Diabetes disparities are common for Latino patients. Effective health communication can potentially narrow these disparities. This proposal details a career development plan that will prepare the principal investigator (PI) for success as an independent investigator with expertise in diabetes-related outcomes, health communication, and delivery of behavioral interventions for Latino diabetes patients. As an Internal Medicine- Pediatrics physician, with training in clinical investigation, the PI will gain new skills through this K23 in the areas of health disparities specific to diabetes care, enhanced Latino cultural competency, audio taping clinical encounters to assess the quality and role of health communication, and the development of a new training program for medical interpreters. The PI's immediate goals are to rigorously examine the quality of health communication between Latino diabetes patients, providers, and Spanish interpreters and the association between health communication and various diabetes-related health outcomes. To meet this goal, the PI has proposed a rigorous career development plan that incorporates additional didactic course work, regular participation in local and national meetings/seminars, a mentored research experience, and active involvement in an extremely supportive research environment. This includes an NIDDK funded Diabetes Research and Training Center (DRTC), NCRR-funded Meharry Clinical and Translational Research Center (MeTRC), Vanderbilt Program on Effective Health Communication (EHC), and an RCMI-funded Bioinformatics Core. The research specific aims are to: 1) conduct a cross-sectional, descriptive mixed-methods analysis of the quality of health communication between providers and Latino diabetes patients with particular emphasis on the role of the Spanish medical interpreter during language discordant encounters, and explore the association between baseline quality of health communication and various diabetes related health outcomes, 2) conduct an observational cohort study to examine the independent effect of provider health communication training and the use of a Spanish, literacy-sensitive educational toolkit on the quality of health communication during medical encounters, and assess the association between changes in the quality of health communication at 12 months with changes in diabetes related health outcomes, and 3) develop and pilot in a small RCT, an enhanced training program for Spanish medical interpreters geared toward improving their ability to work with providers and patients with LEP and limited health literacy during language discordant encounters. Overall, this K23 program will provide important insights into the nature of health communication with Latinos, the role of Spanish interpreters in this process, and most importantly prepare the PI for independent investigation of the role of effective health communication in addressing disparities in care for Latinos with diabetes.

Public Health Relevance

Effective health communication can potentially improve diabetes care and clinical outcomes for Latino patients. This K23 award will allow the PI to gain expertise in the evaluation of the quality of health communication during clinical encounters between Latino patients, providers, and Spanish medical interpreters and in the delivery of effective behavioral diabetes interventions.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
Type
Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23)
Project #
5K23DK092470-06
Application #
8852600
Study Section
Kidney, Urologic and Hematologic Diseases D Subcommittee (DDK)
Program Officer
Spain, Lisa M
Project Start
2011-09-01
Project End
2017-05-31
Budget Start
2015-06-01
Budget End
2017-05-31
Support Year
6
Fiscal Year
2015
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Mayo Clinic Jacksonville
Department
Type
DUNS #
153223151
City
Jacksonville
State
FL
Country
United States
Zip Code
32224
Chakkalakal, Rosette J; Venkatraman, Sneha; White, Richard O et al. (2017) Validating Health Literacy and Numeracy Measures in Minority Groups. Health Lit Res Pract 1:e23-e30
Phelan, Sean M; Burke, Sara E; Hardeman, Rachel R et al. (2017) Medical School Factors Associated with Changes in Implicit and Explicit Bias Against Gay and Lesbian People among 3492 Graduating Medical Students. J Gen Intern Med 32:1193-1201
Wolff, Kathleen; Chambers, Laura; Bumol, Stefan et al. (2016) The PRIDE (Partnership to Improve Diabetes Education) Toolkit: Development and Evaluation of Novel Literacy and Culturally Sensitive Diabetes Education Materials. Diabetes Educ 42:23-33
Heerman, Willliam J; White, Richard O; Barkin, Shari L (2015) Advancing informed consent for vulnerable populations. Pediatrics 135:e562-4
White, Richard O; Eden, Svetlana; Wallston, Kenneth A et al. (2015) Health communication, self-care, and treatment satisfaction among low-income diabetes patients in a public health setting. Patient Educ Couns 98:144-9
van Ryn, Michelle; Hardeman, Rachel R; Phelan, Sean M et al. (2014) Psychosocial predictors of attitudes toward physician empathy in clinical encounters among 4732 1st year medical students: a report from the CHANGES study. Patient Educ Couns 96:367-75
White, Richard O; Osborn, Chandra Y; Gebretsadik, Tebeb et al. (2013) Health literacy, physician trust, and diabetes-related self-care activities in Hispanics with limited resources. J Health Care Poor Underserved 24:1756-68
White, Richard O; Thompson, Jessica R; Rothman, Russell L et al. (2013) A health literate approach to the prevention of childhood overweight and obesity. Patient Educ Couns 93:612-8
Ciampa, Philip J; White, Richard O; Perrin, Eliana M et al. (2013) The association of acculturation and health literacy, numeracy and health-related skills in Spanish-speaking caregivers of young children. J Immigr Minor Health 15:492-8
Yin, H Shonna; Sanders, Lee M; Rothman, Russell L et al. (2012) Assessment of health literacy and numeracy among Spanish-Speaking parents of young children: validation of the Spanish Parental Health Literacy Activities Test (PHLAT Spanish). Acad Pediatr 12:68-74

Showing the most recent 10 out of 13 publications