The first short may be of interest to those of us who study health
communication.  The second about innovative minority faculty's teaching
methods may be good for our book...We're still doing the book right Dr.
Pearlie?...Dr. E-K.

 

Diverse Online

Current News
Research Round-Up: Impact of Discrimination on Health, Innovative
Teaching Methods of Minority Faculty and Racial Disparities in Care For
HIV Patients
By Diverse staff reports
Nov 1, 2006, 19:06

Racial Discrimination Key Factor to Health Disparities in African
Americans

 

Racial discrimination may be an important reason why Blacks suffer from
higher rates of cardiovascular disorders, diabetes and obesity,
according to University of California, Los Angeles researchers. 

 

A new study to be published in the Annual Review of Psychology suggests
that experience or possibility of racial discrimination can cause an
increase in blood pressure and heart rate.

 

"This is not to say that every African-American has poor health," says
Dr. Vickie M. Mays, the report's lead author. "However,
African-Americans - as a group of people - have not been able to gain as
much ground as other ethnic groups. That's when you need to worry and
look at missing factors that can explain these health disparities." 

 

Mays says that when a person experiences discrimination, the body
develops a response in which it recognizes the discrimination as
something that is bad and should be defended against. It is almost
similar to the response a person's body mounts when it faces
life-threatening danger. 

 

Mays says the reaction can eventually cause the body to become strained
and overworked if the person experiences discrimination on a regular
basis. Many of the chemicals associated with the reaction can damage
bodily systems tied to disease and obesity, says the report.

 

"As we deal with skyrocketing rates of obesity and rising rates of
diabetes in African-Americans and other racial and ethnic minority
groups, we need to think about the impact of race-based discrimination
and how they respond to that stress," she says. "It may not be just a
matter of telling a person to eat better or exercise. We may need to
take a look at the person's environment and the race-based
discrimination that that person is experiencing."  

 

Minority Faculty Use More Innovative Teaching Methods

 

Faculty of color use more interesting ways of teaching at undergraduate
institutions than their White peers, according to a study conducted by
the University of Iowa.

 

The study, "The Contribution of Faculty of Color to Undergraduate
Education," used data from a 2003 survey of 13,499 faculty at 134
predominantly White colleges and universities. 

 

Dr. Paul D. Umbach, an assistant professor of higher education and the
study's author, says faculty of color use more innovative techniques and
interact more frequently with students than their White counterparts. 

 

"An increased diversity among faculty also leads to an increased use of
effective educational practices," he says.

 

Some of the teaching techniques he measured included the percentage of
time faculty spent with students, whether advising them about career
plans or discussing ideas from readings. 

 

Umbach also measured techniques that actively engage students and allow
them to work together. Faculty members were measured on the frequency
with which they utilized diversity - by dividing the class into diverse
groups, for example - as well as by helping students to apply theories
or concepts in discussions.

 

However, Umbach says the representation of minorities in the faculty
ranks continues to be quite small. In fact, for this study, the
institutions considered the most diverse only had 13 percent minority
faculty. 

 

"While small in numbers, the impact that these faculty have on
undergraduate education appears to be significant," he says. "The
perspectives that faculty of color offer is critical to the success
colleges and universities [bring] to prepare students to live in an
increasingly pluralistic society," he says.

 

HIV-Infected Population With No Outpatient Care Are Mostly Minorities

 

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles have determined
that parts of the HIV-infected population who have little to no
consistent outpatient medical care are overwhelmingly minorities, the
poor and substance abusers. 

 

The research team, led by Dr. William Cunningham, tracked HIV-infected
people who were not receiving regular care. That segment of the
HIV-infected population often winds up in the emergency room.

 

"As we expected, they are much less likely to get routine outpatient
care but more likely to get acute care, when they are at their sickest,"
says Cunningham. "This is just the group that needs to get grassroots
outreach service."

 

Researchers compared characteristics of HIV-infected adults from two
samples: 1,286 people from the 2001-2002 Targeted HIV Outreach and
Intervention Initiative and 2,267 who were interviewed in 1998 for the
HIV Costs and Services Utilization Study.

 

The study, to be published in the journal Medical Care, says 59 percent
of patients in the Outreach group were Black, compared with 32 percent
of HIV-infected people who were receiving routine care and were tracked
by HCSUS. Also, 20 percent of those from the Outreach sites were
Hispanic, versus 16 percent from the HCSUS sample. Fully 75 percent of
the Outreach patents had annual incomes of $10,000 or less, compared
with 45 percent in the HCSUS group. Nearly 60 percent were unemployed,
homeless, had no insurance or used illegal drugs, compared with less
than half in the HCSUS study.

 

Cunningham says that because of this study, health care providers will
know better what kind of services to tailor to these patients. 

 

"They're not the same kind of services that are important to more
mainstream patients," he says.

 

- Diverse staff reports



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