HPV Vaccine Misperceptions Among Hispanics/Latinos in Southern California.

BACKGROUND: Cervical and other vaccine-preventable HPV-associated cancers disproportionately impact Hispanic/Latinos in the USA. HPV vaccine uptake may be impacted by community agreement with common HPV vaccine misperceptions. It is unknown whether Hispanics/Latinos have a greater agreement with these misperceptions relative to non-Hispanic whites. METHODS: HPV vaccine misperceptions were assessed through a 12-item Likert scale included in a population health assessment mailed to households in the southwest United States. Linear regression models assessed the association between identifying as Hispanic/Latino and summed misperception score. RESULTS: Among the 407 individuals in the analytic sample, 111 (27.3%) were Hispanic/Latino and 296 (72.7%) were non-Hispanic white. On average, Hispanics/Latinos had a 3.03-point higher HPV vaccine misperception sum score relative to non-Hispanic whites, indicating greater agreement with misperceptions (95% confidence interval: 1.16-4.88; p < 0.01). DISCUSSION: Culturally relevant interventions are needed to address HPV vaccine misperceptions among Hispanics/Latinos as part of efforts toward HPV-associated cancer health equity.

Factors associated with continued participation in a matched monetary incentive programme at local farmers' markets in low-income neighbourhoods in San Diego, California.

OBJECTIVE: The Farmers' Market Fresh Fund Incentive Program is a policy, systems and environmental intervention to improve access to fresh produce for participants on governmental assistance in the USA. The current study examined factors associated with ongoing participation in this matched monetary incentive programme. DESIGN: Relationship of baseline factors with number of Fresh Fund visits was assessed using Poisson regression. Mixed-effects modelling was used to explore changes in consumption of fruits and vegetables and diet quality. SETTING: San Diego, California. SUBJECTS: Recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) who attended participating farmers' markets from 2010 to 2012 (n 7298). RESULTS: Among those with participation for ≤6 months, factors associated with increased visits included reporting more daily servings of fruits and vegetables (F&V) at baseline, being Vietnamese or Asian/Pacific Islander, and eligibility because of SNAP/CalFresh or SSI (v. WIC). Among those who came for 6-12 months, being Asian/Pacific Islander, eligibility because of SNAP/CalFresh and enrolling in the autumn, winter or spring were associated with a greater number of Fresh Fund visits. Among those who came for >12 months, being male and eligibility because of SSI were associated with a greater number of visits. Overall, the odds of increasing number of servings of F&V consumed increased by 2 % per month, and the odds of improved perception of diet quality increased by 10 % per month. CONCLUSIONS: Sustaining and increasing Fresh Fund-type programme operations should be a top priority for future policy decisions concerning farmers' market use in low-income neighbourhoods.

Improvement in Depressive Symptoms Among Hispanic/Latinos Receiving a Culturally Tailored IMPACT and Problem-Solving Intervention in a Community Health Center.

The present study investigated whether a culturally-tailored problem-solving intervention delivered by a trained depression care specialist (DCS) would improve depressive symptoms over a 6 month period among Hispanic/Latino patients in a federally-qualified community health center by the California-Mexico border. Participants included 189 low income Hispanic/Latino patients of Mexican heritage. Based on the improving mood-promoting access to collaborative treatment (IMPACT) evidence-based treatment, patients received evidence-based problem-solving therapy. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) was administered to assess changes in self-reported depressive symptoms between baseline and monthly for a 6-month follow up period. The majority of participants were female (72.5%) with a mean age of 52.5 (SD = 11.7). The mean PHQ-9 at baseline was 16.9 (SD = 4.0) and at the 6-month follow-up, the average PHQ-9 decreased to 9.9 (SD = 5.7). A linear mixed model analysis showed significant improvement in PHQ-9 scores over a 6 month period (F = 124.1; p < 0.001) after controlling for age, gender, smoking and diabetes. There was a significant three way interaction between time, gender and smoking (p = 0.01) showing that the depressive symptoms among male smokers did not improve as much as non-smoking males and females. Results suggest that a culturally-tailored problem solving approach can significantly reduce depressive symptoms among Hispanic/Latino low-income patients.

Associations among parent acculturation, child BMI, and child fruit and vegetable consumption in a Hispanic sample.

The objective of this study was to investigate the association of parent acculturation with child fruit and vegetable consumption and obesity, as measured by body mass index (BMI). Participants included 250 Mexican-American and other Hispanic families living within San Diego County. Height and weight measurements were collected to calculate the age- and sex-specific BMI for each child and parent, and parents completed self-administered surveys. Child BMI z-score was significantly related to parent BMI after controlling for parent acculturation and parent birth place (ß = 0.05, p < 0.01). Child fruit consumption was significantly associated with parent acculturation (ß = -0.02, p = 0.01) and parent BMI (ß = 0.02, p = 0.04) after adjusting for the other variables in the model. Child vegetable consumption was not significantly related to parent acculturation. Findings suggest that parental weight status may be more predictive of child obesity than acculturation, and highlight the need to examine culturally relevant behavioral and psychosocial factors related to childhood obesity and dietary behaviors.