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With the growing trend of community-based research, academic-based Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) often lack appropriate community-based ethical considerations in their reviews. Thus, the Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO) established an in-house community IRB to ensure that AAPCHO or member-initiated research is relevant to its community health centers (CHCs) and their Asian American, Native Hawaiian & Other Pacific Islander (AA&NHOPI) patients. Evaluations conducted at the IRB’s one-year mark demonstrated members and applicants’ satisfaction with the IRB’s performance. Evaluation results and best practices show that AAPCHO’s IRB promotes community leadership and research capacity and ensures community-applicable research plans.

Vietnamese immigrants tend to cluster in targeted geographic areas and occupations with resulting disproportionate exposure opportunities to hazardous environmental chemicals and neighborhood stressors; yet there is little research on environmental health in this population. Vietnamese communities in Alameda, Marin, Santa Clara, and Orange counties in California conducted community mapping audits (i.e., collecting air-contaminant data, observational survey information, and photovoice documentation) in neighborhoods where they live, work, and play. This paper describes the community-based participatory research process that helped to raise awareness about the environment for participating communities, and looks at how community engagement can lead to action for change.

Breast and cervical cancers are the second and fourth leading causes of cancer death among Asian and Pacific Islander women. Despite screening exams that can detect these cancers early and increase survival, racial and ethnic populations continue to be disproportionately affected. This study examined the sources of information and their impacts on cancer screening compliance among native Hawaiians in Orange County, California. A community-based participatory research approach was used to conceive, design, implement, and analyze data. A relatively small proportion of the study's native Hawaiian women were compliant with recommended breast and cervical cancer screenings, and their screening rates were below the national Healthy People 2010 standards. Knowledge of screening procedures, seeking advice from a doctor, and obtaining information from internet medical sites were associated with higher rates of compliance with cancer-screening procedures.

We examined whether the impact of medical interpretation services was associated with the receipt of a mammogram, clinical breast exam, and Pap smear. We conducted a large cross-sectional study involving four Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities with high proportions of individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP). Participants were recruited from community clinics, churches and temples, supermarkets, and other community gathering sites in Northern and Southern California. Among those that responded, 98% completed the survey rendering a total of 1,708 AAPI women. In a series of multivariate logistic regression models, it was found that women who typically used a medical interpreter had a greater odds of having received a mammogram (odds ratio [OR] = 1.85; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.21, 2.83), clinical breast exam (OR = 3.03; 95% CI = 1.82, 5.03), and a Pap smear (OR = 2.34; 95% CI = 1.38, 3.97) than those who did not usually use an interpreter. The study provides support for increasing language access in healthcare settings. In particular, medical interpreters may help increase the utilization of breast and cervical cancer screening among LEP AAPI women.

ObjectivesWe examined trends in smoking prevalence from 2002 through 2006 in 4 Asian communities served by the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) intervention.MethodsAnnual survey data from 2002 through 2006 were gathered in 4 REACH Asian communities. Trends in the age-standardized prevalence of current smoking for men in 2 Vietnamese communities, 1 Cambodian community, and 1 Asian American/Pacific Islander (API) community were examined and compared with nationwide US and state-specific data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.ResultsPrevalence of current smoking decreased dramatically among men in REACH communities. The reduction rate was significantly greater than that observed in the general US or API male population, and it was greater than reduction rates observed in the states in which REACH communities were located. There was little change in the quit ratio of men at the state and national levels, but there was a significant increase in quit ratios in the REACH communities, indicating increases in the proportions of smokers who had quit smoking.ConclusionsSmoking prevalence decreased in Asian communities served by the REACH project, and these decreases were larger than nationwide decreases in smoking prevalence observed for the same period. However, disparities in smoking prevalence remain a concern among Cambodian men and non-English-speaking Vietnamese men; these subgroups continue to smoke at a higher rate than do men nationwide.

In recent years, there has been a growing number of programs employing health navigators to assist underserved individuals in overcoming barriers to obtaining regular and quality health care. This article describes the perspectives and experiences of community-based health navigators in the Cambodian and Laotian communities involved in a REACH 2010 project to reduce health disparities in breast and cervical cancer among Pacific Islander and Southeast Asian communities in California. These community health navigators, who have extensive training and knowledge about the cultural, historical, and structural needs and resources of their communities, are well equipped to build trusting relationships with community members traditionally ignored by the mainstream medical system. By comparing the different social support roles and intervention strategies employed by community health navigators in diverse communities, we can better understand how these valuable change agents of the health workforce are effective in improving health access and healthy behaviors for underserved communities.

In recent years, there has been a growing number of programs employing health navigators to assist underserved individuals in overcoming barriers to obtaining regular and quality health care. This article describes the perspectives and experiences of community-based health navigators in the Cambodian and Laotian communities involved in a REACH 2010 project to reduce health disparities in breast and cervical cancer among Pacific Islander and Southeast Asian communities in California. These community health navigators, who have extensive training and knowledge about the cultural, historical, and structural needs and resources of their communities, are well equipped to build trusting relationships with community members traditionally ignored by the mainstream medical system. By comparing the different social support roles and intervention strategies employed by community health navigators in diverse communities, we can better understand how these valuable change agents of the health workforce are effective in improving health access and healthy behaviors for underserved communities.

