Mammography: Review of the Controversy, Health Disparities, and Impact on Young African American Women

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. E52-E58 ◽  
Author(s):  
April Kidd ◽  
Alison Colbert ◽  
Ismail Jatoi
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Health Disparities ◽  
African American Women ◽  
American Women

Health Portals and Menu-Driven Identities

2011 ◽  
pp. 1549-1557
Author(s):  
Lynette Kvasny
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Health Disparities ◽  
African Americans ◽  
African American Women ◽  
Health Information ◽  
The Internet ◽  
American Women ◽  
The Government ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Cultural Inclusiveness

In this article, we make a case for research which examines the cultural inclusiveness and salience of health portals. We make our case from the standpoint of African-American women. While healthcare should be a ubiquitous social good, health disparities exist among various demographic groups. In fact, health disparities have been placed on the U.S. disease prevention and health promotion agenda. Healthy People 2010 is an initiative sponsored by policy makers, researchers, medical centers, managed care organizations, and advocacy groups across the country. Although there is no consensus regarding what a health disparity is, sponsors agree that “racial and ethnic minorities experience multiple barriers to accessing healthcare, including not having health insurance, not having a usual source of care, location of providers, lack of transportation, lack of child care, and other factors. A growing body of evidence shows that racial and ethnic disparities in health outcomes, healthcare access, and quality of care exist even when insurance, income, and other access-related factors are controlled.”1 In addition to healthcare, African American women have less access to the internet. Even at equivalent income levels, African Americans are less likely than either whites or English speaking Hispanics to go online. Demographically, the composition of populations not online has not changed dramatically since 2000. Overall, 60% of the total U.S. population is online with African Americans making up 11% of the total U.S. population, 8% of the online population, and 14% of the offline population. However, when looking at those who are offline, African Americans are more likely than offline whites or Hispanics to believe that they will eventually go online (Lenhart, 2003). Although online health information is available from multiple sources, we focus solely on those health portals sponsored by the U.S. government. We made this choice based upon some early interviews with physicians and managers at a healthcare facility which serves predominantly African American clients. We learned that most clients exhibited a low degree of trust in information provided by pharmaceutical companies and other sources which seemed too commercial. Instead, clients searched for information from recognizable sources, and tended to use portals and search pages like Yahoo and Google. We found that portals sponsored by U.S. government agencies were received positively by clients. Also, portals like healthfinder.gov and cdc.gov are highly regarded by the Medical Library Association2 . Moreover, the government is entrusted to uphold values of democracy and social justice therefore the health information that they provide should be accessible to a demographically diverse audience. To gain insights into the cultural inclusiveness and salience of health portals, we use Nakumura’s notion of menu-driven identities. For Nakumara (2002), the internet is a discursive place in which identity is enacted. She uses the term “menudriven identities” to signify the ways in which content providers represent identities through the design of the interface and the personalization of content, and users perform their identity as they engage with the content. In what follows, we discuss health disparities and the promise of the internet in redressing inequities. Next, we further explain the ways in which users perform identity and health portals represent identities. We do this by theorizing about the health portals as mediating two-way communication between users and information providers. We conclude with directions for future research.

Health Portals and Menu-Driven Identities

2011 ◽  
pp. 745-751 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynette Kvasny ◽  
Jennifer Warren
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Health Disparities ◽  
African Americans ◽  
African American Women ◽  
Health Information ◽  
The Internet ◽  
American Women ◽  
The Government ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Cultural Inclusiveness

