Trends in Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Diversity in Orthopedic Surgery Spine Fellowships From 2007 to 2021.

STUDY DESIGN: Descriptive. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to analyze trends in racial, ethnic, and gender diversity in orthopedic spine surgery fellowship trainees. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Orthopedic surgery has consistently been labeled as one of the least diverse fields in Medicine. Although some effort has been made to combat this in recent years at the residency level, it is uncertain whether spine fellowships have had any changes in fellow demographics. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fellowship demographic data were collected through the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Data collected included gender (male, female, and not reported) and race (White, Asian, Black, Hispanic, Native Hawaiians, American Indian or Alaskan Native, other, and unknown). Percentage equivalents were calculated for each group from 2007 to 2008 to 2020 to 2021. A χ 2 test for trend (Cochran-Armitage test) was done to determine whether there was a significant change in percentages of each race and gender during the study period. The results were considered statistically significant at P <0.05. RESULTS: White, Non-Hispanic males represent the largest proportion of orthopedic spine fellowship positions each year. From 2007 to 2021, there were no significant changes in the representation of any race or gender of orthopedic spine fellows. Males ranged from 81% to 95%, Whites from 28% to 66%, Asians from 9% to 28%, Blacks from 3% to 16%, and Hispanics from 0% to 10%. Native Hawaiians and American Indians remained at 0% for all years included in the study. Females and all races, excluding Whites, continue to be under-represented in orthopedic spine fellowship. CONCLUSIONS: Orthopedic spine surgery fellowship programs have not made substantial progress in diversifying its population. More attention is needed to increase diversity in residency programs through pipeline programs, increased mentorship and sponsorship, and early exposure to the field. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 1.

Racial/Ethnic and Gender Disparities Over the Last Decade Within Microsurgery and Craniofacial Fellowship Training.

BACKGROUND: Racial/ethnic and gender disparities persist in plastic surgery at nearly all levels of training, becoming more pronounced at each stage. Recent studies have demonstrated that the proportion of female plastic surgery residents has increased to nearly 40%, yet only 11% of full professors of plastic surgery are female. Other studies have identified severe declines in underrepresented minority plastic surgery representation between plastic surgery residents and academicians with only 1.6% of Black/African American and 4.9% of Hispanic/Latinx full professors of plastic surgery. Often, residents seek fellowship for advanced training before seeking an academic professorship. This study aims to describe the racial/ethnic and gender representation of microsurgery and craniofacial fellows. METHODS: Names and photos of graduated fellows for the past 10 years (2012-2021) were extracted from microsurgery and craniofacial fellowship Web sites. Using a 2-person evaluation method, race/ethnicity and gender were primarily determined by photographic and surname and verified, when possible, through online confirmation methods (articles, social media). Distributions were analyzed with descriptive statistics and compared with the US population. RESULTS: Among 30 microsurgery fellowships, 180 graduated fellows (52.7%) were identified, resulting in 66 female fellows (36.7%) and the following racial/ethnic distribution: 113 (62.8%) White, 49 (27.2%) Asian, 12 (6.7%) Hispanic/Latinx, and 6 (3.3%) Black/African American. Among 31 craniofacial fellowships, 136 graduated fellows (45.0%) were identified, resulting in 38 female fellows (27.9%) and the following racial/ethnic distribution: 75 (55.1%) White, 45 (33.1%) Asian, 8 (5.9%) Hispanic/Latinx, and 8 (5.9%) Black/African American. The intersection between race/ethnicity and gender revealed the most disproportionately low representation among Black women. Relative to the US population, Hispanic/Latinx (0.31-fold) and Black/African American (0.48-fold) fellows were underrepresented, White (0.90-fold) fellows were nearly equally represented, and Asian (5.42-fold) fellows are overrepresented relative to the US population. Furthermore, despite pursuing fellowships at a greater rate, Asian and Black fellows are not reaching adequate representation among academic plastic surgeons. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that female racial/ethnic minorities are disproportionately underrepresented among microsurgery and craniofacial fellowships. Efforts should be made to improve the recruitment of fellows of underrepresented backgrounds and thus improve the pipeline into academic careers.

Sólo Se Vive Una Vez: The Implementation and Reach of an HIV Screening Campaign for Latinx Immigrants.

