Understanding the Intention to Use Telehealth Services in Underserved Hispanic Border Communities: Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Despite the United States having one of the leading health care systems in the world, underserved minority communities face significant access challenges. These communities can benefit from telehealth innovations that promise to improve health care access and, consequently, health outcomes. However, little is known about the attitudes toward telehealth in these communities, an essential first step toward effective adoption and use.

Health insurance literacy and awareness of the Affordable Care Act in a vulnerable Hispanic population.

Objective: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) has allowed millions of Americans to obtain coverage. However, many, especially minorities, remain uninsured. With mounting evidence supporting the importance of health insurance literacy (HIL), the purpose of this cross-sectional study is to examine the association between HIL and ACA knowledge.

Community-Engaged Lifestyle Medicine: Building Health Equity Through Preventive Medicine Residency Training.

Vulnerable populations in the U.S. experience persistent disparities in chronic disease and associated lifestyle-based risk factors.

Short Sleep Duration is Associated with Obesity in Hispanic Manufacturing Workers.

The present study examined the relationship between obesity and sleep duration among Hispanic manufacturing workers. Two hundred and twenty eight Hispanic workers from eight manufacturing plants completed an in-person interview that included measures of demographics, health literacy, and sleep duration. Height and weight were directly assessed.

Innovative approaches to promote a culturally competent, diverse health care workforce in an institution serving Hispanic students.

The underrepresentation of minorities among health care providers and researchers is often considered one of the contributing factors to health disparities in these populations. Recent demographic shifts and the higher proportion of minorities anticipated among the newly insured under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act make the need for a more diverse and culturally competent health care workforce an urgent national priority.The authors describe current and future strategies that have been developed at the College of Health Sciences and Human Services at the University of Texas-Pan American (an institution with 89% Hispanic students in 2012) to prepare a culturally competent and ethnically diverse health care workforce that can meet the needs of a diverse population, especially in the college's own community.

Health care access and utilization among Hispanic manufacturing workers along the Texas-Mexico border.

Disparities in health care access, including utilization of preventive health services, are well-documented among ethnic minority populations. This study examines factors associated with health care access and utilization among Hispanic manufacturing employees along the Texas-Mexico border. A cross-sectional survey was administered in 2010 to 228 mostly male (71%) workers.

Alliance for a Healthy Border: factors related to weight reduction and glycemic success.

We examined the factors related to success in achieving weight reduction and glycemic control in Alliance for a Healthy Border (AHB), a chronic disease prevention program implemented from 2006 to 2009 through 12 federally qualified community health centers serving primarily Hispanics in communities located along the US-Mexico border region. We analyzed data from Phase I of AHB using logistic regression to examine the determinants of success in achieving weight reduction and glycemic control among the participants in AHB programs. Factors affecting weight reduction success were sex, age, employment status, income, insurance, diabetes, baseline body mass index (BMI), smoking status, family history of diabetes, session type, program duration, and physical activity changes.

Adolescent health literacy: the importance of credible sources for online health information.

Background: Little research has examined adolescent health literacy and its relationship with online health information sources. The purpose of this study is to explore health literacy among a predominantly Hispanic adolescent population and to investigate whether exposure to a credible source of online health information, MedlinePlus(®), is associated with higher levels of health literacy.

Methods: An online survey was administered to a cross-sectional random sample of high school students in South Texas.

Acculturation and healthy lifestyle habits among Hispanics in United States-Mexico border communities.

Objective: To explore the relationship between acculturation and healthy lifestyle habits in the largely Hispanic populations living in underserved communities in the United States of America along the U.S.-Mexico border.