Use of coaching and technology to improve blood pressure control in Black women with hypertension: Pilot randomized controlled trial study.

Hypertension is the main cause of cardiovascular disease, especially in women. Black women (58%) are affected by higher rates of hypertension than other racial/ethnic groups contributing to increased cardio-metabolic disorders. To decrease blood pressure (BP) in this population, a pilot randomized controlled trial was conducted to examine the effects of Interactive Technology Enhanced Coaching (ITEC) versus Interactive Technology (IT) alone in achieving BP control, adherence to antihypertensive medication, and adherence to lifestyle modifications among Black women diagnosed with and receiving medication for their hypertension.

Social Support and Religiosity as Contributing Factors to Resilience and Mental Wellbeing in Latino Immigrants: A Community-Based Participatory Research Study.

Latino immigrants are at increased risk for mental disorders due to social/economic disadvantages and stressful conditions associated with migration. Resilience-the ability to recover from stress-may provide protection given its association with lower rates of anxiety and depression. This study examines the relationship between protective factors, resilience, and psychological distress in Latino immigrants.

An interactive technology enhanced coaching intervention for Black women with hypertension: Randomized controlled trial study protocol.

In the United States, hypertension (HTN) is the leading risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and a more significant health problem for Blacks compared with other racial/ethnic groups. The prevalence of HTN in Black women is among the highest in the world, underscoring the need for effective prevention and management approaches for blood pressure (BP) control. We developed a two-arm randomized controlled trial repeated measures design study for improving HTN self-management among Black women.

Working with communities: Meeting the health needs of those living in vulnerable communities when Primary Health Care and Universal Health Care are not available.

Rationale, Aims, And Objectives: The health care delivery model in the United States does not work; it perpetuates unequal access to care, favours treatment over prevention, and contributes to persistent health disparities and lack of insurance. The vast majority of those who suffer from preventable diseases and health disparities, and who are at greatest risk of not having insurance, are low-income minorities (Native Americans, Hispanics, and African-Americans) who live in high risk and vulnerable communities. The historical lack of support in the United States for Universal Health Care (UHC) and Primary Health Care (PHC)-with their emphasis on health care for all, population health, and social determinants of health-requires community health scientists to develop innovative local solutions for addressing unmet community health needs.

Better Me Within Randomized Trial: Faith-Based Diabetes Prevention Program for Weight Loss in African American Women.

Purpose: Previous DPP translations in African American women have been suboptimal. This trial evaluated a community-based participatory research developed faith-based diabetes prevention program (DPP) to improve weight loss in African American women.

Design: This cluster randomized trial allocated churches to faith-based (FDPP) or standard (SDPP) DPP interventions.

Designing health care: A community health science solution for reducing health disparities by integrating social determinants and the effects of place.

Background: In the United States chronic illnesses have become a way of life for multiple generations - they are the number one cause of death and disability (accounting for more than 70% of deaths), 60% of American adults have at least one chronic disease, and 40% have multiple chronic conditions. Although multiple factors contribute to the growth in chronic disease prevalence, a major factor has been overreliance on health care systems for promoting health and preventing disease. Large health care systems are ill equipped for this role since they are designed to detect, treat, and manage disease, not to promote health or address the underlying causes of disease.

Health and Disease-Emergent States Resulting From Adaptive Social and Biological Network Interactions.

Health is an adaptive state unique to each person. This subjective state must be distinguished from the objective state of disease. The experience of health and illness (or poor health) can occur both in the absence and presence of objective disease.

Community-based participatory research to design a faith-enhanced diabetes prevention program: The Better Me Within randomized trial.

Reducing obesity positively impacts diabetes and cardiovascular risk; however, evidence-based lifestyle programs, such as the diabetes prevention program (DPP), show reduced effectiveness in African American (AA) women. In addition to an attenuated response to lifestyle programs, AA women also demonstrate high rates of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. To address these disparities, enhancements to evidence-based lifestyle programs for AA women need to be developed and evaluated with culturally relevant and rigorous study designs.

The Mecklenburg County Interlocal Agreement: An 18-Year Collaboration Between Medicine and Public Health.

Context: Better integration of public health and medical services has been a long-standing goal in the United States and has been widely discussed in the scientific literature.

Objective: To identify key lessons and outcomes of the Mecklenburg County Interlocal Agreement, one of the longest running efforts integrating health care delivery and public health services in a major metropolitan area.

Design: In-depth key informant interviews and brief questionnaires of leaders involved in the Mecklenburg County Interlocal Agreement.

Prevalence of Diabetes and Health-Related Quality of Life Among Rural-to-Urban Nong Zhuan Fei Migrants in an Urban Area of Northern China, 2013.

Objective: In China's Nong Zhuan Fei (NZF) communities, farmers living in rural villages are uprooted and moved into newly constructed urban apartments when the government purchases their land for residential and commercial development. With their relocation from a traditional rural setting to a modern urban setting, residents of NZF communities face lifestyle-based risk factors for diabetes and other chronic diseases. We reported estimates of diabetes prevalence, risk factors, and health-related quality of life among adult Chinese NZF rural-to-urban migrants.

The cardiovascular health of urban African Americans: diet-related results from the Genes, Nutrition, Exercise, Wellness, and Spiritual Growth (GoodNEWS) trial.