Latinxs in the United States are disproportionately affected by HIV and present with more advanced disease than their non-Latinx peers, due to numerous barriers to care including HIV stigma. We describe the adaptation, implementation, and reach of Sólo Se Vive Una Vez (You Only Live Once), Baltimore's first social marketing campaign promoting HIV screening among Spanish-speaking Latinxs. The 6-month campaign promoted free HIV testing by addressing HIV stigma. The campaign included a website, a social marketing campaign, community outreach events, and advertisements via radio, billboards, local partners, and buses. During the campaign, there were 9,784 unique website users, and ads were served to over 84,592 people on social media platforms. Among Latinx HIV testers at the Baltimore City Health Department, 31.6% reported having seen or heard of Sólo Se Vive Una Vez and 25.3% of Latinx HIV testers reported that the campaign influenced them to get tested.

Formative research to design a culturally-appropriate cancer clinical trial education program to increase participation of African American and Latino communities.

BACKGROUND: Addressing knowledge deficiencies about cancer clinical trials and biospecimen donation can potentially improve participation among racial and ethnic minorities. This paper describes the formative research process used to design a culturally-appropriate cancer clinical trials education program for African American and Latino communities. We characterized community member feedback and its integration into the program. METHODS: We incorporated three engagement approaches into the formative research process to iteratively develop the program: including community-based organization (CBO) leaders as research team members, conducting focus groups and cognitive interviews with community members as reviewers/consultants, and interacting with two community advisory groups. An iterative-deductive approach was used to analyze focus group data. Qualitative data from advisory groups and community members were compiled and used to finalize the program. RESULTS: Focus group themes were: 1) Community Perspectives on Overall Presentation; 2) Community Opinions and Questions on the Content of the Presentation; 3) Culturally Specific Issues to Participation in Cancer Clinical Trials; 4) Barriers to Clinical Trial Participation; and 5) Perspectives of Community Health Educators. Feedback was documented during reviews by scientific experts and community members with suggestions to ensure cultural appropriateness using peripheral, evidential, linguistic, sociocultural strategies, and constituent-involving. The final program consisted of two versions (English and Spanish) of a culturally-appropriate slide presentation with speaker notes and videos representing community member and researcher testimonials. CONCLUSIONS: Incorporating multiple community engagement approaches into formative research processes can facilitate the inclusion of multiple community perspectives and enhance the cultural-appropriateness of the programs designed to promote cancer clinical trial participation among African Americans and Latinos.

Assessment of the Medical Schools From Which Radiation Oncology Residents Graduate and Implications for Diversifying the Workforce.

PURPOSE: To identify factors predictive of a medical school graduating a high volume of future radiation oncology (RO) residents to better understand potential pathways to effectively recruit women and underrepresented minority (URM) students into RO. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Demographics for US allopathic medical schools and affiliated RO departments were collected from web resources and correlated with the percentage of graduates from each school currently enrolled in RO residency in 2019, and the probability of at least 1 female or URM student from each school pursuing RO. RESULTS: The median percentage of students per medical school who pursued RO residency was 0.37% (interquartile range, 0.16%-0.66%). A total of 79.7% of schools graduated at least 1 RO resident, whereas 51.7% graduated at least 1 female RO resident and 14.0% graduated at least 1 URM RO resident. The 30 schools graduating the highest percentage of RO residents accounted for 52.1% of current RO residents, only 4 of which were in the top quartile for URM enrollment. Medical students were significantly more likely to pursue RO when there was an affiliated RO department (0.42% vs 0.18%, P < .001) or RO residency program (0.51% vs 0.18%, P < .001), more total RO faculty (rs = 0.521, P < .001), female RO faculty (rs = 0.481, P < .001), and URM RO faculty (rs = 0.197, P < .001). The probability of at least 1 female student pursuing RO was also correlated with the number of female faculty in the affiliated RO department (rpb = 0.348, P = .001), and a similar correlation was observed between URM students and URM faculty (rpb = 0.312, P = .011). CONCLUSIONS: Most RO residents graduate from medical schools with larger affiliated RO departments but fewer URM students. To promote greater RO diversity, outreach should be considered among schools with greater URM enrollment but fewer affiliated radiation oncologists, and among female and URM students in schools that graduate many RO residents.

