The over arching goal of this RCMAR is to move beyond the identification and description of older African American/Caucasian health-related disparities to understanding the disparities within the African American population and identifying solutions designed to address these health issues. (Geiger, 1996). Our theme is to improve the process of health care delivery for older African Americans by addressing issues and interventions related to providers and provider/patient interactions. RCMAR investigators will focus on developing measurement tools and testing recruitment/retention approaches needed to test interventions. If the interventions are successful, RCMAR investigators hope to move the interventions forward to statewide implementation. Through its Cores, the South Carolina RCMAR will: (1) establish a mechanism for mentoring research careers focused on the health of older African Americans (see Investigator Development Core); (2) enhance cultural diversity of the workforce conducting research on the health of older African Americans (see Investigator Development Core); (3) conduct research on and deploy strategies for recruiting and retaining African Americans in social, behavioral, economic, epidemiologic, and/or biomedical interventional research dealing with the health of the elderly (see Community Liaison Core); (4) facilitate innovative strategies to support enduring research careers in minority health and aging, and/or encourage recruitment of established researchers to undertake research on minority health and aging (see Investigator Development Core); (5) improve the research methods and tools necessary to conduct rigorous and comparable research in diverse populations (see Measurement Core); (6) advance scientific knowledge leading to a decrease in health disparities (goal of Community Liaison Core, Investigator Development Core through Pilot Studies, and Measurement Core); and (7) disseminate research results to scientific and nonscientific communities addressing the resolution of health disparities through the ultimate improvement of the health of older African Americans (see Administrative, Investigator Development, and Community Liaison Cores). The long-range RCMAR infrastructure-building goals are to use the RCMAR research structure to develop interventions that will improve the health and well being of older African American populations in the State of South Carolina and reduce the health disparities suffered by African Americans in this state.
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