Adam B. Becker

Community-based participatory research: Policy recommendations for promoting a partnership approach in health research

Community-based participatory research in public health focuses on social, structural, and physical environmental inequities through active involvement of community members, organizational representatives, and researchers in all aspects of the research process. Partners contribute their expertise to enhance understanding of a given phenomenon and integrate the knowledge gained with action to benefit the community involved. This article presents key principles of community-based participatory research (CBPR), discusses the rationale for its use, and provides a number of policy recommendations at the organizational, community and national levels aimed at advancing the application of CBPR. While the issues addressed here draw primarily upon experiences in the United States, the emphasis throughout this article on the establishment of policies to enhance equity that would serve both to increase the engagement of communities as partners in health research, and to reduce health disparities, has relevant applications in a global context.

Social inequalities, stressors and self reported health status among African American and white women in the Detroit metropolitan area

This article examines the cumulative effects of multiple stressors on womens health, by race and area of residence. Specifically, we examine socioeconomic status, experiences of unfair treatment and acute life events by race and residential location, and their cumulative effects on the health status of African American and white women living within the city of Detroit and in the surrounding metropolitan area. African American women, regardless of whether they live inside or outside the city, report more frequent encounters with everyday unfair treatment than white women. African American women who live in the city report a greater number of acute life events than white women who live outside the city. Regression analyses used to examine the cumulative effects of exposure to these stressors by race and area of residence show that: (1) socioeconomic status, everyday experiences with unfair treatment and acute life events each make a significant contribution to differences in health status; and (2) the contribution of each of these variables to explaining variations in health status varies by area of residence. We suggest that differences in socioeconomic status, exposure to unfair treatment or discrimination and experiences of acute life events make significant contributions to racial differences in womens health status.

Normierung und Evaluation der deutschen Elternversion des Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ): Ergebnisse einer repräsentativen Felderhebung

OBJECTIVE The (SDQ) is a short questionnaire which addresses positive and negative behavioural attributes of children or adolescents. Being rated by parents or teachers, or as an equivalent self-report version, the 25 SDQ items were designed to include both strengths and difficulties. Although several reports have demonstrated the validity of the German SDQ, normative data have not yet been established. METHODS In a nationwide representative field study, parent ratings were completed for 930 children and adolescents aged between 6 and 16 years. Following verification of the scale structure by factor analysis, the observed distributions of scores were used to define normal, borderline, and abnormal score ranges. Possible effects of gender, age, and social class were also investigated. RESULTS Factor analysis yielded an exact replication of the original scales. Several associations with gender, age, and social status attained statistical significance, but cut-off scores for the five subscales remained stable in different subgroups. Age- and sex-specific bandings for the total problem score reflected small differences between homogeneous subgroups. CONCLUSIONS After replication and confirming the original scale factors, the availability of normative data further enhances the diagnostic value of the SDQ and facilitates future validation studies. Present evidence suggests that the SDQ may serve as a useful and economical screening measure, and in many other clinical and research settings.Zusammenfassung: Fragestellung: Der Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) ist ein kurzer Fragebogen zu Verhaltensauffalligkeiten und -starken bei Kindern und Jugendlichen, der in Eltern- u...

Recruiting Injection Drug Users: A Three-Site Comparison of Results and Experiences with Respondent-Driven and Targeted Sampling Procedures

Several recent studies have utilized respondent-driven sampling (RDS) methods to survey hidden populations such as commercial sex-workers, men who have sex with men (MSM) and injection drug users (IDU). Few studies, however, have provided a direct comparison between RDS and other more traditional sampling methods such as venue-based, targeted or time/space sampling. The current study sampled injection drug users in three U.S. cities using RDS and targeted sampling (TS) methods and compared their effectiveness in terms of recruitment efficiency, logistics, and sample demographics. Both methods performed satisfactorily. The targeted method required more staff time per-recruited respondent and had a lower proportion of screened respondents who were eligible than RDS, while RDS respondents were offered higher incentives for participation.

Conducting a participatory community-based survey for a community health intervention on detroit’s east side

This article describes a participatory action research process that brought together community members, representatives from community-based organizations and service providers, and academic researchers to collect, interpret, and apply community information to address issues related to the health of women and children in a geographically defined urban area. It describes the development and administration of a community-based survey designed to inform an intervention research project; discusses the establishment of a community/research partnership and issues that the partnership confronted in the process of developing and administering the survey; and examines the contributions of participants, and implications for research and collective action.

Social Marketing as a Childhood Obesity Prevention Strategy

In recent years, an ecological approach to nutrition and physical activity promotion has become widespread in community-based obesity prevention programs (1). One aspect of such approaches has been incorporation of social market-ing messages. The relationship between ecological approaches to obesity prevention and social marketing has not yet been systematically explored. In this commentary, we discuss this relationship and offer a model for research and action at the interface. Because our team works specifically on childhood obesity, this is our focus, but the perspective that we offer may be more broadly applicable.

[Normal values and evaluation of the German parents' version of Strengths and DIfficulties Questionnaire (SDQ): Results of a representative field study].

OBJECTIVE The (SDQ) is a short questionnaire which addresses positive and negative behavioural attributes of children or adolescents. Being rated by parents or teachers, or as an equivalent self-report version, the 25 SDQ items were designed to include both strengths and difficulties. Although several reports have demonstrated the validity of the German SDQ, normative data have not yet been established. METHODS In a nationwide representative field study, parent ratings were completed for 930 children and adolescents aged between 6 and 16 years. Following verification of the scale structure by factor analysis, the observed distributions of scores were used to define normal, borderline, and abnormal score ranges. Possible effects of gender, age, and social class were also investigated. RESULTS Factor analysis yielded an exact replication of the original scales. Several associations with gender, age, and social status attained statistical significance, but cut-off scores for the five subscales remained stable in different subgroups. Age- and sex-specific bandings for the total problem score reflected small differences between homogeneous subgroups. CONCLUSIONS After replication and confirming the original scale factors, the availability of normative data further enhances the diagnostic value of the SDQ and facilitates future validation studies. Present evidence suggests that the SDQ may serve as a useful and economical screening measure, and in many other clinical and research settings.Zusammenfassung: Fragestellung: Der Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) ist ein kurzer Fragebogen zu Verhaltensauffalligkeiten und -starken bei Kindern und Jugendlichen, der in Eltern- u...

Predictors of Perceived Control Among African American Women in Detroit: Exploring Empowerment as a Multilevel Construct

Efforts to enhance empowerment toward the aim of improved health require an understanding of factors that contribute to perceived control at multiple levels, as a dimension of empowerment. In this article, the authors examine hypothesized predictors of perceived control at multiple levels among urban, African American women. Variables that predict perceived control include greater participation in change-related action; level of activity within respondents’ most important organizations; and attempts made by those organizations to influence public officials, businesses, and other groups. Results suggest that (1) perceived control is a context-specific, multilevel construct; (2) citizen participation is an important factor in control and influence at multiple levels; and (3) organizations that are involved within neighborhoods and in the broader community can help to increase control and influence at multiple levels in marginalized communities. Implications for health education practice and research are discussed.

Development of Scales Measuring the Capacity of Community-Based Initiatives

This article describes the development of two measures for the capacity of local public health initiatives. Data obtained from a qualitative study of eight community-based initiatives served as the basis for the development of a survey instrument. It was administered to a national sample of both leaders and nonleaders of 291 such initiatives. Because survey results for leaders and nonleaders differed, results could not be combined into a single data set for analysis. Results for each data set were analyzed by employing exploratory principal components and factor analyses. A 44-item, six-factor scale resulted for leaders and a 38-item, five-factor scale resulted for nonleaders. The high degree of overlap (22 items) between the two scales resulted in a combined 60-item instrument that can be administered to both leaders and nonleaders but analyzed separately.

Scale-dependent non-Gaussianity as a generalization of the local model

We generalize the local model of primordial non-Gaussianity by promoting the parameter fNL to a general scale-dependent function fNL(k). We calculate the resulting bispectrum and the eect on the bias of dark matter halos, and thus the extent to which fNL(k) can be measured from the large-scale structure observations. By calculating the principal components of fNL(k), we identify scales where this form of non-Gaussianity is best constrained and estimate the overlap with previously studied local and equilateral non- Gaussian models.