Prevention of alcohol consumption and transmission of human immunodeficiency virus: randomized clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE: to know the effects of a nursing intervention to reduce alcohol use and risk factors for transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). METHOD: randomized single-blinded clinical trial performed by nurses with young women. The study included 66 participants in the intervention group and 66 participants in the control group. The instruments were the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, the HIV Risk Behavior Knowledge and the Condom Use Self-efficacy Scale. Analysis of variance was used. RESULTS: alcohol involvement decreased in the intervention group (F (1.119) = 50.28; p < 0.001; η2p = 0.297), while HIV knowledge (F (1.130) = 34.34; p < 0.001; η2p = 0.209) and condom use self-efficacy increased (F (1.129) = 27.20; p < 0.001; η2p = 0.174). In addition, less participants consumed alcohol in the past week compared to the control group (χ2 = 15.95; p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: the nursing intervention had positive effects, which could help young women stay away from alcohol use and the risk of sexually transmitted infections. NCT: 02405481.

Limited Ability of Three Health Literacy Screening Items to Identify Adult English- and Spanish-Speaking Emergency Department Patients With Lower Health Literacy.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Brief, easily administered, and valid health literacy assessment tools are needed to optimize health care delivery in the emergency medicine setting. Three health literacy screening items have been proposed to assess health literacy in outpatient settings. We investigated their ability to identify English- and Spanish-speaking adult emergency department (ED) patients with lower health literacy. METHODS: Participants were Spanish- or English-speaking adult patients randomly selected from 4 geographically spread, US, urban, safety-net EDs. Participants completed the 3 health literacy screening items, as well as the Short Assessment of Health Literacy-Spanish and English (SAHL-S&E). Test performance characteristics, including receiver operating characteristics area under the curve, of the 3 health literacy screening items were estimated, as compared with the SAHL-S&E. RESULTS: According to the SAHL-S&E, 36% of the 1,165 English speakers and 35% of the 1,605 Spanish speakers had lower health literacy. Areas under the curve for each health literacy screening item individually were: needing others to help read materials (English 0.59, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.56 to 0.62; Spanish 0.58, 95% CI 0.56 to 0.61), problems learning because of difficulty reading (English 0.63, 95% CI 0.60 to 0.66; Spanish 0.59, 95% CI 0.56 to 0.62), and confidence with completing forms (English 0.62, 95% CI 0.59 to 0.65; Spanish 0.60, 95% CI 0.57 to 0.63). Areas under the curve for the 3 screening items combined were: English 0.66 (95% CI 0.63 to 0.70) and Spanish 0.62 (95% CI 0.59 to 0.64). CONCLUSION: The 3 health literacy screening items performed poorly in identifying adult ED patients with lower health literacy. Higher-validity screening measures are needed to better serve the health care needs of this vulnerable population in the ED setting.

Impact of Social Support on Colorectal Cancer Screening among Adult Hispanics/Latinos: A Randomized Community-based Study in Central Pennsylvania.

In the United States, the five-year survival rate of colorectal cancer for Latinos is lower than it is for White, non-Latinos. Differences in survival are due, in part, to Latinos being diagnosed at a later stage. An ethnic gap in the use of colorectal cancer screening contributes to the difference in survival. We developed, implemented, and evaluated a targeted colorectal cancer screening intervention to increase colorectal cancer screening uptake by sex, ethnicity, and geography. We measured actual colorectal cancer screening uptake in both arms as a method to determine completion rates. We used a randomized, community-based, participatory design to test the impact of social support (intervention) on completion of a provider-recommended, take-home fecal immunochemical test (FIT) kit screening test among average-risk, urban, and rural Pennsylvania Latino adults age 50 and older not currently adherent to national colorectal cancer screening guidelines (n = 264). Participants in each arm attended a community-based educational program offered at eight sites. Among the 264 participants, 154 (58%) returned a completed usable FIT kit screening test. A higher return rate was observed among participants in the social support arm (66.0%) compared with the control (47.2%). Participants in the social support arm were statistically significant 2.67 times as likely to return a completed FIT kit. Of these, 27 (17.5%) had a positive FIT kit screening test result. The results of this study suggest that social support is an effective method to increase colorectal cancer screening rates among Latinos. Future studies should examine dissemination and implementation of community-based strategies among Latinos that include social support.

