This project is intended to develop and disseminate a sustainable approach to long-term physical activity improvement for employed African American women. The study will include a survey, an assessment of current physical activity using a pedometer, and a physical work-up, including a treadmill stress test, to describe the mental and physical health of woman employed at Grady Health Systems. Women who the survey and the pedometer physical activity test show are currently physically active will be invited to take part in focus groups to discuss factors that would help them to be more successful at integrating physical activity into their daily lives. This project is funded by the Centers for Disease Control. Principal Investigator: Carol Hogue; Project Coordinator: Jacqui Lewis.

Research on the Scope and Causes of Stillbirth in the United States

This project is intended to study the scope and causes of stillbirth in the United States. The study will include in-depth interviews with women who have experienced a stillbirth, as well as review of medical records. This study is funded by the National Institutes of Health. Co-Principal Investigators: Carol Hogue and Barbara Stoll; Project Coordinator: Janice Daniels.

Ongoing Folic Acid Research

The Women's and Children's Center has conducted innovative research in the area of folic acid for many years. Dr. Godfrey Oakley, a leader in the study of folic acid, leads these studies in our centers. Folic acid research has included the topics of: Promoting folic acid consumption among Georgia women, Measuring folic acid use among WIC women, Enrichment of foods with folic acid, and other topics.

Healthy Futures: Reduction of Adult Unintended Pregnancy in Georgia

This research campaign is focused on the reduction of adult unintended pregnancy in the state of Georgia. Nearly fifty percent of unplanned pregnancies in the United States occur to women age 20 or older. Although the perception is that teen pregnancy is of greater concern, in fact 76 percent of unintended pregnancies in this country occur to adult women. This research campaign, begun in 2004, encompasses efforts including a media campaign, provider outreach, and personal education components. Principal Investigator: Laurie Gaydos

Developing Measures of Stress Among African American Women

This multi-year project was initiated in response to data which indicates that college-educated African American women are much more likely to deliver a very low birthweight baby than their white counterparts, and to data suggesting that their levels of stress are higher. The objective is to develop and validate a scale to measure stress in African American women. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control have funded this project. Co-principal investigators: Carol Hogue, Fleda Jackson, and Mona Phillips (Spelman College).

Previous Research

African American Women and Preterm Delivery

Building on the previous research, this phase of the investigation sought to refine the pilot stress measure through content and factor analysis, validity testing, and the results from post-measure interviews. A significant finding for the research is how the intersectionality of race and gender contributes to the particular stressors confronted by African American women (gendered racism). Analysis identified the subscales of the Jackson, Hogue, Phillips contextualized stress measure: race/racism, burden, personal history, workplace stress, support/coping and stress states. One of the objectives for the project included designing an evidence-based intervention and dissemination model for the research. As the result of preliminary analysis, a stress intervention/dissemination model was implemented in the form of a day-long conference and newsletter updates for research collaborators from the communities of African American women residing in metropolitan Atlanta. Principal Investigator: Fleda Mask Jackson, Co-Investigators: Carol Hogue and Mona Phillips; Funding: Centers for Disease Control

Lay Down My Burdens: African American Women, Pregnancy and Family Interaction

This research was designed to assess the specific stresses that married and single African American women confront during pregnancy and birth. Quantitative and qualitative methods were employed to identify the content and context of racialized and gendered stress. The result informed modification of the Jackson, Hogue, Phillips Contextualized Stress Measure. A further objective of this research was to assess relational factors effecting pregnancy and birth by conducting interviews with expectant fathers to identify their perceptions and responses to pregnancy and how those reactions create stress or support for pregnant African American women. Another aspect of this investigation was the assessment of the responses of kin and how those reactions impact pregnancy experiences. Principal Investigator: Fleda Mask Jackson; Project Coordinator: Jacqui Lewis. Funding: Ford Foundation.

Calming Waters: A Research Dissemination Project for Stress Reduction among African American Women

This research supports ongoing analysis of the scale and validity data for pregnant and non-pregnant African American women across the lifespan. The aim for the project is to design and implement culturally appropriate and racially and gender specific dissemination approached for conveying the deleterious impact of stress on health outcomes for African American women. Principal Investigator: Fleda Mask Jackson; Project Coordinator: Jacqui Lewis. Funding: Ford Foundation.

Circumstances of Pregnancy

This project is intended to study women's thoughts about pregnancy and motherhood. In an effort to study these issues, this study consists of focus groups and surveys that address pregnancy intention, happiness about pregnancy, pregnancy planning, and the meaning and value of pregnancy. The focus groups, conducted in English and Spanish, include approximately 400 women at various health department sites. The surveys were collected at health department and private medical clinics. Principal Investigator: Anne Lifflander; Project Coordinator: Jacqui Lewis

Calming the Waters: Holding Back the Storms

The objective of this project was to design an evidence-based intervention and dissemination approach for African American women who participated in the research on stress and support for African American women. Principal Investigator: Fleda Mask Jackson; Funding Centers for Disease Control

Quality Assurance in Vaccine Storage and Handling

This three-year project assessed the knowledge and practices of personnel involved in maintaining the cold chain for vaccines being distributed by the new federal Vaccines for Children Program. A national survey of state vaccine storage depots and a survey of clinics in Georgia contributed to the development of new training approaches to increase the likelihood that children are immunized with vaccines that have not lost their potency. The project was funded by the Centers for Disease Control. Principal Investigator: Carol Hogue; Project Director: Karen Bell.

Coordination of WIC and Managed Care Prevention Services

As increasing numbers of low-income women and children are enrolled in state-mandated Medicaid managed care, they may encounter fragmentation of services and other supportive programs such as WIC, counseling, and family planning. This three-year project surveyed all 50 states to determine to what extent WIC services are being integrated with primary health care in managed care settings, and developed an evaluation protocol to study health outcomes in fully integrated programs. The project was funded by the Centers for Disease Control. Principal Investigator: Carol Hogue; Project Coordinator, Karen Bell; Survey Director, Sheana Bull.

Collaboration with GCAPP

The WCC assisted the newly formed Georgia Campaign on Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention to develop approaches for enhancing the attractiveness of family planning clinics to sexually active teenagers. GCAPP is planning a survey of clinics in Georgia to assess the extent to which these approaches have been implemented.

Analysis of the Commonwealth Fund Minority Health Study

The Commonwealth Fund commissioned Louis Harris & Associates, Inc., in 1994 to survey a random sample of about 1000 Hispanics, 1000 African Americans, 1000 Whites, and 600 Asian Americans regarding their health status and care. This two-year project brought together 12 leading biomedical, health services, and social scientists from throughout the U.S. to use the data collected to assess issues related to health care access, quality, and utilization for adults in minority populations. Results of the analyses will be published together. This project was funded by the Commonwealth Fund. Principal Investigators: Carol Hogue and Martha Hargreaves (U.Texas Medical Branch).