2007 Final Program - Society of Behavioral Medicine

SOCIETY of BEHAVIORAL MEDICINE
Rapid Communications Posters Thursday, March 22, 2007 • 6:30 PM-8:00 PM • Poster Session B
Screening (FS) service in the UK. Questions were added to the
EthnibusTM - a monthly, nationwide survey of the main ethnic
minority communities in England. Interviews were conducted with
875 people by multi-lingual fieldworkers using open and closed
questions.
When asked about causes of colorectal cancer, 11% of White-
British participants responded ‘don’t know’ compared with 73% of
Bangladeshis, 49% of Pakistanis, 48% of Black Africans, 45% of
Black Caribbeans, 38% of Indians and 24% of Chinese, suggesting
that White-British respondents may be more knowledgeable.
Similar disparities were found when participants were asked what
things might deter people in their community from having the
test with 94% of each of the non-White groups indicating that
embarrassment would be a barrier compared with only 15% of
the White-British group. ‘Shame’ was also frequently mentioned
among non-White groups who said they would not be interested in
FS. Nevertheless, overall levels of interest in FS were high (≥65%)
across all ethnic groups, with most respondents indicating that
they believed it would provide “peace of mind”. While the levels of
interest are encouraging, we cannot assume that attendance would
be as high or be equivalent across ethnic groups in view of the
reported barriers. Should FS screening be introduced, educational
materials should recognise that embarrassment may be a greater
deterrent to participation among non-White groups.
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Emily Power, MSc,
Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London,
London, WC1E 6BT; emily.power@ucl.ac.uk
2457
NASHVILLE REACH 2010: EVALUATION OF COMMUNITY
SCREENING FOR DIABETES, HYPERTENSION, AND HIGH
CHOLESTEROL 2002 TO 2007
David G. Schlundt, PhD, 1 Sarah E. Niebler, MA, 1 John E. Irwin,
MS, 1 Consuela Greene, MHSA, 3 Ronald Reid, BA, 3 Tarese Gardner,
BA, 3 Kushal Patel, PhD, 2 Celia O. Larson, PhD 2 and Margaret K.
Hargreaves, PhD 2
1
Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN; 2 Department of
Medicine, Meharry Medical College, Nashville, TN and 3 REACH
2010, Matthew Walker Community Health Center, Nashville, TN.
Nashville REACH 2010 is a CDC funded program to reduce
disparities in heart disease and diabetes among African Americans
in North Nashville, Tennessee. Using a screening manual to train
community partners, many community health risk screenings
(blood glucose (BG), blood pressure (BP), cholesterol (CHOL))
were held to: 1) identify individuals with potentially undiagnosed
chronic conditions, 2) find people at high risk for chronic disease,
and 3) identify people with poorly managed risk factors. Screening
partners completed screening forms which were returned to
REACH (n=6,449 from over 75 events) and of these 765 (12%)
only answered risk questions and did not receive BG, BP, or CHOL
screening. Of the 2467 with BG screens, 20 possible new cases of
diabetes (0.9%) were identified while 326 were at risk for diabetes
(14.7%). BP screenings were conducted on 3998 individuals
identifying 531 potential new cases of hypertension (21.6%) and
1098 with high normal BP (44.7%). CHOL screenings were done
with 2608 people and there were 705 potential new cases of elevated
CHOL (34.4%) and 391 with high-normal CHOL (19.1%).
~ 82 ~
Of the 246 with previously diagnosed diabetes, 58 were poorly
controlled (23.6%). Of the 1543 with known hypertension, 762
had elevated BP (49.4%). Of the 556 with previously diagnosed
high cholesterol, 308 had values above the target level (55.4%). Of
those screened, 41% had an elevated value on one or more screening
tests, and 76% had an elevated or at-risk value. Binary logistic
regression was used to identify predictors of screening positive for
any chronic illness. Significant predictors were age, gender, ethnicity,
and BMI. The REACH 2010 community screening provided an
important service, and was very successful at indentifying people
who need to take steps to protect their health from chronic disease.
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: David G. Schlundt, PhD,
Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37203; david.
schlundt@vanderbilt.edu
2458
SOCIAL SUPPORT NEEDS OF OBESE AFRICAN AMERICAN
WOMEN IN A WEIGHT LOSS ATTEMPT: RESULTS OF A
QUALITATIVE INQUIRY
Janet L. Thomas, PhD, 1 Diana Stewart, BA, 2 Ian Lynam, BA, 3
Christine Daley, PhD, MPH, 4 Christie Befort, PhD 4 and Jasjit S.
Ahluwalia, MD, MPH, MS 1
1
Medicine, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN;
2
Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA;
3
Psychology, University of Missouri, Kansas City, MO and
4
Preventive Medicine, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas
City, KS.
The prevalence of obesity has reached epidemic proportions with
African American (AA) women being disproportionately affected
and less successful in their weight loss attempts. Social support is
positively associated with weight loss; however, little is known about
the attitudes and behaviors thought to be supportive to a woman
during a weight loss effort. Six focus groups were conducted with
obese AA women to assess attitudes and beliefs regarding weight
loss support. Participants (n=49) were middle-aged (44.4 years;
SD=12.8) women with an average BMI of 40.3 (SD=8.3, Range
30.1-66.5) and 12.6 (SD=1.3) years of education. Data were
analyzed using standard grounded theory text analysis. Results
revealed that AA women are very interested in receiving support in
their weight loss efforts and open to others approaching them about
their weight as long as they had an established close relationship and
focus on the health impact of weight. Important characteristics of
a supportive person for weight loss include empathy, commitment,
comparable weight status and prior weight loss success. Important
behaviors believed to support weight loss include participating in
physical activities together, providing nutrition education, using
positive reinforcements and avoiding criticism. Results suggest that
AA women are interested in a program that would teach skills to
increase social support for their weight loss efforts.
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Janet L. Thomas, PhD,
Medicine, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455;
jthomas@umn.edu