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Biomedical subjects

S C Quinn

Publications and source records attributed to S C Quinn.

13 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

African Americans' views on research and the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.

The participation of African Americans in clinical and public health research is essential. However, for a multitude of reasons, participation is low in many research studies. This article reviews the literature that substantiates barriers to participation and the legacy of past abuses of human subjects through research. The article then reports the results of seven focus groups with 60 African Americans in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, DC, and Atlanta during the winter of 1997. In order to improve recruitment and retention in research, the focus group study examined knowledge of and attitudes toward medical research, knowledge of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, and reactions to the Home Box Office production, Miss Evers' Boys, a fictionalized version of the Tuskegee Study, that premiered in February, 1997. The study found that accurate knowledge about research was limited; lack of understanding and trust of informed consent procedures was problematic; and distrust of researchers posed a substantial barrier to recruitment. Additionally, the study found that, in general, participants believed that research was important, but they clearly distinguished between types of research they would be willing to consider participating in and their motivations for doing so.

Black or African American↗
PubMed2001

Ethics and community-based education: balancing respect for the community with professional preparation.

Community-based education and service learning are becoming increasingly common in health and human services education. As students enter the community, several ethical dilemmas arise regarding the university's interaction with the community. This article explores clinical, agency, and community placements in terms of the relationships they engender between the university and the community. The article then outlines some ethical obligations of universities and faculty members and ethical dilemmas that arise in different placements. Finally, a fundamental ethical framework that may guide universities and faculty members in planning community-based educational experiences is proposed.

Clinical Clerkship↗
PubMed2001

The role of community advisory boards: involving communities in the informed consent process.

Ethical research involving human subjects mandates that individual informed consent be obtained from research participants or from surrogates when participants are not able to consent for themselves. The existing requirements for informed consent assume that all study participants have personal autonomy; fully comprehend the purpose, risks, and benefits of the research; and volunteer for projects that disclose all relevant information. Yet contemporary examples of lapses in the individual informed consent process have been reported. The authors propose the use of community advisory boards, which can facilitate research by providing advice about the informed consent process and the design and implementation of research protocols. These activities could help reduce the number of individual informed consent lapses, benefiting study participants and the scientific integrity of the research in question.

Advisory Committees↗
PubMed2000

Factors affecting African-American participation in AIDS research.

BACKGROUND: Although African Americans are disproportionately affected by the AIDS epidemic, they are underrepresented in AIDS research, particularly in AIDS clinical trials. This study examines a multidimensional construct of distrust and other factors that may affect willingness to participate in AIDS research. METHODS: A total of 301 African Americans (aged >/=18 years) in Durham, North Carolina participated in a cross-sectional survey. In-person interviews, 20 to 25 minutes in length, were conducted with participants. Structural equation modeling was used to develop models exploring distrust and other factors affecting willingness to participate in AIDS research among African Americans. RESULTS: Distrust was the strongest inverse predictor of willingness to participate in AIDS clinical trials. Distrust was not significantly associated with willingness to participate in AIDS surveys and educational interventions. Altruism, facilitators/barriers, religiosity, and economic group membership were also significantly associated with willingness to participate in AIDS clinical trials. Only altruism was significantly associated with willingness to participate in AIDS surveys and educational interventions. CONCLUSIONS: Distrust about research institutions is a significant barrier to recruiting African Americans in AIDS clinical trials. Issues of distrust need to be acknowledged by researchers to develop better recruitment and retention strategies when conducting AIDS clinical trials in African-American communities.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1997

HIV testing of pregnant women: a policy analysis.

The promising findings of ACTG 076, which identified a hopeful strategy for substantially reducing HIV transmission from mother to fetus, has stimulated a debate on counseling and testing protocols for pregnant women. This article presents an analysis of five state policy alternatives that address HIV counseling and testing. The policy analysis utilizes vertical and horizontal equity, user preference including avoidance of stigma and the right to privacy, effectiveness, and feasibility as evaluative criteria for examination of the policies. Interviews with state health department personnel enhance the policy analysis. While universal HIV counseling and voluntary testing for pregnant women emerges as the most acceptable policy, public health professionals must assume a vital role in facilitating the adoption of ethical and just state policies in an atmosphere sometimes hostile to women at risk for HIV.

AIDS Serodiagnosis↗
PubMed1994

The characteristics of northern black churches with community health outreach programs.

OBJECTIVES: The Black church has a long history of addressing unmet health and human service needs, yet few studies have examined characteristics of churches involved in health promotion. METHODS: Data obtained from a survey of 635 Black churches in the northern United States were examined. Univariate and multivariate statistical procedures identified eight characteristics associated with community health outreach programs: congregation size, denomination, church age, economic class of membership, ownership of church, number of paid clergy, presence of other paid staff, and education level of the minister. RESULTS: A logistic regression model identified church size and educational level of the minister as the strongest predictors of church-sponsored community health outreach. The model correctly classified 88% of churches that conduct outreach programs. Overall, the model correctly classified 76% of churches in the sample. CONCLUSIONS: Results may be used by public health professionals and policy makers to enlist Black churches as an integral component for delivery of health promotion and disease prevention services needed to achieve the Year 2000 health objectives for all Americans.

