Exploring Health Disparities in Integrated Communities Study (EHDIC) Kids in southwest Baltimore at one of our many health fairs... | In the summer of 2003 with funding from Pfizer pharmaceuticals the center had a team of researchers in the southwest Baltimore community conducting interviews with community residents. The purpose of these interviews was to gather information on health behavior, psychosocial, utilization and access to health care information from the residents. Information was also gathered on housing and community conditions. College Health and Wellness Study Overweight and obesity is epidemic in the United States, particularly among minority populations. This epidemic contributes to the development of chronic conditions that occur later in life such as type 2 diabetes and hypertension. The center conducted a cross-sectional survey among students graduating from a historically black college or university (HBCU) in the Mid-Atlantic region. The participants were 392 predominantly African-American seniors who graduated in the spring of 2003. Data were collected using a self-administered paper-and-pencil questionnaire which focused on weight, weight management activities, weight history and health status indicators. The Health Care Equity Program (HCEP) The Heath Care Equity Program (HCEP) of the HCHDS seeks to understand and reduce disparities in health care utilization within health plans. Specifically, HCEP’s primary aim is to assist health plans and employers in identifying, understanding and reducing disparities in health care utilization and health outcomes among their enrollees or employees. HCEP seeks to partner with health plans and employer groups to develop interventions to ensure all their enrollees or employees receive the highest quality health care. To meet this objective, the HCEP will perform analyses of health plans' administrative data and conduct surveys of their enrollees and providers to identify and understand the underlying causes of observed disparities.The HCEP will then develop and implement interventions that are specifically designed for the partnering health plan or employer group. Measuring Trust in Health Care This is a study to examine the validity of the psychometric properties of a new measure of trust/mistrust of medical care systems.Trust is the foundation of the interrelationships that make civil society possible and the importance of trust within health care is no less critical. Patients are inherently vulnerable within medical encounters and must be trustful of the multiple institutional entities and individuals involved in their care. Patients must trust that individual health care providers are competent and will have their best interests in mind while making treatment decisions.They must trust that the pharmaceutical companies have developed effective drugs and that the regulatory agencies have adequately monitored them. And, they must trust that the health care organization and that its staff will manage their medical information with discretion and confidentiality. Environmental Influences on Tobacco Use in Urban Hispanic Young Adults The Hispanic community in Baltimore City, the Baltimore City Health Department, HCHDS, and other important stakeholders worked together to examine the understanding of contextual factors (i.e., community/neighborhood and societal) that contribute to the high rates of tobacco use in the Hispanic community, with a focus on the population ages 18-24. Developing Measures of Parental Knowledge in Physical Activity Parental knowledge of child health and development issues can have important effects on child health. Greater awareness of the content areas in which parents require more guidance can help clinicians devise parent-centered strategies to reduce identified knowledge deficits and may both increase the quality of care and reduce disparities in child health. The primary goal of this pilot project is to develop a set of parental health knowledge assessment questions relevant to physical activity in children 5 years or younger and to conduct preliminary reliability and validity studies of these questions. | 
