title: Eliminating health disparities among minority women: a report on conference workshop process and outcomes.
abstract: A national conference convened in May 2001 explored health disparities among minority women. It included 5 one-hour workshops that randomly assigned each participant to 1 of 4 groups. Groups generated recommendations on conference topics and from these identified priority recommendations. Trained facilitators guided groups through brainstorming and weighted voting processes; individual recommendations were submitted in writing. Participants generated 598 recommendations, 71 of them voted as priorities; these were analyzed to capture participants' "messages." Central themes focused on access issues and cultural incompetence as deterrents to the elimination of health disparities and on education, funding, and community-based, community-driven research as mechanisms for change. Strategies for change included reinventing or expanding the role of minority communities and changing health care itself and "how" it does its work. The essential element in all recommendations was community leadership and control.
authors.affiliation: Medical Branch, University of Texas, Galveston, TX, USA. pbkritek@hsc.vcu.edu
authors.forename: Phyllis Beck
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Kritek
authors.forename: Martha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hargraves
authors.forename: Ernestine H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Cuellar
authors.forename: Florence
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dallo
authors.forename: Donna M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Gauthier
authors.forename: Christi A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Holland
authors.forename: Connie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ilkiw
authors.forename: Jane W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Swanson
authors.forename: Reid
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Swanson
mesh_terms: D018672:Community Health Planning; D003226:Congresses as Topic; D003405:Creativity; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D005260:Female; D006126:Group Processes; D006291:Health Policy; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008913:Minority Groups / Q000193:education / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012107:Research Design; D012423:Rural Health; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D016387:Women's Health