National Cancer Institute's State Cancer Legislative Database (SCLD): A resource for health disparities researchers

Eliminating health disparities is a primary goal of Healthy People 2010, a statement of national health objectives designed to identify the most significant preventable health threats and to establish national goals for reducing them. Most researchers agree that the determinants of health are rooted in society-level policies and norms. Therefore, state laws serve as an essential tool for raising awareness of inequities in cancer incidence, morbidity, and mortality, and for addressing their causes by ensuring access to screening and treatment, diversity of the health care and biomedical workforce, and reducing environmental and behavioral risk factors. Understanding the breadth, scope, and direction of state policy efforts is critical to assessing progress toward improving cancer outcomes for disparities populations.

This poster will present the National Cancer Institute's State Cancer Legislative Database (SCLD)—a significant source of legislative policies related to cancer disparities. We will address the means by which the SCLD program identifies, monitors, categorizes, and analyzes state disparities legislation. We will also detail topical categories included in SCLD and provide an overview of the legislation contained in these categories. For example, as of January 31, 2009, the database contained more than 500 disparities-related records, with provisions addressing disparities due to race, ethnicity, geographic location, language, culture, or socioeconomic status. This poster also will provide an illustration of the potential uses and application of SCLD data, as well as ways in which to obtain such information.