Promoting Hispanic Immigrant Health via Community Health Workers and Motivational Interviewing.

Hispanic immigrant health disparities are among the highest in the nation, especially related to obesity and access to health services. Healthy Fit (En Forma Saludable) is a health promotion program that leverages public health department infrastructure to address these disparities through the use of three key innovations explored in this article: community health workers (CHWs), motivational interviewing (MI), and vouchers for free preventative health services. CHWs trained in MI conduct a health screening and then distribute preventive service vouchers and health resources as needed based on screening results. Vouchers cover breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening, and several vaccinations including flu and human papillomavirus. Resources to support exercise, to support a healthy diet, to quit smoking, and to reduce risky drinking are also distributed as needed. CHWs then use MI to address perceived barriers and strengthen intrinsic motivation to make use of the health resources. Integrating these strategies provides a low-cost approach to promote healthy behavior in an underserved immigrant population.

The role of perceived discrimination in substance use trajectories in Hispanic young adults: A longitudinal cohort study from high school through emerging adulthood.

PURPOSE: Associations between discrimination and substance use have been identified cross-sectionally in multiple populations including Hispanics. However, there is limited research exploring this phenomenon longitudinally in Hispanic youth over the transition from adolescence through emerging adulthood (EA). METHODS: Hispanic youth in Southern California (n = 1457) completed surveys over 11 years, from 2006 to 2017, including three high school collection waves and five EA collection waves. Multinomial logistic regression models were used to explore the associations between perceived discrimination during high school and cigarette and marijuana use in both high school and EA, controlling for gender, socioeconomic status, acculturation, and EA discrimination. RESULTS: Compared with those who never used cigarettes or marijuana in high school and EA, perceived discrimination in high school was a significant predictor of two patterns of use: high school initiators who discontinued use of smoking (RRR = 1.677, 95%CI = 1.292-2.176) and/or marijuana (RRR = 1.464, 95%CI = 1.162-1.844), and high school initiators who continued smoking (RRR = 1.492, 95%CI = 1.196-1.861) and/or marijuana use (RRR = 1.249, 95%CI = 1.052-1.482) into EA. For late initiators who did not use in high school but started in EA, perceived high school discrimination was a significant predictor for cigarette smoking (RRR = 1.193, 95%CI = 1.036-1.373) but not for marijuana use. CONCLUSIONS: Perceived discrimination during adolescence is associated with substance use trajectories across both adolescence and EA. Culturally tailored prevention programs that provide training in skills to cope with psychosocial stressors could improve Hispanic adolescent health.

Parental Education May Differentially Impact Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease Phenotype Risk.

BACKGROUND: The incidence of pediatric inflammatory bowel diseases (PIBDs: Crohn's disease [CD], ulcerative colitis [UC]) is on the rise around the world. Yet, the critical risk factors for this rising incidence are not well understood. Demographic characteristics of PIBD may improve our understanding of their developmental origins and aid in prevention. METHODS: Four hundred eighty-eight consecutive PIBD patients diagnosed at Texas Children's Hospital from 13 counties around Houston were studied. An annual incidence map was created by ZIP code of residence at diagnosis by using ArcGIS and the American Community Survey from the US Census Bureau. Correlation between demographic variables and PIBD incidence was examined. A model to explain incidence from different health factors was created in R. RESULTS: Hispanic children were more likely to be diagnosed with UC (P < 0.01) and unclassified IBD (IBD-U) (P < 0.03) compared with other races/ethnicities. A significant positive correlation (r = 0.35, P < 0.0001) between median household income and PIBD incidence was observed (UC: r = 0.23, P < 0.0001; CD: r = 0.22, P = 0.0004). ZIP codes with majority college-educated adults had a higher incidence of PIBD than ZIP codes with majority high school-educated adults (P < 0.0001). Pediatric cases with CD were more common in ZIP codes where the majority of adults were college educated (P < 0.0001). Pediatric cases with UC, however, were more common in ZIP codes where the majority of adults were high school educated (P = 0.0036). CONCLUSIONS: Hispanic children more commonly present with UC and IBD-U in southern USA. Household income and/or adult education-related environmental/dietary differences may be important in the developmental origins of PIBD in large metro areas, such as Houston.

