Exploratory Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities in Smaller Cities

说明：拟议工作的基本基础是，小城市和小城镇的少数民族社区与大城市的少数民族社区在重要方面存在差异，这些差异既影响到健康差距的特征，也影响到消除差距的解决方案。小城市少数民族健康和差距探索中心将支持来自多个学科的研究人员与社区合作伙伴一起进行研究，以了解小城市健康差距的多种决定因素，并通过与社区团体合作，测试旨在减少障碍、改善利用率和健康的计划。因此，该中心的重点不是一种特定的疾病，而是小城市特有的健康差距问题。该中心将开展三个研究项目，一个是与当地的非裔美国人社区合作，以改善生殖保健服务的使用，另一个是与美洲原住民社区合作，关注当地食品供应污染对健康的影响，第三个项目是汇集所有参与州14年来行为风险因素监测系统的数据，以描述种族、族裔和社会经济地位衡量标准与健康状况的关系。这些项目扩大了中心最初在奥尔巴尼和纽约州阿姆斯特丹的地理重点，同时保留了对较小城市少数族裔健康差距的概念关注。该中心还将支持和加强其他大学研究人员对健康差距的研究，从而更好地了解和解决健康差距问题。它将使本科生和研究生接触到关于少数群体健康差距的研究，并增加他们专业从事这项研究的机会。此外，该中心将为终身教员提供有关健康差距和伙伴关系研究方法的培训，使他们能够获得研究支持。作为其研究培训和社区伙伴关系的一部分，该中心将传播卫生保健信息，并将研究成果纳入社区成员的教育宣传材料中，这些材料在文化和语言上都是适当的和相关的。与公共卫生有关：少数群体的健康差距是实现2010年健康目标的主要障碍。该中心将重点关注小城镇的健康差距，这是该问题研究不足的一个组成部分。它将进行研究，并培训学生和研究人员了解少数群体的健康差距，从而增强我们实施改善少数群体健康和消除差异的解决方案的能力。

DESCRIPTION: The fundamental basis for the proposed work is that minority communities in smaller cities and towns differ in important ways from those in very large cities, and these differences influence both the character of health disparities, as well as the solutions to eliminate them. The Exploratory Center on Minority Health and Disparities in Smaller Cities will support researchers from multiple disciplines to perform research with community partners to understand the multiple determinants of health disparities in smaller cities, and, by working with community groups, it will test programs to reduce barriers, and improve utilization and health. Thus, the Center's focus is not on one specific disease, but on the problems of health disparity characterizing smaller cities. The Center will conduct three research projects one with a local African American community to improve the use of reproductive health care services, another with a Native American community concerned with health effects of local contamination of the food supply, and a third that pools data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System over a 14 year period from all participating states to describe the relationship of race, ethnicity and measures of socioeconomic status with health status. These projects expand the Center beyond its original geographic focus on Albany and Amsterdam, NY, while retaining its conceptual focus on minority health disparities in smaller cities. The Center also will support and enhance research on health disparities by other university researchers, and thus develop greater understanding of, and more solutions to health disparity. It will expose undergraduate and graduate students to research on minority health disparities, and enhance their opportunities to pursue this research professionally. In addition, the Center will provide untenured faculty with training on health disparities and partnership research methods enabling them to obtain research support. As part of its research training and community partnership, the Center will disseminate health care information, and integrate research findings into educational outreach materials for community members that are culturally and linguistically appropriate and relevant. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Minority health disparities are a major impediment to achieving the Healthy 2010 goals. This Center will focus on health disparities in smaller cities and towns, an understudied component of the problem. It will conduct research, and train students and researchers in minority health disparities, thereby enhancing our capacity to implement solutions that will improve minority health and eliminate disparity.