Interviews With Lay Caregivers About Their Experiences Supporting Patients Throughout Kidney Transplantation.

Lay caregivers provide essential support to patients throughout the kidney transplant process, pretransplant through discharge. Sparse data exists about kidney transplant caregiver experience and facilitators of caregiver engagement. The aim of this study was to explore and describe lay caregivers' accounts of supporting a patient before and early after kidney transplantation.

Using Community-Based Participatory Research to Create Animated Videos to Attenuate Disparities in Access to Kidney Transplant Information.

Community-based participatory research and animated video offer promising approaches to attenuate disparities in access to kidney transplant information. We refined an evidence-based animated video curriculum (Kidney Transplant and Donation Information Made Easy) designed for diverse individuals, that is currently being trialed to advance kidney transplant access among referred patients at a single transplant center, to further accommodate information needs in earlier stages of the path to transplant (pre-referral) and to enhance fit for Black and Hispanic people. We describe formation of an academic-community partnership and the application of qualitative research methods and partnership discussions to refine the Kidney Transplant and Donation Information Made Easy videos.

Video education to facilitate patient outreach about living kidney donation: A proof of concept.

Background: Increasing living-donor kidney transplantation (LDKT) requires education of transplant candidates and their social network. This pre-post study tested the feasibility and acceptability of KidneyTIME, an intervention which leverages LDKT video-based educational content designed for sharing.

Methods: Adult kidney candidates undergoing transplant evaluation/re-evaluation and their caregivers at a single transplant center viewed different sets of KidneyTIME videos prior to evaluation.

"Living well with diabetes": evaluation of a pilot program to promote diabetes prevention and self-management in a medically underserved community.

A substantial disparity exists in the prevalence and effective self-management of diabetes among African Americans in the United States. Community-level programs have the potential to affect self-efficacy and may be helpful in overcoming common barriers to self-management. The Neighborhood Health Talker Program used community members trained as cultural health brokers to engage their communities in conversations about "living diabetes well.

School-Based Obesity Intervention Associated with Three Year Decrease in Student Weight Status in a Low-Income School District.

School-based interventions may be a way to address increasing rates of childhood obesity. Following an obesity intervention implemented by a low-income school district we found evidence of weight status change among district students. The school district served 5,000 children in Western New York at that time and approximately 4,000 students were in the target group (grades 3-12).

Transforming community members into diabetes cultural health brokers: the Neighborhood Health Talker project.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate a community-based diabetes education pilot project. The Neighborhood Health Talker project aimed to train and implement cultural health brokers primarily targeting communities of color to improve community members' diabetes knowledge and diabetes self-management skills. A secondary aim was to establish diabetes resource libraries accessible to communities that normally experience barriers to these resources.

Knowledge and use of ethnomedical treatments for asthma among Puerto Ricans in an urban community.

Purpose: Puerto Ricans have higher lifetime and current asthma prevalence than other racial and ethnic groups in the United States. A great many Hispanics use ethnomedical therapies for asthma. This study elicited participant knowledge of ethnomedical therapies, developed a typology of the therapies, and considered whether some types are used or deemed efficacious based, in part, on information source.

The association between perceived social support and health among patients at a free urban clinic.

Objective: This study examines the association between perceived social support and the prevalence of physical and mental health conditions among adult patients of an urban free medical clinic.

Methods: Patients (n = 289) completed a health risk assessment (HRA) questionnaire that addressed a number of medical and social issues, including perceived social support and whether patients had been told they had certain health conditions. Among these questions were 2 validated instruments: the PRIME-MD for mental health disorder assessment and CAGE for alcohol risk assessment.

The health status of patients of a student-run free medical clinic in inner-city Buffalo, NY.

Background: This study explores the health status and the social and economic correlates of adults 20 years of age and older who presented at an urban free medical clinic in Buffalo, NY, between 2002 and 2005.

Methods: Clinic staff asked patients to fill out a Health Risk Assessment questionnaire that addressed their chronic disease and illness history, mental health, social support, substance use, income, education, and housing. Through statistical analysis of 469 anonymous patient questionnaires, we identified prevalent health conditions in this patient population and compared these rates to regional and national data.

Identifying barriers and facilitating factors to improve screening mammography rates in women diagnosed with mental illness and substance use disorders.

Little is known about screening mammography rates among women diagnosed with mental illness-even though some studies have suggested that this population might be particularly vulnerable to breast cancer. The purpose of this pilot study was to identify facilitators and barriers to mammography among women diagnosed with mental illness and/or substance use disorders. Four focus groups were conducted, with a total of 26 women, ages 40-65 years, with mental illness and/ or substance use disorders.

Insuring the uninsured: A student-run initiative to improve access to care in an urban community.

Context: There are 44 million uninsured Americans. Lack of insurance creates a major barrier for the poor and near poor to get adequate medical attention. A portion of these are eligible for insurance and either do not know they are eligible or have difficulty navigating the application process.