In this article, we make a case for research which examines the cultural inclusiveness and salience of health portals. We make our case from the standpoint of African-American women. While healthcare should be a ubiquitous social good, health disparities exist among various demographic groups. In fact, health disparities have been placed on the U.S. disease prevention and health promotion agenda. Healthy People 2010 is an initiative sponsored by policy makers, researchers, medical centers, managed care organizations, and advocacy groups across the country. Although there is no consensus regarding what a health disparity is, sponsors agree that “racial and ethnic minorities experience multiple barriers to accessing healthcare, including not having health insurance, not having a usual source of care, location of providers, lack of transportation, lack of child care, and other factors. A growing body of evidence shows that racial and ethnic disparities in health outcomes, healthcare access, and quality of care exist even when insurance, income, and other access-related factors are controlled.”1 In addition to healthcare, African American women have less access to the internet. Even at equivalent income levels, African Americans are less likely than either whites or English speaking Hispanics to go online. Demographically, the composition of populations not online has not changed dramatically since 2000. Overall, 60% of the total U.S. population is online with African Americans making up 11% of the total U.S. population, 8% of the online population, and 14% of the offline population. However, when looking at those who are offline, African Americans are more likely than offline whites or Hispanics to believe that they will eventually go online (Lenhart, 2003). Although online health information is available from multiple sources, we focus solely on those health portals sponsored by the U.S. government. We made this choice based upon some early interviews with physicians and managers at a healthcare facility which serves predominantly African American clients. We learned that most clients exhibited a low degree of trust in information provided by pharmaceutical companies and other sources which seemed too commercial. Instead, clients searched for information from recognizable sources, and tended to use portals and search pages like Yahoo and Google. We found that portals sponsored by U.S. government agencies were received positively by clients. Also, portals like healthfinder.gov and cdc.gov are highly regarded by the Medical Library Association2. Moreover, the government is entrusted to uphold values of democracy and social justice therefore the health information that they provide should be accessible to a demographically diverse audience. To gain insights into the cultural inclusiveness and salience of health portals, we use Nakumura’s notion of menu-driven identities. For Nakumara (2002), the internet is a discursive place in which identity is enacted. She uses the term “menu-driven identities” to signify the ways in which content providers represent identities through the design of the interface and the personalization of content, and users perform their identity as they engage with the content. In what follows, we discuss health disparities and the promise of the internet in redressing inequities. Next, we further explain the ways in which users perform identity and health portals represent identities. We do this by theorizing about the health portals as mediating two-way communication between users and information providers. We conclude with directions for future research.

scholarly journals Mind-Body Interventions to Reduce Risk for Health Disparities Related to Stress and Strength Among African American Women: The Potential of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Loving-Kindness, and the NTU Therapeutic Framework

2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 115-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl L. Woods-Giscombé ◽  
Angela R. Black
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Health Disparities ◽  
African American Women ◽  
Stress Reduction ◽  
Self Care ◽  
Mindfulness Practice ◽  
Emotional Suppression ◽  
American Women ◽  
Loving Kindness ◽  
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction

In the current article, the authors examine the potential role of mind-body interventions for preventing or reducing health disparities in a specific group—African American women. The authors first discuss how health disparities affect this group, including empirical evidence regarding the influence of biopsychosocial processes (e.g., psychological stress and social context) on disparate health outcomes. They also detail how African American women’s unique stress experiences as a result of distinct sociohistorical and cultural experiences related to race and gender potentially widen exposure to stressors and influence stress responses and coping behaviors. Using two independent, but related, frameworks (Superwoman Schema [SWS] and the Strong Black Woman Script [SBW-S]), they discuss how, for African American women, stress is affected by ‘‘strength’’ (vis-à-vis resilience, fortitude, and self-sufficiency) and the emergent health-compromising behaviors related to strength (e.g., emotional suppression, extraordinary caregiving, and self-care postponement). The authors then describe the potential utility of three mind-body interventions—mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), loving-kindness meditation (LKM), and NTU psychotherapy—for specifically targeting the stress-, strength-, and contextually related factors that are thought to influence disparate outcomes for African American women. Self-awareness, self-care, inter- and intrapersonal restorative healing and a redefinition of inner strength may manifest through developing a mindfulness practice to decrease stress-related responses; using LKM to cultivate compassion and forgiveness for self and others; and the balance of independence and interdependence as a grounding NTU principle for redefining strength. The authors conclude with a discussion of potential benefits for integrating key aspects of the interventions with recommendations for future research.

scholarly journals The health disparities of uterine fibroid tumors for African American women: a public health issue

2014 ◽  
Vol 210 (3) ◽  
pp. 194-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heba M. Eltoukhi ◽  
Monica N. Modi ◽  
Meredith Weston ◽  
Alicia Y. Armstrong ◽  
Elizabeth A. Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
African American ◽  
Health Disparities ◽  
African American Women ◽  
Uterine Fibroid ◽  
Health Issue ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
American Women

scholarly journals Engaging African American women in research: an approach to eliminate health disparities in the African American community

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 322-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joedrecka S. Brown Speights ◽  
Alexandra C.H. Nowakowski ◽  
Jessica De Leon ◽  
M. Miaisha Mitchell ◽  
Ivana Simpson
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Health Disparities ◽  
African American Women ◽  
African American Community ◽  
American Women
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