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Impact on Black Health Research

Black 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 found that blacks suffer from the highest death rates for nearly all causes of death, and that black children are disproportionately affected by infant mortality, low birthweight, and lack of immunization. In order to increase access to quality health care for these populations, more data in these areas and more community participation in the research process are needed. Increasing the number of black researchers and health care professionals are also considered crucial goals in improving the health of these populations.

Improving Black 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 to address the health data needs of blacks. Its projects have analyzed existing data, made existing data more accessible, and developed research methodologies to improve the quality and quantity of data on black health.

Analyzing existing data. Through the development of a minigrants program, a project with the Public Health Foundation (PHF) funded California, Michigan, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and Texas State Centers for Health Statistics to analyze existing data on minority populations and improve State data infrastructures. Utilizing the 20 health status indicators in Health People 2000 Objective 22.1, each minigrant project examined black populations in their research.

Increasing access to existing data:

Focusing on improving access to and analysis of data on black/white differentials, a Minority Health Professions Foundation project was funded to expand a Regional Resource Center on Minority Health.

A project with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) is developing the Minority Research Catalog and the Minority Health Database Catalog. The research catalog is the first annotated bibliography of literature on studies, analyses, and methods for conducting research on minority populations, and the database catalog is the most expansive inventory of national and subnational data sets available for minority health research. To maximize access to these catalogs, they are available via the World Wide Web on the UNC-CH Department of Biostatistics Home Page.

A project with the University of Nebraska Medical Center developed a database on access to care studies on rural minority populations, including blacks.

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.

Improving sampling frames and 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 was applied to a study on Huntington's disease among blacks in Maryland to determine individuals missed by the study. This method is particularly useful in analyzing sparse and/or incomplete data.

Developing culturally sensitive data collection 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 health attitudes, feelings, and behavior of black populations.

Elaborating race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status on the health of Blacks:

A project with Harvard University is examining blacks in its analysis of how race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status are related to cancer incidence rates.

A University of Michigan project is analyzing the mortality and functional disability experiences of disadvantaged young and middle-aged adult blacks in urban and rural areas.

A Johns Hopkins University project is determining how race, socioeconomic status, social mobility, and differences in community context impact the health of blacks throughout their lives.

A project with Loyola University Medical Center is including blacks in one of the largest multi-ethnic cohort studies available. Racial/ethnic differences in comorbidity and the ways in which socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, and mortality are interrelated are being explored.

Building Partnerships between Researchers and Black 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 black researchers.

Training and Educational Opportunities for Current and Future Black Researchers

The UNC-CH project developed the Summer Public Health Research Institute on Minority Health (SPHRI-MH) in order to allow current and future researchers to explore innovative research strategies and methodologies relevant to minority health research. NCHS, CDC provided scholarships for minority graduate students to attend the institute.

The NCCC project recruited and trained black research assistants to play a key role in conducting and disseminating research within their communities.

NCHS, CDC held two workshops to enhance the skills of researchers in minority health statistics. In March 1994, "Research Issues to Address Minority Health Data Needs" was held to build the proposal development and writing skills of unfunded, but approved, applicants from the FY 1992 competitive solicitation. In January 1995, a technical assistance workshop was held to prepare potential applicants for future grants program solicitations.

Community Participation in Research:

The University of Nebraska Medical Center project organized a workshop that brought researchers and community leaders together to discuss problems and needs in rural minority health research.

The NCCC and Survey Research Laboratory projects used methodologies that required going into communities to recruit focus group and think-aloud participants. These methods collect qualitative data directly from the community, providing insight into factors affecting cross-cultural survey research.

Projects Addressing Black Health Data Needs:

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; Michigan Office of the State Registrar and Division of 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).

Arline T. Geronimus, Ph.D., University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, "Race, Socioeconomic Status and Weathering," $127,288 (FY 1995).

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).

Thomas A. LaVeist, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University, "Race, SES, and Health Status in Young Adulthood," $150,691 (FY 1995).

Daniel McGee, Ph.D., Loyola University Medical Center, "SES, Co-Morbidity and Minority Health," $129,621 (FY 1995).

Minority Health Professions Foundation, Atlanta, GA, $150,000 (FY 1991). 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