Health research and drug trials rely on volunteers to test methodologies, conclusions, treatments and drugs. Volunteers are often enticed to participate based on some incentive; perhaps the chance at a cure, or a financial incentive, while others have been forced to participate against their knowledge. One thinks of the Tuskegee syphilis experiment and the Cincinnati radiation experiments, both of which targeted populations rendered vulnerable by income and race, and wonders about the long term affects of these exercises. Researchers have theorized that these experiments have tainted the population’s likelihood to willingly participate in health research. The 2006 article Are Racial and Ethnic Minorities Less Willing to Participate in Health Research? examines twenty previous studies to determine if volunteer rates differed by race and ethnicity and found only very small differences between racial groups.
JBFCS: The National Center For Jewish Healing helps communities meet the spiritual needs of Jews living with illness, loss and other significant life challenges. Their website describes a host of programs and services. Researchers should explore the Publications section to find suggested purchases of books and multimedia, as well as free guides about visiting the sick and resources for making a visit.
Archive of Judaism and Health Research is an archive of scholarly resources on topics related to Judaism, health, and healing established in 2010 as a joint venture of the Kalsman Institute on Judaism and Health (KIJH) at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) and the Program on Religion and Population Health (PRPH) of the Institute for Studies of Religion (ISR) at Baylor University. Find reading suggestions on a range of health issues, including infertility, meditation, mental health, morality, spirituality, Halakha, addiction, death, and grief. Explore the Documents section for links to health related sermons, publications from Jewish agencies, conference presentations, and scholarly papers. The journal article section does not actually contain articles, rather it recommends and describes databases for finding articles; most of the databases require subscriptions and will only be accessible in a library. The multimedia section contains Powerpoint presentations, and video and audio clips. An attractive website with a good deal of useful content.
The Kalsman Institute is a department of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. The Institute’s goal is to “unite spiritual leaders, healthcare providers and Jewish community members” to promote awareness and dialogue about the health care needs of Jewish people and communities, train students as hospital chaplains, and fosters the development of bikur cholim (visiting the sick) communities within congregations. Primary areas of interest are bioethics, spirituality and healing, illness and wellness, and the healthcare system. Within these areas find a brief explanation, suggested readings, and links to websites.
The Migration Information Source website serves as news and data source related to all facets of global migration. Researchers will find the data sources the most useful. Compare countries, view maps, explore U.S. immigration in historical context, and much more. Conduct searches or navigate topical areas such as country resources, which contains profiles for nearly 100 countries, including often overlooked countries such as Macedonia, Moldova, East Timor, Tonga, Lativa, Georgia, Lesotho, and Burkina Faso. Fact sheets since 2003.
National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health works to ensure the fundamental human right to reproductive health and justice for Latinas. The Institute’s Spanish/English website offers resources for a variety of audiences, but its main strength is provision of current news stories and the organization’s training programs.
Cultural Diversity in Healthcare is a well-designed site maintained by a Professor of Anthropology and Nursing. The site contains articles on culture and healthcare, concepts relevant to understanding diversity in healthcare, field reports, and cultural profiles on various ethnic groups. Thirty case studies of conflicts and misunderstandings in healthcare settings are excerpted from the author’s book. The case studies address both religious and ethnic groups.
Cultural competency is vital to health care and the National Center for Cultural Competence’s mission “provides national leadership and contributes to the body of knowledge on cultural and linguistic competence within systems and organizations.” The Center sponsers research projects, provides assessment tools, information about finding consultants, cultural brokering, curricula enhancement modules, and many other tools and resources (some in Spanish.) Take some time to explore this attractive site.
Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Childhood Overweight is a 2009 research report from the Julian Samora Research Institute at Michigan State University. The report looks at the effects of family social capital, community social capital, and collective efficacy and concludes that parental discipline and involvement in activities reduces the likelihood of overweight children.
Understanding Cultural and Linguistic Barriers to Health Literacy is an article from 2009 “describing…interrelationships between health literacy, culture, and language … [and]offering recommendations for promoting health literacy in the presence of cultural and language barriers….”