Strategies for Recruiting Young African American Men for Primary Stroke Prevention Research.

BACKGROUND: African American (AA) men bear a disproportionate burden of cardiovascular disease and stroke but are often underrepresented in research. OBJECTIVE: This article describes the development and evaluation of a recruitment plan to reach young AA men for the Stroke Counseling for Risk Reduction in Men project. METHODS: The plan was developed from researchers' previous experiences and a literature review, and used to recruit AA men, ages 20 to 35 years, for focus groups about stroke and Stroke Counseling for Risk Reduction. RESULTS: Screening survey respondents (N = 81) were reached mostly by word of mouth (42%) and social media (28%). Focus group participants (N = 32) recommended appropriate incentives and social media to recruit young AA men for research. They also suggested learning about the study from a friend, colleague, or study participant could motivate participation. CONCLUSION: The plan was successful in reaching and enrolling an adequate sample. Findings and recommendations highlight the importance of social networks and trusted sources.

HIV Care Meets Telehealth: a Review of Successes, Disparities, and Unresolved Challenges.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review summarizes the current state of telehealth utilization in HIV care delivery by highlighting successes, gaps, and unresolved challenges related to access, disparities, care providers in and standardization of policies and protocol. RECENT FINDINGS: Telehealth adoption in HIV care delivery in the USA has been successful. Despite this success, racial minority groups, older adults, and individuals with low telehealth literacy report low preference, dissatisfaction, and experience poorer health outcomes than other groups. Lack of broadband access, compatible devices, standardization, and government regulations of telehealth in HIV care contribute to poor patient-provider experience and utilization. Telehealth remains a valuable tool in HIV care. However, disparities exist in access and health outcomes. Telehealth literacy, broadband access, protecting patients' data, policies, and standardized protocols are critical in sustaining telehealth for HIV care. Further research is needed on preferences and how specific telehealth platforms influence HIV treatment outcomes.

Building structural competency through community engagement.

CONTEXT: The importance of addressing the social determinants of health (SDOH) in medical education has been ubiquitously recognised. However, current pedagogical approaches are often limited by inadequate or ahistorical exploration of the fundamental causes of health inequity. Community-engaged pedagogy and structural competency frameworks advocate for progressing from passive SDOH education to directly discussing systemic aetiologies of health inequity through reciprocal partnership with marginalised communities. Herein, we describe the development and exploratory evaluation of a community-engaged structural competency curriculum implemented in 2019 at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Our curriculum explored the downstream impacts of sociopolitical structures on local health inequities. We engaged university, health system and community stakeholders throughout curriculum development, implementation and evaluation. Curricular components included didactic lectures, reflective writing assignments and a community-based, stakeholder-led experience in North Omaha. METHODS: We used inductive thematic analysis to explore free-text responses to a post-curriculum survey. RESULTS: Eighteen community stakeholders, eleven multidisciplinary UNMC facilitators, and all 132 first-year medical students were involved in the curriculum pilot, with 93% and 55.1% of students and faculty/community facilitators, respectively, responding to the post-session evaluation. Analysis revealed themes including widespread desire for community-engaged teaching, appreciation for the hyperlocal focus of curricular content and recognition of the importance of creating space for lived experiences of community members. DISCUSSION: Co-created by a university-community coalition, our pilot findings highlight the crucial role of community-engaged pedagogy in promoting critical understanding of historic structural inequities and present-day health disparities. Our communities can and should be reciprocal partners in training the physicians of tomorrow.