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Biomedical subjects

Tricia S Tang

Publications and source records attributed to Tricia S Tang.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

Acculturation and its relationship to smoking and breast self-examination frequency in African American women.

The concept of acculturation has been used to understand differences in health behaviors between and within a variety of racial and ethnic immigrant groups. Few studies, however, have examined the potential impact of acculturation on health behaviors among African Americans. The present study has two goals: 1) to reconfirm relations between acculturation and cigarette smoking; 2) to investigate the impact of acculturation on another type of health behavior, cancer screening and specifically breast self-examination (BSE). African American women (N = 66) attending an inner-city cancer-screening clinic completed study questionnaires. Results reconfirmed psychometric properties of the African American Acculturation Scale (AAAS); replicated the negative association between acculturation and lifetime smoking status; and found relations between acculturation and women's adherence to BSE frequency guidelines. Findings from this study raise the possibility that specific aspects of acculturation may better explain specific health behaviors.

Acculturation↗

Elective rotations and their impact on resident and faculty decision making.

BACKGROUND: Restrictions on resident-duty work hours have led to fewer opportunities to participate in elective rotations. PURPOSE: To investigate the potential impact of elective rotations on resident and faculty physicians using allergy/immunology (A/I) as a model. METHODS: A questionnaire was sent to 375 primary care physicians. It assessed demographic information, training background, A/I-referral history and intentions, and perceived knowledge of A/I-specific issues. RESULTS: A total of 228 surveys were returned. Resident physicians who were more senior in their training or who had taken an A/I rotation were more likely to have referred a patient to A/I in the past, more likely to refer a patient to A/I for chronic sinusitis, and more likely to report a greater knowledge of A/I topics. Faculty physicians with a history of an A/I rotation were more likely to feel knowledgeable about A/I topics. CONCLUSION: Elective rotations are positively correlated with perceived knowledge, referral intentions, and past history of referrals.

Allergy and Immunology↗

"Learning by teaching": a peer-teaching model for diversity training in medical school.

BACKGROUND: The sociocultural medicine teaching experience examines the viability and efficacy of a peer teaching model in enhancing diversity-focused attitudes, knowledge, and skills in medicine among advanced level medical students. DESCRIPTION: This experience recruited 4th year students to facilitate diversity-focused case-based discussions for 2nd year students. Peer teachers participated in a training session that addressed personal exploration of sociocultural background, health care disparities, biosociocultural aspects of the patient case, and facilitation skills. Evaluation assessed learning outcomes, teaching experience; and attitudes, knowledge, and skills related to sociocultural medicine. EVALUATION: Paired t tests revealed a greater understanding of the relation among sociocultural background, health, and medicine (p <.05), and greater proficiency with teaching sociocultural medicine topics to peers (p <.01). Overall, peer teachers agreed the experience increased their exposure to sociocultural factors in patient care, enhanced their case conceptualization skills, and encouraged them to consider personal belief systems. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest peer teaching can be an effective model to refine knowledge, attitudes, and skills related to diversity issues in health care. The model may be a viable approach for diversity training in graduate and continuing medical education.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

Are residents more comfortable than faculty members when addressing sociocultural diversity in medicine?

PURPOSE: Sociocultural medicine is a growing curricular area in medical education. Because faculty members and residents will teach these curricula and model these skills in patient care, it is important to assess their attitudes toward diversity. This study examined faculty members' and residents' attitudes toward sociocultural issues in medicine. METHOD: In November 2000, 198 physicians from the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Michigan Medical School completed a questionnaire on demographics and sociocultural attitudes in medicine while they attended a department-wide retreat on cultural competency. A factor analysis of the sociocultural attitudes measure yielded five dimensions accounting for 70% of the variance. These factors included sexual orientation, diversity in professional functions, discussing race/ethnicity in teaching forums, clinical skills, and alternative medicine. RESULTS: Significant differences were found between faculty members and residents for sexual orientation issues (t = 2.76, p <.01) and alternative medicine (t = 2.84, p <.01), with residents endorsing greater comfort in these areas of patient care. When controlling for demographic/background variables, group differences disappeared. Past exposure to multiculturalism emerged as a significant predictor for both sociocultural attitude dimensions. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggested while residents felt more comfortable than faculty members did with sexual orientation and alternative medicine issues in medicine, attitudes may have been related more to previous diversity education than to seniority of the physician. Integrating diversity education within departments and across the medical education continuum likely benefits all physicians. In the area of sociocultural medicine, both faculty members and residents can offer perspectives valuable to medical students, colleagues, and the larger medical community.

Adult↗

Implementation and evaluation of an undergraduate Sociocultural Medicine Program.

PURPOSE: To demonstrate an effective model for designing, implementing, and evaluating the Sociocultural Medicine Program (SMP), part of a comprehensive sociocultural medicine curriculum at the University of Michigan Medical School. METHOD: This study followed a cross-sectional, pre- and post-intervention survey design. A total of 167 medical students completed a measure of attitudes toward sociocultural issues in medicine prior to and following participation in the SMP. Students' attitudes were assessed in the domains of "exposure to sociocultural issues," "sociocultural factors in clinical scenarios," and "sociocultural background in patient/physician/health status issues." RESULTS: Paired t-tests of the pre- and post-intervention responses revealed significant positive changes for items in the domain of exposure to sociocultural issues in medicine: experience with sociocultural issues in a clinical setting (p <.01), understanding of relationship among sociocultural background, health, and medicine (p <.001), and importance of sociocultural background in students' future patient populations (p <.01). Significant changes were also found for the impact of sociocultural background in patient/physician/health status issues: physician-patient relationship (p <.001) and patients' health behavior (p <.001). CONCLUSIONS: The SMP had a significant educational impact on students' attitudes towards sociocultural issues in medicine. Students reported greater exposure to these issues conceptually and clinically, and greater influence of sociocultural factors in patients' behaviors and patient- physician relationships. Critical components of this SMP were faculty development, multiple teaching approaches, and pre- and post-intervention evaluation.

Cross-Sectional Studies↗

Implementing an empowerment-based diabetes self-management education program.

Diabetes educators are challenged to develop culturally appropriate, integrated, behaviorally based, effective education programs. This article describes the intervention used in a problem-based educational program for urban African Americans with diabetes. The intervention consisted of six 2-hour, weekly group educational and data collection sessions. No lectures were used, and the content was determined by participants' questions and concerns. Culturally tailored written educational materials were also provided.

Diabetes Mellitus↗

Developing a new generation of ongoing: Diabetes self-management support interventions: a preliminary report.

PURPOSE: The study examined the feasibility, acceptability, and potential impact of an innovative, community-based, ongoing self-management intervention aimed at enhancing and sustaining self-care behaviors over the long term among urban African Americans with type 2 diabetes. METHODS: Sixty-two African American men and women completed the study. Participants were invited to attend 24 weekly, consecutive, diabetes self-management support/ education groups. The flow of the weekly group sessions was guided by questions and concerns of the patients. Baseline and 6-month follow-up metabolic functioning, lipid profiles, cardiovascular functioning, and self-care behaviors were assessed. RESULTS: Ninety percent (n = 56) of the sample attended at least 1 session; 40% attended at least 12 or more sessions. Paired t tests found significant improvements in body mass index (P < .001), total cholesterol (P < .01), high-density lipoprotein (P < .05), and low-density lipoprotein (P < .001). Significant increases were also found for self-care behaviors (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary evidence suggests that participation in this weekly problem-based, self-management support intervention can yield diabetes-related health benefits.

Aged↗