Prevention of alcohol consumption and transmission of human immunodeficiency virus: randomized clinical trial / Prevenção do consumo de álcool e transmissão do vírus da imunodeficiência humana: ensaio clínico randomizado / Prevención del consumo de alcohol y transmisión de virus de inmunodeficiencia humana: ensayo clínico aleatorizado

Abstract Objective: to know the effects of a nursing intervention to reduce alcohol use and risk factors for transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Method: randomized single-blinded clinical trial performed by nurses with young women. The study included 66 participants in the intervention group and 66 participants in the control group. The instruments were the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, the HIV Risk Behavior Knowledge and the Condom Use Self-efficacy Scale. Analysis of variance was used. Results: alcohol involvement decreased in the intervention group (F (1.119) = 50.28; p < 0.001; η2p = 0.297), while HIV knowledge (F (1.130) = 34.34; p < 0.001; η2p = 0.209) and condom use self-efficacy increased (F (1.129) = 27.20; p < 0.001; η2p = 0.174). In addition, less participants consumed alcohol in the past week compared to the control group (χ2 = 15.95; p < 0.001). Conclusion: the nursing intervention had positive effects, which could help young women stay away from alcohol use and the risk of sexually transmitted infections. NCT: 02405481.

Resumo Objetivo: conhecer os efeitos de uma intervenção de enfermagem para reduzir o uso de álcool e diminuir os fatores de risco para a transmissão do vírus da imunodeficiência humana (HIV, sigla em inglês). Método: ensaio clínico randomizado, simples-cego, realizado por enfermeiras com mulheres jovens. O estudo incluiu 66 participantes no grupo de intervenção e 66 participantes no grupo controle. Os instrumentos foram o Questionário de Identificação de Distúrbios de Uso de Álcool, a HIVRisk Behavior Knowledge e a Escala de Autoeficácia no Uso de Preservativos. Foi utilizada a análise de variância. Resultados: o consumo de álcool diminuiu no grupo de intervenção (F (1,119) = 50,28; p < 0,001; η2p = 0,297), enquanto o conhecimento sobre o HIV (F (1,130) = 34,34; p < 0,001; η2p = 0,209) e a autoeficácia no uso de preservativos aumentaram (F (1,129) = 27,20; p < 0,001; η2p = 0,174). Além disso, menos participantes consumiram álcool na última semana em comparação com o grupo controle (χ2 = 15,95; p < 0,001). Conclusão: a intervenção de enfermagem teve efeitos positivos, que poderiam ajudar as mulheres jovens a ficarem longe do uso de álcool e do risco de infecção por doenças sexualmente transmissíveis. NCT: 02405481.

Resumo Objetivo: conocer los efectos de una intervención de enfermería para reducir el uso de alcohol y disminuir factores de riesgo para transmisión del virus de inmunodeficiencia humana (HIV, siglas en inglés). Método: ensayo clínico aleatorizado, simple ciego, administrado por enfermeras a mujeres jóvenes. Participaron 66 personas en el grupo de intervención y 66 en el de control. Los instrumentos fueron el Cuestionario de Identificación de Trastornos debidos al Consumo de Alcohol, el HIV Risk Behavior Knowledge y la escala de Autoeficacia del Uso de Condón. Se utilizó análisis de la varianza. Resultados: en el grupo de intervención disminuyó el involucramiento con el alcohol (F (1,119) = 50,28; p < 0,001; η2p = 0,297), aumentaron los conocimientos sobre el HIV (F (1,130) = 34,34; p < 0,001; η2p = 0,209) y la autoeficacia para uso de condón (F (1,129) = 27,20; p < 0,001; η2p = 0,174). También menos participantes bebieron alcohol en la última semana en comparación con el grupo de control (χ2 = 15,95; p < 0,001). Conclusión: la intervención de enfermería tuvo efectos positivos que podrían ayudar a las mujeres jóvenes a mantenerse alejadas del uso de alcohol y de contagio de enfermedades de transmisión sexual. NCT: 02405481.

Association Between Parental Educational Attainment and Youth Outcomes and Role of Race/Ethnicity.