Black or African American↗
PubMed1993

AIDS and the African American woman: the triple burden of race, class, and gender.

The disproportionate impact of human immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV) disease on African American women is devastating to their lives, their families, their communities, and our society. Among AIDS cases in women, 52.5% are black. African American women with HIV disease constitute one of the least powerful and most burdened segments of society. The African American woman whose behavior places her at risk for HIV infection must be the focus of increased prevention and treatment efforts. This article will describe risk factors for HIV infection and AIDS educational needs of women at risk. The interaction of race, gender, and social class will be explored. The controversy over medical manifestations of HIV will be addressed within the context of the social reality of African American women at risk. Reproductive rights and public policy issues will be discussed. Health educators must overcome their fear, class prejudice, and racial bias in order to form the interracial coalition necessary to lead our nation in the struggle to stop the devastation of AIDS among African American women and children.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1993

The burdens of race and history on Black Americans' attitudes toward needle exchange policy to prevent HIV disease.

We must enter the second decade of AIDS with the knowledge that existing public health efforts have failed to stop the disproportionate spread of HIV disease among Americans of African descent. This article presents the cold epidemiological facts which lay bare the moral tragedy that Black Americans are being killed by a disease which is almost totally preventable. This paper discusses the primary behavioral risk factors for HIV infection and the context in which HIV disease emerged in the 1980s. Additionally, we present results from cross-sectional surveys of selected black populations to demonstrate how AIDS knowledge deficits and attitudinal barriers have shaped the perceptions of Black Americans toward needle exchange programs as an HIV prevention strategy advocated by public health authorities. A model that may be utilized to educate the Black community and facilitate their involvement in the development of needle exchange policy is described.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, 1932 to 1972: implications for HIV education and AIDS risk education programs in the black community.

The Tuskegee study of untreated syphilis in the Negro male is the longest nontherapeutic experiment on human beings in medical history. The strategies used to recruit and retain participants were quite similar to those being advocated for HIV/AIDS prevention programs today. Almost 60 years after the study began, there remains a trail of distrust and suspicion that hampers HIV education efforts in Black communities. The AIDS epidemic has exposed the Tuskegee study as a historical marker for the legitimate discontent of Blacks with the public health system. The belief that AIDS is a form of genocide is rooted in a social context in which Black Americans, faced with persistent inequality, believe in conspiracy theories about Whites against Blacks. These theories range from the belief that the government promotes drug abuse in Black communities to the belief that HIV is a manmade weapon of racial warfare. An open and honest discussion of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study can facilitate the process of rebuilding trust between the Black community and public health authorities. This dialogue can contribute to the development of HIV education programs that are scientifically sound, culturally sensitive, and ethnically acceptable.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1990

Are health educators being prepared to provide HIV/AIDS education?: A survey of selected health education professional preparation programs.

Health education professional preparation programs were surveyed to determine the extent of HIV/AIDS education health educators are receiving. The survey also addressed content areas, skills being developed or enhanced, areas of deficiency in preparation programs, and areas in which national professional associations may assist in the preparation of AIDS educators. One hundred eight-three surveys were mailed; 114 (68%) were completed and returned. Twenty-one institutions reported planning a separate course on HIV/AIDS. Most were designing general service courses to reach a broad cross-section of students. Twenty-five institutions (23.8%) reported previously offering or currently offering a specific course on AIDS. One hundred two (89.5%) respondents reported HIV/AIDS warranted the attention and funding it had received. Thirty-seven (35.2%) respondents reported AIDS education was of sufficient importance to influence hiring of faculty members in their departments. Survey findings demonstrate that current AIDS education courses targeted to the general student population may not be adequate in meeting the professional preparation needs of health educators charged to provide AIDS education.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1987

Effects of the protozoan parasite Sarcocystis rauschorum on open-field behaviour of its intermediate vertebrate host, Dicrostonyx richardsoni.

Behaviour and activity levels were measured in varying lemmings experimentally infected with the heteroxenous parasite, Sarcocystis rauschorum to test the hypothesis that the parasite alters behaviour of this intermediate host and thereby increases probability of transmission to the definitive host, the snowy owl (Nyctea scandiaca). Measures of short-term activity levels on a running wheel indicated no effect of the parasite, either directly, or indirectly as a result of illness. We observed behaviour of infected lemmings placed in an "open field" (arena). Lemmings would increase their susceptibility to predators if they spent more time away from cover, used crypsis (stationary postures) less, spent more time exploring (especially in unfamiliar areas), or responded inappropriately to threats from predators. We found that only exploratory activity showed significant change after infection. The frequency of exploratory activity increased and became disassociated from the usual fear response. This may increase the lemmings' susceptibility to aerial predation. The mechanism for this effect is unknown, but neurological lesions have been observed. The examination of the modes of transmission of the S. rauschorum parasite within lemming populations and of a possible fecundity compensation strategy adopted by the lemmings, and their relevance to population control, are suggested as areas for future study.

Animals↗