BackgroundAddressing cancer health disparities constitutes a national priority in this country, with funding for Pacific Islander efforts initiated 7 years ago by the National Cancer Institute. In 2005, the Weaving an Islander Network for Cancer Awareness, Research and Training (WINCART) was launched in Southern California by a collaboration of community and university organizations to build upon past efforts to decrease cancer health disparities for Chamorros, Native Hawaiians, Marshallese, Samoans and Tongans.MethodsTo assess community organizational capacity to participate in collaborative cancer control for Pacific Islanders, a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis was undertaken. Two staff members per community organization (CBO) performed the SWOT analyses, with grids analyzed for commonalities and differences between all organizations.ResultsStaff informants provided many examples of what they perceived as organizational strengths and weaknesses with regards to promoting cancer control for their respective Pacific Islander populations. CBO strengths included strong leadership and extensive community experience. Challenges included limited resources, lack of staff skills in some areas, and difficulty in recruiting volunteers. In addition, many external opportunities and threats to cancer control promotion were identified.ConclusionResults from the SWOT analyses have been used to identify topics for community organizational trainings and supports within WINCART, with the goals of increasing their participation in the development and implementation of collaborative, community-university driven efforts to decrease cancer disparities for Pacific Islanders in Southern California.

Purpose: To determine the impact of the quality and quantity of sleep during an international flight on subsequent objective sleep characteristics, training and match-day load, self-reported well-being, and perceptions of jet lag of elite female cricketers during an International Cricket Council Women's T20 World Cup. Methods: In-flight and tournament objective sleep characteristics of 11 elite female cricketers were assessed using activity monitors. Seated in business class, players traveled west from Melbourne, Australia, to Chennai, India. The outbound flight departed Melbourne at 3:30 AM with a stopover in Dubai for 2 hours. The arrival time in Chennai was 8:10 PM local time (1:40 AM in Melbourne). The total travel time was 19 hours 35 minutes. Perceptual ratings of jet lag, well-being, and training and competition load were collected. To determine the impact of in-flight sleep on tournament measures, a median split was used to create subsamples based on (1) in-flight sleep quantity and (2) in-flight sleep quality (2 groups: higher vs lower). Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated to assess the bivariate associations between sleep measures, self-reported well-being, perceptual measures of jet lag, and internal training and match-day load. Results: Mean duration and efficiency of in-flight sleep bouts were 4.72 hours and 87.45%, respectively. Aggregated in-flight sleep duration was 14.64 + 3.56 hours. Players with higher in-flight sleep efficiency reported higher ratings for fatigue (ie, lower perceived fatigue) during the tournament period. Tournament sleep duration was longer, and bed and wake times were earlier compared with habitual. Compared with other nights during the tournament, sleep duration was shorter following matches. Conclusions: Maximizing in-flight sleep quality and quantity appears to have implications for recovery and sleep exhibited during competition. Sleep duration was longer than habitual except for the night of a match, which suggests that T20 matches may disrupt sleep duration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last 25 years, numerous studies have been conducted to promote breast cancer and cervical cancer screening. Most of these studies focused on individual-level factors predicting screening, but we are unaware of any that directly examined community and ecological influences. The goal of this project, Promoting Access to Health for Pacific Islander and Southeast Asian Women (PATH for Women), was to increase community capacity for breast and cervical cancer screening and follow up in Los Angeles and Orange counties. We focused on Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander women because, although they have the lowest rates for cancer, compared to all other ethnic groups, relatively few programs have specifically targeted Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women to promote and sustain screening practices. The PATH for Women project involved a partnership between 5 community-based organizations and 2 universities, and included 7 Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities: Cambodians, Chamorros, Laotians, Thais, Tongans, Samoans, and Vietnamese. In this paper, we share our experiences in developing a Geographic Information System (GIS)-mapping evaluation component that was used to explore availability and accessibility to culturally responsive breast and cervical cancer screening services for Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander women in all 7 communities. We describe the methods used to develop the maps, and present the preliminary findings that demonstrate significant geographic and language barriers to accessing healthcare providers, services for breast and cervical cancer screening, and follow up, in each of the communities. Finally, we discuss implications for programs designed to promote breast and cervical screening and policy education.