Importance: The concept of minorities' diminished returns refers to the smaller protective effects of educational attainment for racial and ethnic minority groups compared with those for majority groups. Objective: To explore racial and ethnic differences in the associations between parental educational attainment and youth outcomes among US adolescents. Design, Setting, and Participants: A cross-sectional study was performed of 10 619 youth aged 12 to 17 years who were participants at wave 1 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study, a nationally representative survey, in 2013. Data analysis was performed from August to October 2019. Main Outcomes and Measures: The dependent variables were youth tobacco dependence, aggression, school performance, psychological distress, and chronic medical conditions. The independent variable was parental educational attainment. Age and sex of the adolescents and marital status of the parents were the covariates. Race and ethnicity were the moderating variables. Logistic regression was used for data analysis. Results: Among the participants, 5412 (51.0%) were aged 12 to 15 years, and 5207 (49.0%) were aged 16 to 17 years; 5480 (51.7%) were male. For non-Hispanic white youth, as parental educational attainment increased, there were stepwise reductions in the prevalence of tobacco dependence (13.2% vs 6.9% vs 2.7%), aggression (37.9% vs 34.8% vs 26.1%), low grade point average (84.2% vs 75.6% vs 53.3%), and chronic medical conditions (51.7% vs 50.8% vs 43.9%), but there was not such a trend for psychological distress (43.7% vs 48.6% vs 41.0%). Interactions were significant between Hispanic ethnicity and parental education on tobacco dependence (OR, 3.37 [95% CI, 2.00-5.69] for high school graduation; OR, 5.40 [95% CI, 2.52-11.56] for college graduation; P < .001 for both), aggression (OR, 1.41 [95% CI, 1.09-1.81]; P = .008 for high school graduation; OR, 1.59 [95% CI, 1.14-2.21]; P = .006 for college graduation), and psychological distress (OR, 1.50 [95% CI, 1.05-2.13]; P = .03). Black race showed an interaction with college graduation on poor school performance (OR, 2.00 [95% CI, 1.26-3.17]; P = .003) and chronic medical conditions (OR, 1.56 [95% CI, 1.14-2.14]; P = .005). All these findings suggest that the protective associations between high parental educational attainment and youth development might be systemically smaller for Hispanic and black youth than for non-Hispanic youth. Conclusions and Relevance: Although high parental educational attainment is associated with better outcomes for youth, this association is systemically less significant for Hispanic and black than non-Hispanic white youth. The result is an increased health risk in youth from middle class black and Hispanic families. Given the systemic pattern for outcomes across domains, the diminishing returns of parental educational attainment may be due to upstream social processes that hinder ethnic minority families from translating their capital and human resources into health outcomes.

Group Versus Individual Educational Sessions With a Promotora and Hispanic/Latina Women's Satisfaction With Care in the Screening Mammography Setting: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

OBJECTIVE. We studied Hispanic/Latina women's satisfaction with care after receiving group or individual educational sessions (vs standard of care) with a promotora before screening mammography. A promotora is a culturally appropriate community health worker for the Hispanic/Latino community. Promotoras have been shown to increase screening mammography rates and follow-up of abnormal mammograms in this population. However, a promotora's impact on elements of patient care and patient satisfaction remains poorly described. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Hispanic/Latina women 40-64 years old were randomized to one of three groups: the control group (standard-of-care well woman screening), an individual educational session with a promotora followed by well woman screening with access to the promotora, or a group educational session followed by well woman screening with access to the promotora. Access to the promotora included the opportunity to ask questions during well woman screening and a follow-up telephone call to discuss results and follow-up if necessary. Participants completed a premammography survey that assessed demographics and health literacy and a postmammography survey that assessed satisfaction with care, interpersonal processes of care, and satisfaction with the promotora. We used multivariable linear regression models and two-sample t tests for continuous outcome measures and a multivariable logistic regression model for dichotomized outcomes. RESULTS. Of the 100 women enrolled in the study, 94 completed well woman screening and the postmammography survey. Hispanic/Latina women with access to the promotora providing educational sessions in either the group (mean satisfaction with care score, 78.1) or individual (mean satisfaction with care score, 78.8) setting reported higher satisfaction with care than those receiving the standard of care (mean satisfaction with care score, 74.9) (p < 0.05). The odds of highly compassionate care in women receiving educational sessions was increased and was particularly strong for those receiving individual educational sessions compared with standard of care (odds ratio, 4.78 [95% CI, 1.51-15.13]). We found that increased satisfaction with the promotora was significantly associated with increased satisfaction with care but that group versus individual educational sessions did not significantly impact satisfaction with the promotora. CONCLUSION. Our study findings have important implications as patient navigators and shared decision making become integral to cancer screening. Group educational sessions may offer a method to decrease the time and expense of providing educational services in the cancer screening setting. However, the overall more positive interpersonal experiences suggested in the individual setting suggest that a larger study is warranted to better understand differences between group and individual educational settings.

Improving nutrition and physical activity environments of family child care homes: the rationale, design and study protocol of the 'Healthy Start/Comienzos Sanos' cluster randomized trial.

BACKGROUND: Early childhood is a crucial time to foster healthy eating and physical activity (PA) habits, which are critical for optimal child health, growth and development. Child care facilities are important settings to promote healthy eating and PA and prevent childhood obesity; however, almost all prior intervention studies have focused on child care centers and not family child care homes (FCCH), which care for over 1.6 million U.S. children. METHODS: This paper describes Healthy Start/Comienzos Sanos, a cluster-randomized trial evaluating the efficacy of a multicomponent intervention to improve nutrition and PA environments in English and Spanish-speaking FCCH. Eligible child care providers complete baseline surveys and receive a two-day FCCH observation of the home environment and provider practices. Parent-consented 2-5 year-old children are measured (height, weight, waist circumference), wear accelerometers and have their dietary intake observed during child care using validated protocols. FCCH providers are then randomly assigned to receive an 8-month intervention including written materials tailored to the FCCH providers' need and interest, videos, peer support coaching using brief motivational interviewing, and periodic group meetings focused on either nutrition and PA (Intervention) or reading readiness (Comparison). Intervention materials focus on evidence-based nutrition and physical activity best practices. The initial measures (surveys, two-day observation of the FCCH and provider practices, child diet observation, physical measures, and accelerometer) are assessed again 8 and 12 months after the intervention starts. Primary outcomes are children's diet quality (Healthy Eating Index), time in moderate and vigorous PA and sedentary PA during child care. Secondary outcomes include FCCH provider practices and foods served, and PA environments and practices. Possible mediators (provider attitudes, self-efficacy, barriers and facilitators) are also being explored. Process evaluation measures to assess reach, fidelity and dose, and their relationship with dietary and PA outcomes are included. DISCUSSION: Healthy Start/Comienzos Sanos fills an important gap in the field of childhood obesity prevention by rigorously evaluating an innovative multicomponent intervention to improve the nutrition and physical activity environments of FCCH. TRIAL REGISTRATION: (# NCT02452645 ) ClinicalTrials.gov Trial registered on May 22, 2015.

Éxito!: Making an Impact in Training Latinos for Doctorates and Cancer Research.

Latinos lag behind other racial/ethnic groups in pursuit of master's and doctoral degrees in public health and the health sciences. Éxito! is modeled after the Minority Training Program in Cancer Control Research (MTPCCR), which found that Latino participants went on to doctoral programs at a lower rate (12%) than African American (36%) and Asian participants (33%). Éxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training is designed to increase the number of Latinos who pursue doctoral degrees and careers in cancer health disparity (CHD) research. The program has three components: recruitment with partnering universities and associations, an ethnically tailored intensive 5-day summer institute (SI), and 6-month paid internships offered on a competitive basis. Up to 20 master's level students/master's level health professionals are selected annually to participate in the SI; faculty are leaders in Latino CHD research. Funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) from 2011 to 2015, Éxito! recruited 101 summer institute participants and awarded 21 internships. Analyses of pre- and post-institute surveys showed significant increases in confidence to apply to a doctoral program and academic self-efficacy among summer institute participants, and significantly increased research skills among interns. Forty-three percent of Éxito! program alumni applied to a doctoral program (our main outcome) and 29.7% were currently enrolled. This is nearly double the rate for MTPCCR Latino participants (17%) for the corresponding time period. Éxito! is a model pipeline program for encouragement of Latinos on to doctoral programs (e.g., PhD and DrPH) with the potential to increase the pool of cancer health disparity researchers.