The women who participated in this study spontaneously listed among their top four most serious health threats for African-American women the same four most common causes of death as reported by the Centers for Disease Control (heart disease, cancer, cerebrovascular disease and diabetes). However, the considerable variations in their levels of awareness of each disease [...]
Continue reading " Womens Perceptions of Their Most Serious Health Problems: DISCUSSION "
Top Health Problems
One of the survey questions asked participants to list the top four most serious health threats for African-American women. Half (50.4%) of the participants listed four health threats, 26.4% listed three, 13.5% listed two, 4.9% listed one and 4.7% provided no response.
Table 1 shows the four health problems most frequently mentioned by the [...]
Continue reading " Women’s Perceptions of Their Most Serious Health Problems: RESULTS "
Women responded to 10 closed-ended statements related to their perceptions of their ability to influence their own health outcomes (Table 6). The women’s discernment of the subtle phrasing differences in the series of attitudinal statements suggested that they had read and understood each question. The women’s responses strongly suggested that they know there are things [...]
Instrument Development
While it would have been ideal to use an instrument that had previously been validated for this data collection, no instrument was identified that addressed the specific questions that were the focus of this inquiry. Hence, an instrument was developed and pilot tested, first with focus interviews and focus groups and then with a [...]
Continue reading " Women’s Perceptions of Their Most Serious Health Problems: METHODS "
The sample included 1,055 African-American women living in San Diego County between the ages of 20 and 94, with a mean age of 40.5 years (SD=15.6). This weighting of younger participants in the sample is consistent with the age distribution of the region’s African-American population. While 6% of the county’s population is African-American, only 3.1% [...]
Continue reading " Women’s Perceptions of Their Most Serious Health Problems: Sample Description "
INTRODUCTION
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), chronic diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes, are among the leading causes of disability and death. Diabetes, for example, is not only a significant cause of death, but it is also a major risk factor for cerebrovascular and cardiovascular disease as well [...]
Continue reading " Women’s Perceptions of Their Most Serious Health Problems "