This study aimed to evaluate the current management of tinea capitis in the United States, specifically focusing on patients aged 0–2 months, 2 months to 2 years, and 2 years to 18 years. An online survey, distributed through the Pediatric Dermatology Research Alliance and the Society of Pediatric Dermatology, revealed the following preferences: fluconazole for those under 2 months, griseofulvin for those aged 2 months to 2 years, and terbinafine for those aged 2 years and older. There exists inter‐provider variation in tinea capitis treatment regimens within the pediatric dermatology community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To assess relationships between objective sleep characteristics, external training loads, and subjective ratings of well-being in elite Australian football (AF) players. Methods: A total of 38 elite male AF players recorded objective sleep characteristics over a 15-day period using an activity monitor. External load was assessed during main field sessions, and ratings of well-being were provided each morning. Canonical correlation analysis was used to create canonical dimensions for each variable set (sleep, well-being, and external load). Relationships between dimensions representing sleep, external load, and well-being were quantified using Pearson r. Results: Canonical correlations were moderate between pretraining sleep and external training load (r = .32-.49), pretraining sleep and well-being (r = .32), and well-being and postlraining sleep {r=. 36). Moderate to strong correlations were observed between dimensions representing external training load and posttraining sleep (r= .31-.67), and well-being and external training load (r = .32-67). Player load and Player load 2D (PL2D) showed the greatest association to pretraining and posttraining objective sleep characteristics and well-being. Fragmented sleep was associated with players completing the following training with a higher PL2D. Conclusions: Maximum speed, player load, and PL2D were the common associations between objective sleep characteristics and well-being in AF players. Improving pretraining sleep quality and quantity may have a positive impact on AF players' well-being and movement strategy during field sessions. Following training sessions that have high maximum speed and PL2D, the increased requirement for sleep should be considered by ensuring that subsequent sessions do not start earlier than required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vaccine type and timing are critical issues to prevent unintended infections in those on immunosuppressive therapies. We retrospectively chart reviewed patients at Children's Wisconsin Pediatric Dermatology Clinic on immunosuppressives and immunomodulators between 11/1/2012 and 6/1/2020 and found that approximately 76% of patient encounters do not have documented vaccine counseling in the medical chart before initiation of immunosuppressives and immunomodulators. As age increased, vaccine counseling was less likely to be documented (odds ratio: 0.89; 95% confidence interval: 0.84–0.95, p =.001). In addition, 13 patient encounters (4%) were not up to date with live vaccines before immunosuppressive or immunomodulating therapy. There is an opportunity to improve clinical processes to ensure documentation of vaccination status and vaccine counseling before starting immunosuppressive and immunomodulator medications in a pediatric dermatology clinic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To assess the impact of match-start time and days relative to match compared with the habitual sleep characteristics of elite Australian Football (AF) players. Methods: 45 elite male AF players were assessed during the preseason (habitual) and across 4 home matches during the season. Players wore an activity monitor the night before (-1), night of (0), 1 night after (+1), and 2 nights (+2) after each match and completed a self-reported rating of sleep quality. A 2-way ANOVA with Tukey post hoc was used to determine differences in sleep characteristics between match-start times and days relative to the match. Two-way nested ANOVA was conducted to examine differences between competition and habitual phases. Effect size ± 90% confidence interval (ES ± 90% CI) was calculated to quantify the magnitude of pairwise differences. Results: Differences observed in sleep-onset latency (ES = 0.11 ± 0.16), sleep rating (ES = 0.08 ± 0.14), and sleep duration (ES = 0.08 ± 0.01) between competition and habitual periods were trivial. Sleep efficiency was almost certainly higher during competition than habitual, but this was not reflected in the subjective rating of sleep quality. Conclusions: Elite AF competition does not cause substantial disruption to sleep characteristics compared with habitual sleep. While match-start time has some impact on sleep variables, it appears that the match itself is more of a disruption than the start time. Subjective ratings of sleep from well-being questionnaires appear limited in their ability to accurately provide an indication of sleep quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To investigate changes in physiology, performance, and training practices of elite Australian rowers over 6 mo. Methods: Twenty-one elite rowers (14 male, 7 female) were monitored throughout 2 phases: phase 1 (specific preparation) and phase 2 (domestic competition). Incremental tests and rowing-ergometer time trials over 100, 500, 2000, and 6000 m were conducted at the start of the season, midseason, and late season. Weekly external (frequency, duration, distance rowed) and internal (T2minute method) loads are reported. Results: Heavyweight male rowers achieved moderate improvements in VO2max and power at VO2max. Most other changes in physiology and performance were small or unclear. External loads decreased from phase 1 to phase 2 (duration 19.3 to 18.0 h/wk, distance rowed 140 to 125 km/wk, respectively). Conversely, internal loads increased (phase 1 = 19.0 T2hours, phase 2 = 20.3 T2hours). Low-intensity training predominated (~80% of training hours at T1 and T2), and high-intensity training was greater in phase 2. Training was rowing-focused (68% of training duration), although 32% of training time was spent in nonspecific modes. The distribution of specificity was not different between phases. Conclusion: Physiology and performance results were stable over the 6-mo period. Training-load patterns differed depending on the measure, highlighting the importance of monitoring both external and internal loads. The distribution of intensity was somewhat polarized, and substantial volumes of nonspecific training were undertaken. Experimental studies should investigate the effects of different distributions of intensity and specificity on rowing performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]