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Bernstein Bowers posted an update 7 days ago
A large proportion of the morbidity and almost all of the mortality of sickle cell disease (SCD) now occurs in adulthood. Children with SCD underuse disease-modifying and curative treatments, in part because of how patients/parents understand SCD morbidity and mortality. Whether practitioners provide prognostic information to families is unknown. We emailed a 31-item survey to 1,149 pediatric hematologist-oncologists and analyzed 96 responses. Most said discussing prognosis would change patient/parent willingness to start hydroxyurea, but fewer actually discuss prognosis when they want to start hydroxyurea (91% vs. 75%, p=.001). Similarly, most said discussing prognosis would change adherence to therapy, but fewer actually discuss prognosis to motivate adherence (78% vs 31%, p less then .001). Most (77%) addressed prognosis when the “patient or their parent bring it up.” Respondents reporting frequent life expectancy discussions were more likely to report a pathway for such discussions (p=.017). Pediatric hematologists may not conduct prognostic discussions without prompting, although these conversations may be important for shared, informed decision-making.Free and charitable clinics care for patients at risk of unmet social needs, but limited research is available describing what these clinics do to address social determinants of health (SDH). We conducted a survey of free and charitable clinics in North Carolina to determine the proportion that screen for SDH. Clinics that were members of the North Carolina Association of Free and Charitable Clinics were eligible (n=67). Of the 55 clinics that completed the survey, 34 (61.8%) reported always screening for at least one SDH. The majority that were screening provided information about community resources. Twentyseven (49.1%) reported that they followed-up with patients at the next visit to determine if they received the resources. The primary barrier to screening was a lack of personnel. Future research should focus on how to implement SDH interventions in clinics with limited resources serving patients likely to have a high need for social services.Home visit programs have long been used as a means of intervention specifically among vulnerable, at-risk populations including chronically ill, impoverished, rural, or homebound individuals. Understanding barriers and facilitators to the implementation of home visit programs is essential to inform these efforts. Home visit programs led by community health workers (CHWs) are becoming more common and pose specific challenges. The Ohio Infant Mortality Reduction Initiative is a home visit program led by CHWs with the purpose of reducing infant mortality among high-risk populations. The intervention included health education, referrals to health services, and provision of supplies and social support to expectant mothers. This study examined qualitative interviews with program managers and administrators to describe facilitators and barriers associated with this home visit program from a managerial perspective. Findings highlight the importance of initial and ongoing CHW training, appropriate caseloads, effective communication, and adequate funding, which can inform future CHW programs.Developing innovative strategies to engage patients as research partners is a priority in efforts to reduce health disparities in underserved communities. We describe the development and implementation of a training model to prepare Community Health Ambassadors (CHAs) to serve as liaisons to engage individuals with sickle cell disease (SCD) in patient-centered outcomes research. We trained CHAs on research guidelines, human subjects’ protection, and SCD self-management. Community Health Ambassadors then employed community-level strategies to engage individuals with SCD and their families (N=432) residing in rural and urban communities throughout Tennessee. By engaging the SCD community, CHAs identified areas of burden for self-management and patientpreferred strategies to engage members of underserved minority groups in research. This community-based training model, which places CHAs as liaisons between researchers and the community, holds promise for scaling-up for replication and implementation in studies seeking to engage underserved populations with a chronic disease in health research.Initial studies suggest that women living in U.S. territories may experience barriers to appropriate breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. Our purpose was to evaluate mammography screening engagement in U.S. territories compared with U.S. states. Women aged 50-74 years in the 2016 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey without personal history of breast cancer were included. Proportions of women reporting mammography use were calculated. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to compare self-reported mammography use in U.S. territories with all U.S. states. Our total study population included 131,320 women. Of this group, 2,481 were from U.S. territories. In our adjusted analyses, women in the U.S. Virgin Islands were less likely to report mammography use (OR 0.52) compared with women in the U.S. AR-A014418 concentration states. Women in other U.S. territories reported mammography at similar rates to U.S. states. Targeted interventions accounting for unique, territory-specific barriers are likely required to improve screening engagement.Rental assistance, in the form of vouchers and project-based subsidized housing, is a primary source of affordable housing for low-income Americans, given a growing and severe shortage of private-market rental units. However, due to supply constraints, fewer than one in four eligible households receive this kind of assistance. In this paper, we examine associations between receipt of rental assistance and self-rated health among a sample of 400 low-income adults in one U.S. city. We find that individuals who currently receive rental assistance have lower odds of reporting poor or fair self-rated health than individuals who are currently on rental assistance waiting lists. These relationships persist after adjusting for factors that affect access to rental assistance and are not significantly modified by criminal justice history. Our findings suggest that the current unmet need for rental assistance may contribute to poor health among low-income Americans.