African Americans have a higher incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) than Americans in general and are thus prime targets for efforts to reduce CVD risk. Dietary intake data were obtained from African Americans participating in the Genes, Nutrition, Exercise, Wellness, and Spiritual Growth (GoodNEWS) Trial. The 286 women and 75 men who participated had a mean age of 49 years; 53% had hypertension, 65% had dyslipidemia, and 51% met criteria for metabolic syndrome.

Churches as targets for cardiovascular disease prevention: comparison of genes, nutrition, exercise, wellness and spiritual growth (GoodNEWS) and Dallas County populations.

Background: We compared cardiovascular (CV) risk factors (CVRFs) of community-based participatory research (CBPR) participants with the community population to better understand how CBPR participants relate to the population as a whole.

Methods: GoodNEWS participants in 20 African-American churches in Dallas, Texas were compared with age/sex-matched African-Americans in the Dallas Heart Study (DHS), a probability-based sample of Dallas County residents. DHS characteristics were sample-weight adjusted to represent the Dallas County population.

The GoodNEWS (Genes, Nutrition, Exercise, Wellness, and Spiritual Growth) Trial: a community-based participatory research (CBPR) trial with African-American church congregations for reducing cardiovascular disease risk factors--recruitment, measurement, and randomization.

Introduction: Although cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of death among Americans, significant disparities persist in CVD prevalence, morbidity, and mortality based on race and ethnicity. However, few studies have examined risk factor reduction among the poor and ethnic minorities.

Methods: Community-based participatory research (CBPR) study using a cluster randomized design--African-American church congregations are the units of randomization and individuals within the congregations are the units of analysis.

Reaching the underserved through community-based participatory research and service learning: description and evaluation of a unique medical student training program.

Objectives: To provide an overview of the Community Health Fellowship Program (CHFP), describe the types of projects completed by the community health fellows from 2005 to 2009 and to assess the program's effectiveness from the perspective of fellows and community partners.

Methods: We developed the CHFP for training medical students in community-based participatory research (CBPR), and understanding the components of successful community partnerships for addressing health disparities in underserved communities. The program has didactic and applied community research components.

Anthropometric measures, presence of metabolic syndrome, and adherence to physical activity guidelines among African American church members, Dallas, Texas, 2008.

Introduction: The low prevalence of physical activity among African Americans and high risk of cardiovascular disease lends urgency to assessing the association between metabolic syndrome, abdominal obesity, and adherence to current physical activity guidelines. Few studies have examined this association among African American adults.

Methods: We examined the association between demographic characteristics, anthropometric measures, and metabolic syndrome and adherence to the 2008 Department of Health and Human Services guidelines for moderate and vigorous physical activity.

Patient perceptions of a community-based care coordination system.

Community health workers (CHWs) work with health professionals to improve health outcomes by facilitating community-based health education and increase access and continuity to health services within a community. Uninsured, low-income participants of a community-based program, Project Access Dallas, participated in focus group sessions for determining participants' perceptions of CHW effectiveness and participants' abilities to independently manage their health needs. Of the 95 adults invited, 24 (25.

Reaching out to those in need: the case for community health science.

The present health care delivery model in the United States does not work; it perpetuates unequal access to care, favors treatment over prevention, and contributes to persistent health disparities and lack of insurance. The vast majority of those who suffer from preventable diseases and health disparities, and who are at greatest risk of not having insurance, are minorities (Native Americans, Hispanics, and African Americans) and those of lower socioeconomic status. Because the nation's poor are most affected by built-in inequities in the health care system and because they have little political power, policy makers have been able to ignore their responsibility to this group.

Insights from practice-based researchers to develop family medicine faculty as scholars.

Background And Objectives: National mandates call for accelerating scholarly development of family medicine faculty. One strategy to address these mandates is training more faculty to participate in practice-based research (PBR). We need to determine competencies that enable faculty to conduct PBR, methods for training faculty in PBR, and strategies to streamline PBR operations in clinics.

Research funding and mentoring in family medicine residencies.

Background And Objectives: This study's purpose was to measure the current status of research funding and mentoring in family medicine residencies and to ascertain what resources are needed to increase residencies' research output.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey of family medicine residency program directors in the United States. We measured grant funding sources, availability of mentors, the likelihood programs could qualify for National Institutes of Health (NIH) K awards, barriers to research, and how these factors varied by program type.

Research participation, protected time, and research output by family physicians in family medicine residencies.

Background And Objectives: The Future of Family Medicine project concluded that research must become a greater part of the culture of the specialty. We examined the participation of family physician residency faculty in research, their protected time, and their research output and how these varied by program type.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey of all family medicine residency programs in the United States.

Teaching medical students research while reaching the underserved.

Objectives: This study's objective was to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a 9-week summer training program for teaching medical students research, while performing community-based participatory research in an underserved area.

Description: Interactive didactic sessions familiarized students with research methods. Concurrently, they designed and completed a participatory project with a community mentor.

Health programs in faith-based organizations: are they effective?

Objectives: We examined the published literature on health programs in faith-based organizations to determine the effectiveness of these programs.

Methods: We conducted a systematic literature review of articles describing faith-based health activities. Articles (n = 386) were screened for eligibility (n = 105), whether a faith-based health program was described (n = 53), and whether program effects were reported (28).

Revisiting the Navajo way: lessons for contemporary healing.

Given the paradox of the success of modern medical technology and the growing patient dissatisfaction with present-day medicine, critics have called for a reevaluation of contemporary medical practice. This paper offers a phenomenological analysis of traditional Navajo healers and their ceremonies to highlight key aspects of healing. A phenomenological view of medical practice takes into account three key features: the lifeworld, the lived body, and understanding.