The burden of obesity and related health conditions is particularly high among African Americans and low-income families. A large body of evidence demonstrates the benefit of following a diet recommended by federal dietary guidelines in reducing obesity risk and promoting overall health. The environment plays an important role in the development of childhood obesity by influencing mechanisms related to dietary behavior patterns. This study used secondary data from a Texas state and national survey of Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) participants prior to the implementation of food package changes in 2009. The purpose of the study was to describe diet quality, examine relationships between diet quality and sociodemographic factors, and investigate household environmental influences on fruit and vegetable consumption among African American children. A healthy food indicator with four components indicative of a healthy diet, namely fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat milk, was used to measure diet quality. African American women and children in this study‘s sample did not meet the standards for a healthy diet. Personal and family characteristics, including age, caregiver education, urbanization, and region of residence, were associated with diet quality in African American women and children. The majority of African American children in this sample did not meet current recommendations for daily fruit and vegetable consumption. Six household environmental factors were associated with fruit and vegetable consumption by African American children, including physical factors (primary caregiver purchase and preparation of fruits and vegetables) and sociocultural factors (primary caregiver fruit and vegetable consumption, perception of child liking fruits and vegetables, fruit and vegetable selection self-efficacy, and self-efficacy for healthful child feeding). The strongest predictor of fruit and vegetable consumption by African American children was the fruit and vegetable consumption by primary caregivers. Health education strategies aimed at improving diets of African Americans need to address a variety of sociodemographic and household factors influencing dietary behavior patterns. Strategies to promote the reduction of childhood obesity through increases in fruit and vegetable consumption must account for the consumption of fruits and vegetables among primary caregivers.

The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experience of health promotion for a group of young adult African American men with invisible disabilities. This hermeneutic phenomenological study used a non-experimental, descriptive design. The purposive sample consisted of 11 young adult, English-speaking, non-institutionalized, African American men with invisible disability between the ages of 25 and 39 years of age living in the Central Texas metropolitan area. This study's research questions were answered using audio-taped, one-on-one qualitative interviews along with detailed fieldnotes. Participants were interviewed twice at a mutually decided upon location to ensure the privacy and comfort of participants. For these young men, an essential component of health promotion involved the reestablishment and reorganization of their bodies in the world while adjusting to living with disability. For them, the essential structure of health promotion was comprised of the following themes: Reconciling Perspectives of the Self, Embracing the Current Body, and Reorienting the Body in the World. Their lived experience of health promotion was reflected in the following themes: Risking the Body to Preserve the Self, Accepting the Evolving Body, and Seeking the Body's Redemption. For this group of young adult African American men, their health promotion experience required risking the body, putting the needs of the self before the needs of the body, and then accepting and valuing the resulting condition of the body. / text

Dissertation (Ph.D.).--University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at San Antonio, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Introduction: The rate of violent crime has been decreasing since the early 1990s; however, the rate of deaths resulting from legal intervention at its highest point since the civil rights era. A recent study published in The Lancet showed that these events accounted for a cumulative 55 Million poor mental health days for Black Americans. Other aspects of police interaction may also be affecting adverse mental health outcomes for communities. To examine whether experiencing lifetime arrest and marijuana-related arrest is associated with past-year suicide ideation, and assess race differences between Black and White people. Methods: A literature review was conducted analyzing the findings of other studies on the impact that Stop and Frisk policies, exposure to police killings, and other aspects of police practices have had on the mental health of Black American's. We also used data from Wave-IV (2008-2009; N=5,114) of the non-restricted publicly available National Adolescent Health Study (Add Health) data. Add Health is a longitudinal survey of a nationally representative sample of adolescents in the U.S., which aimed to investigate American adolescents' health trajectories into their adulthood. A total of 4,313 participants were selected from the study, self-identified as White Non-Hispanic and Black or African American Non-Hispanic. Logistic regression was used to assess whether lifetime arrest and marijuana-related arrests were associated with past-year suicide. We stratified by race, and controls of income, education, lifetime depression, gender, and health insurance status were included in all models. Results:Overall, 28.8% of the sample reported lifetime any arrest, 6.3% reported lifetime suicide ideation, and 3.7% reported marijuana-related arrest. A significantly higher percentage of Black people (32.3%) in comparison to White people (27.4%) reported lifetime arrest (χ2=9.91; p Conclusions: Rates of suicide among Black people have been rising for two decades. Further efforts to educate and inform key stakeholders, including law enforcement, policymakers regarding racial disparities and arrests are necessary. Theoretical approaches may involve interventions at the police department level, such as increasing implicit bias training implementation. Community organization initiatives such as citizen oversight committees have also shown to reduce disparities in police arrest practices which may reduce the adverse impacts on mental health in these communities.

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the association between entrepreneurship and health amongst millennials with ethnic minority backgrounds. Methods: Interviews were conducted with 8 people from 8 countries in Europe. The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were analysed using content analysis. Findings:  The content analysis resulted in four categories ‘between despair and hope, ‘the virtues and vices of information technology’, ‘the ethnic background and racial identity as challenge and strength’ and ‘the pressure of being successful’. Conclusion: This study increased the understanding of entrepreneurship in association with health, how millennials from ethnic minority backgrounds face mental health issues due to many factors such as financial difficulties, cultural background, education, race etc. The results indicated the importance of providing safe spaces for millennial entrepreneurs from minority backgrounds to access mental health facilities, guidance, and support in their endeavors.

