders as well as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as measured by the Composite International Diagnostic Interview.

Prevalence and correlates of mental disorders among Native American women in primary care.

Objectives: We examined the lifetime and the past-year prevalence and correlates of common mental disorders among American Indian and Alaska Native women who presented for primary care.

Methods: We screened 489 consecutively presenting female primary care patients aged 18 through 45 years with the General Health Questionnaire, 12-item version. A subsample (n = 234) completed the Composite International Diagnostic Interview.

Assessing lay health advisor activity in an intervention to prevent lead poisoning in Native American children.

The purpose of this study is to assess patterns of lay health advisor (LHA) activity in an intervention to reduce lead exposure in Native American children exposed to mine waste. A total of 39 LHAs were recruited and trained to become LHAs from eight tribes in northeastern Oklahoma. LHAs completed activity tracking forms over a 2-year intervention period to document contacts made with community groups and individuals in their social networks.

Smoking restrictions in the home and car among rural Native American and white families with young children.

Background: This paper examines the prevalence of household and car smoking restrictions, factors associated with these restrictions, and children's exposure to secondhand smoke in homes with varying levels of household smoking restrictions in rural Native American and White families.

Methods: In-person interviews were conducted with 380 rural, low-income Native American and White parents or guardians who were the primary caregivers of children aged 1-6 in northeastern Oklahoma.

Results: Prevalence of complete smoking bans was 49.

Lead sources, behaviors, and socioeconomic factors in relation to blood lead of native american and white children: a community-based assessment of a former mining area.

Lead poisoning prevention requires knowledge of lead sources and of appropriate residential lead standards. Data are severely lacking on lead sources for Native American children, many of whom live in rural areas. Further, the relation of mining waste to blood lead concentrations (BPbs) of rural children is controversial.