Roundtable

Health disparities persist across the country despite access to insurance, the availability of health care centers and institutions, and health promotion efforts. To better support Healthy People 2010 goals, public health practitioners must ensure all individuals have optimal opportunities to be informed and included in health-related decisions. Research illuminating how to educate underserved communities of health risks is of critical importance to be utilized in ways that reduce health disparities. To reduce noted disparities in education and outreach amongst underserved populations, however, research is needed to develop culturally appropriate initiatives that present information about family history, environmental factors and behaviors that increase risk of disease in an understandable and usable form.

Session Objectives: At the end of the session the participant will be able to: (1) Define the social determinants that account for health disparities; (2) List the qualities that allow participatory research to succeed vs. conventional health promotion research; (3) Articulate the benefits of a health promotion/disease prevention approach to intervention research for underserved populations; and (4) highlight disparities in provider communication efforts as perceived by women across five key communication constructs that need to be addressed by educators, and policy makers.