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![]() Impact on Hispanic Health Research Hispanic Health Data Needs In December 1991, the grants program held an agenda-setting workshop to provide an opportunity for approximately 85 leading experts in minority health and minority health statistics to assist in setting research priorities that address the critical issues affecting current and future efforts to collect and analyze data on racial and ethnic minority populations. These experts agreed that little data on Hispanic health exist since national surveys do not sample sufficient numbers of Hispanics. Many data sources also lack adequate ethnicity identifiers, and subsequently, the diversity of Hispanic communities is masked in aggregated data . There is also a lack of Hispanic researchers because the infrastructure necessary to support and train these researchers still needs to be built. Improving Hispanic Health Statistics Guided by the goals documented in "Setting a Research Agenda: Challenges for the Minority Health Statistics Grants Program," the grants program has taken major steps in addressing the health data needs of Hispanics. Its projects have made more baseline data available, existing resources more useful, and methods of collecting and analyzing data more accurate. Analyzing existing data:
Increasing access to existing data:
Improving data sets for access to care studies. The University of Nebraska Medical Center compiled an annotated bibliography for its database and synthesized the information into composite summaries listing the issues addressed, the databases used, the methodologies employed, and the areas identified for further research. Developing methodologies to improve sampling frames/techniques. A project with the Western Consortium for Public Health developed the sample-resample method for estimating the prevalence of health disorders among minority populations. This sampling method is effective in working with sparse and/or incomplete data, and since data sources tend to have inadequate Hispanic ethnicity identifiers, this method will allow more useful information to be produced from existing data sources on Hispanic health. Developing culturally sensitive tools/techniques. Using focus group and think-aloud methodologies, projects with the Northern California Cancer Center (NCCC) and the Survey Research Laboratory utilized methods drawn from cognitive psychology to develop surveys that more accurately reflect the attitudes, feelings, and behavior of Hispanic populations. Surveys were also translated into Spanish, and Spanish-speaking interviewers were used. Elaborating the impact of race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status on the health of Hispanics:
Improving dissemination efforts:
Building Partnerships between Researchers and Hispanic Communities The grants program recognizes the need to build trust between researchers and the communities they study, and, the need to ensure that communities benefit from any research that is completed. Involving communities in all stages of the research process has become a priority of the program, including efforts to increase the pool of Hispanic researchers. Training and Educational Opportunities for Current and Future Hispanic Researchers:
Community Participation in Research:
Research in Special Areas:
Projects Addressing Hispanic Health Data Needs: Jane Delgado, National Coalition for Hispanic Health and Human Services Organizations (COSSMHO), $450,000 (FY 1991-92). Felipe Castro, M.S.W., Ph.D., Arizona State University, "Factors Affecting Risk of Chronic Degenerative Diseases in Hispanic Women," $40,000. Adela de la Torre, Ph.D., California State University, Long Beach, "Determinants of Insurance Status of Latinas...Using the Hispanic HANES Data Set," $40,000. Caroline Macera, Ph.D., University of South Carolina, "Correlates of Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors Among Mexican American, Puerto Rican, and Cuban Women," $40,000. Carmen Portillo, R.N., Ph.D., University of California, San Francisco, "The Impact of Depression and Social Risk Indices on the Health of Hispanic Women," $40,000. Ralph Rivera, Ph.D., University of Massachusetts, "Health, Family and Work: The Experience of Puerto Rican Women in the United States," $40,000. James Dimas, M.P.A., Public Health Foundation (PHF), "State Data Analysis: Year 2000 Health Status Indicators and Minority Health": California Center for Health Statistics, $50,000; North Carolina Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources, $50,000; Rhode Island Office of Health Statistics, $50,000; Texas Bureau of State Health Data and Policy Analysis, $50,000 (FY 1992). Carol D'Onofrio, Ph.D., Northern California Cancer Center (NCCC), "Improving Health Surveys for Multi-Ethnic Populations," $195,245 (FY 1992). Lloyd Edwards, Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH), "Assessment of Statistical Materials and Methods for Minority Health Research," $321,855 (FY 1993-94). Franklin Garcia-Godoy, M.S., D.D.S., University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, "Caries and Feeding Patterns in South Texas Preschool Children," $103,395 (FY 1992). Ernest Hook, M.D., Western Consortium for Public Health, "Sample Resample Methods for Minority Statistics," $69,729 (FY 1992). Timothy P. Johnson, Ph.D., Survey Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, "Minority Populations" Understanding of Health Questions," $188,128 (FY 1992). Nancy Krieger, Ph.D., Harvard University, "Social Class, Race/Ethnicity and the Incidence of Cancer," $92,392 (FY 1995). Daniel McGee, Ph.D., "SES, Co-Morbidity and Minority Health," $129,621 (FY 1995). Keith Mueller, Ph.D., University of Nebraska Medical Center, "Improving Health Services Research Related to Rural Minorities," $115,251 (FY 1992).
This page last reviewed January 11, 2007
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