title: The use of family health histories to address health disparities in an African American community.
abstract: African Americans continue to suffer from health disparities. The Center for Minority Health (CMH) within the University of Pittsburgh has the mission to eliminate racial and ethnic health disparities. CMH has designed and implemented the Family Health History (FHH) Initiative. The FHH Initiative places genetic-counseling graduate students in the African American community to provide risk assessments and emphasize the importance of family history as it pertains to disease prevention. The FHH Initiative also allows participants to enroll into the Minority Research Recruitment Database (MRRD). This enables CMH to alert individuals to available research participation opportunities. In the first year of this program, 225 African Americans completed their family health histories. More than 60% of individuals enrolled in the MRRD. The authors report their initial successes and challenges of an initiative that incorporates awareness of family history information, proper screening guidelines, behavior-modification recommendations, and support for participation in clinical research.
authors.affiliation: MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, USA.
authors.forename: Kristen J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Vogel
authors.forename: Vinaya S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Murthy
authors.forename: Beth
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dudley
authors.forename: Robin E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Grubs
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gettig
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ford
authors.forename: Stephen B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Thomas
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D000368:Aged; D005192:Family Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D005817:Genetic Counseling / Q000458:organization & administration; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000208:ethnology; D015438:Health Behavior; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008487:Medical History Taking / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors