The reluctance of some communities to participate in research and researchers' lack of penetration into the community are major stumbling blocks to successful community-based approaches. The authors'purpose is to determine how a photovoice project in a lower income, African American, urban community was able to generate a social process that resulted in active grassroots participation in a community-campus partnership. Through this partnership initiative, the authors asked neighborhood residents to take photographs of things in the community of which they were proud and the things they wanted to change, and to tell the story of why these were important. The authors used strategies from visual anthropology to analyze the 54 photographs, stories, and dialogue produced. Their analysis identified three distinct levels of cognitive-emotional interpretations that moved participants out of helplessness toward authentic engagement and participation. The authors discuss implications and lessons learned for community-based participatory research.
Although Hispanics constitute the most rapidly growing segment of the population in the United States, they have received relatively little attention regarding factors affecting their health behaviors and influences. One such factor is the scarcity of reliable and valid Spanish-language instruments for research with this population. Researchers who attempt to translate an existing instrument into Spanish need to recognize the methodological issues involved in the translation process and psychometric testing. The purpose of this article is to describe the advantages and disadvantages of various translation methodologies, to identify statistical issues in cross-cultural research, and to provide a case study of the translation process and statistical analysis of a translated instrument. Specifically, this study looks at the development and pilot testing of a Spanish-language version of the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II using a randomized convenience sample of 60 bilingual Hispanic individuals.
Eliminating racial and ethnic health disparities requires restructuring the biomedical models that have focused on the individual as the level of analysis and emphasized the parts rather than the whole. A recently developed understanding of human physiology and adaptive regulation, constructs of allostasis and allostatic load, provides a theoretical orientation that needs to be explored. Thus, the purpose of this article is to present an orientation of allostasis and allostatic load as a theoretical framework for exploring health disparities. This article will (a) present a general background on the evolution of relevant physiologic theories, (b) offer the general theoretical definitions and explanations of allostasis, allostatic load, and mediation processes, (c) examine empirical evidence for the constructs, and (d) discuss the implications of this orientation for health disparities research.
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