220552 National Cancer Institute's State Cancer Legislative Database (SCLD): A resource for health disparities researchers

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Regina el Arculli, MA , Director, State Cancer Legislative Database Program, National Cancer Institute Office of Government and Congressional Relations, Bethesda, MD
Liza Fues, JD , Center for Health Policy and Legislative Analysis, The MayaTech Corporation, Silver Spring, MD
Monica Holloway, BS , Center for Health Policy and Legislative Analysis, The MayaTech Corporation, Silver Spring, MD
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.

Learning Areas:
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of the presentation, participants will be able to: (1) describe the types of cancer-health disparities components contained in the SCLD, (2) identify areas of legislative focus that are common among the states; (3) identify methods of accessing and using SCLD disparities data; and (4) understand SCLD products and other information available to researchers.

Keywords: Policy/Policy Development, Health Disparities

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the director of the National Cancer Institute's State Cancer Legislative Database Program.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.