The Program for Rural and Minority Health Disparities Research

描述(申请人提供)：尽管在过去30年里在改善美国人口健康方面取得了长足的进步，但许多少数族裔和未得到充分服务的人口在健康状况方面仍然存在很大差距。以前的研究已经检查了环境对健康差异的影响或种族/民族对健康差异的影响；拟议的计划利用两个国家公认的研究中心的互补研究专业知识来研究环境和人口因素的相互作用。农村和少数民族健康差距研究计划将通过以下方式解决农村和少数民族的健康问题：(I)提供关于人口和环境特征(背景因素)如何影响少数民族和农村人口(包括儿童)的食物选择、饮食模式和肥胖风险的关键信息；(2)开发干预措施以降低肥胖风险，特别是在农村、少数民族和服务不足的个人中；(3)测试糖尿病自我管理模式在农村、城市和少数人群中的不同有效性；(4)加强德克萨斯A&M大学、德克萨斯A&M健康科学中心和德克萨斯A&M系统的能力，以支持差异研究以及致力于差异研究的教师的招聘和培训；以及(5)在系统层面发展一个健康差异研究所，为德克萨斯A&M系统的9所大学和6个州机构提供服务。系统级健康差异研究所将加强多校区差异研究人员之间的合作，支持教职员工和学生在差异问题上的培训，并支持健康差异学生和新教师的招聘和培训。该计划由德克萨斯A&M大学健康差距研究中心和德克萨斯州A&M健康科学中心农村公共卫生学院社区健康发展中心联合主办，将支持围绕该计划重点的3个核心研究项目：肥胖预防和慢性病自我管理；发展差异研究人员网络；以及在差异问题和研究方法方面对学生和教师进行培训。该方案还将促进与布拉索斯山谷和周边县的多个社区合作伙伴继续开展外联和合作，以减少健康差距；并加强德克萨斯农工大学教职员工和健康科学中心在解决健康差距方面的合作。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Despite considerable progress over the past 30 years in improving the health of the U.S. population, there continue to be substantial disparities in health status among many minority and underserved populations. Previous research has examined the impact of setting on health disparities or the impact of race/ethnicity on health disparities; the proposed program capitalizes on the complementary research expertise of two nationally recognized research centers to look at the interaction of setting and population factors. This Program for Rural and Minority Health Disparities Research will address rural and minority health issues by: (i) providing critical information on how population and setting characteristics (contextual factors) impact food choice, dietary patterns, and the risk of obesity in minority and rural populations, including children; (2) developing interventions to reduce the risk of obesity, particularly among rural, minority, and underserved individuals; (3) testing the differential effectiveness of diabetes self-management models in rural, urban and minority populations; (4) strengthening the ability of Texas A&M University, the Texas A&M Health Science Center, and the Texas A&M System to support disparities research and the recruitment and training of faculty committed to disparities research; and (5) developing a health disparities institute at the system level that will serve the 9 universities and 6 state agencies of the Texas A&M System. The system-level health disparities institute will strengthen collaboration among disparities researchers at multiple campuses, support training of faculty and students in disparities issues, and support the recruitment and training of students and new faculty in health disparities. Jointly sponsored by the Texas A&M University Center for the Study of Health Disparities and the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health Center for Community Health Development, this Program will support 3 core research projects around the Program focus of obesity prevention and chronic disease self-management; the development of a network of disparities researchers; and the training of students-graduate and undergraduate-and faculty in disparities issues and research methods. The Program will also facilitate continued outreach and collaboration with multiple community partners in the Brazos Valley and surrounding counties to reduce health disparities; and strengthened collaboration among Faculty of Texas A&M University and the Health Science Center in addressing health disparities.