Few organizational communication studies examine the organizational aspects influencing career satisfaction specifically among non-white cultures in the medical physician population. This study examines minority physicians' perceptions of extrinsically controlled work environment factors in comparison to their white counterparts. Three research questions were analyzed from a 17-question survey tool to measure: physician satisfaction levels with autonomy over medical decision-making; autonomy over non-medical workplace decisions; and hospital cost containment efforts. These organizational variables have served as major points of discourse within the healthcare arena and they relate to the enigmatic nature of career satisfaction. Determined by the volume of respondents representing each race and ethnicity, five categories were selected for comparison: Asian/Pacific Islander, Indian/Pakistani, White/Non-Hispanic, Hispanic, and Black/African American. Participants that were surveyed included all physicians listed on the medical staff roster of a Southeastern, not-for-profit hospital group, regardless of status and medical specialty. The primary findings indicate that substantial variance exists among racial and ethnic subgroups regarding satisfaction with the dependent measures. Due to low numbers of minority health care physicians, previous studies have commonly measured physician job satisfaction aggregately, failing to differentiate cultural groups. Interestingly, when minority and non-minority groups were aggregately juxtaposed, no significant differences were reported in the data. However, when satisfaction was measured contrasting minority subgroupings with that of non-minority physicians, significant variations emerged from the data set. This study contributes to understanding better the organizational experiences of minority physicians in healthcare and the body of knowledge concerning minority health research as a whole.

This work addresses the underlying issues surrounding COVID-19 vaccine uptake in Hispanic and Latinx communities in the Northeast region of Tennessee. A qualitative, phenomenological research approach was used to conduct interviews and data from the interviews was used to inform a survey instrument. The interview guide in the qualitative phase of the study was based on the Health Belief Model (HBM) developed by Rosenstock (Rosenstock, 1974). A quantitative approach was then used by piloting the survey instrument in the study population. Common themes found through the interviews were: previous negative experience with COVID-19 vaccination, previous negative experience as a result of COVID-19 disease and being in a role of a caretaker that drove vaccination uptake. Most participants in the survey identified as women (81%) (n=13), received a COVID-19 vaccine (87%) (n=14), lived in a multi-generational household (53%) (n=9) and had private or employer healthcare insurance (69%) (n=11). Only 50% (n=7) of those who were vaccinated had received an updated booster vaccine, indicating a reduction in COVID-19 vaccine uptake after the initial vaccine doses. Future research is needed to identify and analyze factors related to the uptake of booster vaccines against COVID-19 to maintain immunity against COVID-19 and tailor outreach in Hispanic and Latinx communities.

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There is a low representation of Black American women (BAW) in health care senior leadership. With the high level of health problems found among the Black community, diversifying the executive leadership with BAW may be instrumental in increasing provider trust and reducing discriminatory action. Using critical race theory as the conceptual framework, this study examined the experiences, perceptions, and influential or deterrent factors inhibiting advancement of BAW in the health care field. Inquiry centered on factors related to lack of advancement, experiences at different stages of career progression, and strategies impacting career advancement. A qualitative research design using a transcendental phenomenological approach was the chosen method. Seven BAW who met the criteria for inclusion were selected by purposive sampling. Data were collected from semi-structured, audio-recorded, interviews using a newly created protocol. Data analysis included open coding; line-by-line data review; and the use of NVivo to search for frequencies of themes, coding, and text queries. Emergent themes were identified that provided comprehensive descriptions of the participants' experiences. According to study findings, perceived and experienced racial issues were apparent in hiring and work relations. Disparate practices were evident through a lack of inclusion in succession planning, being overlooked despite qualifications, and stereotyping. These findings may stimulate social change by helping those BAW aspiring for senior healthcare leadership to be more successful and by improving health outcomes for BAW through enhanced trust.

West African immigrants appear to carry a heavier burden of hypertensive heart disease than the native-born African Americans in the United States. In this study, I used the socioecological model theory as a guide to examine the association between perceived stress, length of stay in United States, smoking status, housing conditions, and the risk of hypertensive heart disease among West African immigrants, ages 18 - 54 years in DeKalb County, Georgia. In this quantitative, cross-sectional design, self-reported data were collected from a sample of West African immigrant (N=107) in the DeKalb County of Georgia, using a demographic data/screening sheet and the Perceived Stress Scale. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine the association between hypertensive heart disease and perceived stress, smoking status, length of stay in the United States, and housing condition, having adjusted for the modifying variables age and education. Results indicated that length of stay in the United States [p =.019, Phi =.331], housing condition [p=.156, R2 =.019], smoking status [p=.050, R2 =.036] and experienced perceived stress experienced [p=.312, R2=.010] are associated with risk of developing hypertensive heart disease. There was a statistically significant association between age [p=.002] and the development of hypertensive heart disease. The result of this study can contribute to positive social change by helping public health agencies to target some of the identified risk factors for hypertensive heart disease in foreign born African American population so as to mitigate the adverse health outcomes associated with hypertensive heart disease.