Note from the Editor Virginia M. Brennan, PhD, MA, Associate Professor, Editor This issue is large and comes with a supplement. First, the supplement: The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities at the National Institutes of Health (NIMHD/NIH) jointly sponsored the supplement collection, titled Advancing Obesity Prevention: Quality Improvements, Emerging Models and Best Practices. The Guest Editors are Nishadi Rajapakse, PhD, MHS; Richard Berzon, DrPH, PA; Sarah Linde, MD; Natasha Coulouris, MPH; Ligia Artiles, MA; Eliza Heppner, MPA. The supplement shines a light on advances sponsored with federal funds in the national trek towards healthy weight. The articles in the regular issue are arranged into five parts: Part 1: Homelessness Part 2: Immigration, Borders, Language Part 3: Primary Care and Cancer Part 4: Innovative Programs Part 5: Health Policy and Epidemiology Before these five parts, readers will find our regular ACU Column, which this month concerns the important role that community health centers can play in family planning. Part 1: Homelessness The six papers that open this issue directly concern people who are homeless. The first emerges from work conducted by Health Care for the Homeless (in collaboration with Harris County [Houston] officials and the Baylor College of Medicine) to connect people released from jail immediately with behavioral health services as a means of preventing their relapse into homelessness (C. Brown et al.). The second focuses on release from hospitalization and the quality of the care that people who are homeless receive in those circumstances (Greyson et al.). The third paper reports on geriatric syndromes (including falls, cognitive impairment, frailty, major depression, sensory impairment, and urinary incontinence) in homeless adults, identifying as risk factors such characteristics as having less than a high school education, medical comorbidities (diabetes and arthritis), as well as alcohol and drug use problems (R. Brown et al.). The fourth paper is a postdictive validity study of a Vulnerability Index, an instrument used to assess medical vulnerability among people who are homeless (Cronley et al.). Molinari and colleagues report on perceptions of homelessness among veterans, Veterans Administration staff, and providers of housing interventions, concluding that older veterans who are homeless may be more motivated to change than their younger counterparts, due to receiving [End Page ix] less social support and facing greater challenges in employment and health. Finally, the systematic review that closes out this section continues the theme begun earlier in the papers about people who are homeless being released from jail and hospitals still in need of care: Doran and colleagues review the literature on respite care—care for homeless patients who are too sick to be on the streets or in a traditional shelter, but not sick enough to warrant inpatient hospitalization Part 2: Immigration, Borders, Language This part includes 10 research papers concerning populations in the U.S. or on one of its borders who originate from other countries and/or who speak languages other than English. The first asks how physicians who have second language skills decide when to call an interpreter (Andres et al.), and reports on in- depth interviews about this with 25 such physicians in different practice settings. In a related paper, Radwin and colleagues analyze data collected at an urban safety- net hospital oncology unit to examine the relationships among race, language, patient- centered nursing care, and patient outcomes. They find that patients who speak a language other than English perceive nurses' responsiveness differently from English- speaking patients, and in turn have less trust in nurses. They write: "[M]ore liberal use of interpreter services may be warranted with patients who do not speak English at home. More routine use of interpreters may enhance patient perceptions that the nurse respects the patient, is attending to the patient carefully, and that the nurse is demonstrating due concern for the patient." In a cross- cultural study, Lim and colleagues investigate health behavior changes after breast cancer treatment, reporting their qualitative comparisons of Chinese American, Korean American, and Mexican American survivors. On the topic of colorectal cancer screening, Lee and Im investigate the influence of culture on practice among Korean American immigrants. Two papers in this part concern Hmong populations...
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Apr 2, 2024
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