Barriers to Participation in Genomic Health Research by African Americans and Other Minority Populations : A Systematic Review (P04-116-19)

Objectives

The paucity of data for African-Americans (AAs) participating in health-related research (e.g., genomic research in nutrition) is often attributed to difficulty in recruitment and retention. The reasons for such unwillingness to participate remains unclear and could account for health disparities. Studies demonstrate that AAs may be more difficult to recruit and retain in genomic studies due to psychosocial impacts, cultural beliefs and other issues. Historically, these factors have shown to both affect participation and adversely influence health disparities, which may lead to premature death, reduced quality of life, missed economic opportunities, and inequalities. The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic review to answer the following question: What are the barriers to acceptance of genomic health research among AAs and other minority populations?

Methods

This systematic review investigates acceptance barriers in AAs participating in health-related research involving DNA. A total of 37 articles met inclusion criteria for this review. Acceptance to participate in health-related research involving DNA were examined from articles published in PubMed and Scopus between 2008–2018. Results were based on feedback collected by trained research assistants and phlebotomists during interviews conducted in groups, face-to-face, via telephone, and responses collected from survey questionnaires.

Results

AA participation in health-related research is influenced by various pervasive factors including, but not limited to, perceived and/or actual experiences of mistrust and deceptiveness with investigators, misuse of genomic data, unethical research practices, healthcare system distrust, privacy concerns, socioeconomic influences, cultural beliefs and other influences associated with psychosocial factors.

Conclusions

Results of this review are consistent with literature which shows diminishing participation of AAs in health-related research is attributable to a range of factors leading to growing concerns about health disparities. It is important to address these factors among diverse populations, and AAs in particular, who have not largely been represented in health-related research to promote better health outcomes and understand how to prevent and treat diseases.

Funding Sources

Howard University.

Laboratory exposure to Coccidioides: lessons learnt in a non-endemic country

Coccidioides is a primary pathogenic fungus, which infects humans through highly infectious arthroconidia, causing substantial morbidity including life-threatening disseminated infections. Due to the low infectious dose, laboratory personnel might become infected during diagnostic procedures. Accordingly, coccidioidomycosis is reported as the most frequent laboratory-acquired systemic mycosis worldwide. This risk is aggravated in non-endemic countries, where the diagnosis may not be suspected. We report on an inadvertent exposure of 44 persons to Coccidioides posadasii in a clinical microbiology laboratory in Chile, the measures of containment after rapid diagnosis with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry, and the lessons learnt in a non-endemic setting.

Cancer Screening and Diagnostic Tests in Global Contexts: Case Study and Concept Analysis

Objective:

Although the purposes and outcomes of screening and diagnostic tests are different, they are often confused. Therefore, it is important to delineate the clinical concept of cancer screening tests to be clear in our communication not only among healthcare professionals but also with client populations. The aim of this study is to both describe and analyze the concept of cancer screening and explain their practical meaning in global contexts.

Methods:

Comparative case studies of cervical and liver cancer screening tests were used as the basis for developing an understanding of a specific concept (phenomenon) of cancer screening and for delineating the relationships between factors that cause screening to occur.

Results:

A cancer screening is defined as an action taken by both the patient and health-care provider to detect a possible pre-cancerous condition among healthy and asymptomatic individuals who are at sufficient risk of a specific disorder to warrant further investigation or treatment. The case study-based concept analysis has been shown to be useful for improving our understanding of the multi-dimensional nature of the concept in global contexts.

Conclusions:

New paradigms maximizing participation in cancer screening to detect diseases before symptoms are manifested rather than focusing on diagnosis and treatment of symptomatic infectious diseases need to be developed and implemented.

Search for Boosted Dark Matter Interacting with Electrons in Super-Kamiokande

A search for boosted dark matter using 161.9 kt yr of Super-Kamiokande IV data is presented. We search for an excess of elastically scattered electrons above the atmospheric neutrino background, with a visible energy between 100 MeV and 1 TeV, pointing back to the Galactic center or the Sun. No such excess is observed. Limits on boosted dark matter event rates in multiple angular cones around the Galactic center and Sun are calculated. Limits are also calculated for a baseline model of boosted dark matter produced from cold dark matter annihilation or decay. This is the first experimental search for boosted dark matter from the Galactic center or the Sun interacting in a terrestrial detector.

Socially Shared Cognition, Affect, and Behavior: A Review and Integration

In this article, we review 4 classes of models of socially shared cognition and behavior: supraindividual models, information-processing models, communication models, and social interaction models. Our review draws on research and theory in social psychology, sociology, and organization behavior. We conclude that these innovative perspectives on socially shared behavior represent a new approach to the study of groups and are distinct from traditional models of the group mind and crowd behavior. The key processes implicated in these models focus on the potency of immediate interaction, reciprocal influence processes between individuals and groups, goal-directed behavior, negotiated processing of information and ideas, and the maintenance and enhancement of social identity. This approach to socially shared understanding is not antagonistic toward the analysis of individual-level processes but rather maintains that individual-level processes are necessary but not sufficient to build a social psychology of shared understanding.

Two Generations of Mothers and Daughters: Role Position and Interdependence

Using both partners as informants and three interdependence measures (contact, aid, and attachment) as criterion variables, we address the assumption that women's orientation to and dependence on other generations differ because of unique roles. In 135 pairs of student women and their mothers and 119 pairs of middle-aged women and their mothers, we ask how a woman's role position interacts with her partner's role position in regard to interdependence. Both dyadic and individual role combinations are examined. In younger pairs, we examine the combination of daughter's marital status and both mother's launching and work statuses; in older pairs, we examine the combination of mother's marital status and both daughter's launching and marital statuses. Regression analyses demonstrate that, except for younger pairs where married daughters and their mothers are less interdependent than single daughters and their mothers, interdependence is remarkably unrelated to role positions, singly or in combination. Results suggest normative pressures toward new conjugal bonds and stability in women's family roles.