Understanding Impediments and Enablers to Physical Activity among African American Adults: A Systematic Review of Qualitative Studies

Objective: To systematically assess and summarize impediments and facilitating factors impacting physical activity participation among African American Adults. ^ Method: A systematic search of the literature was conducted, which included electronic databases, as well as reference list of relevant papers. Only qualitative studies which measured race and ethnicity and had African American as adult participants were included. The main themes and categories from the qualitative studies pertaining to impediments and facilitators to physical activity were identified and summarized, through descriptive meta-synthesis. ^ Result: Twenty nine qualitative studies were included. Twenty-one of the studies only focused on adult African American women, and the barriers and facilitators to physical activity as perceived by them. The biggest individual enabler towards physical activity was the positive health benefits associated with regular physical activity. Social support and easy access to parks and facilities were also identified as enablers. Barriers toward physical activity were lack of time, lack of motivation, long work hours, and physical disabilities. ^ Conclusions: The findings of this review study should be useful to those planning an intervention in African American communities. There is also a need for qualitative studies conducted only among African American men, to better understand their perspective on the facilitators and barriers to physical activity.^

The Commodification and Appropriation of African-American Vernacular Dances

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Sudden Infant Death disparities: A systematic review on health education and policy recommendations for decreasing Sudden Infant Death in the African-American community

Objective: To perform a systematic review of the literature on SIDS and SUID deaths concentrated in the African-American community, describe health education and policy recommendations and recommend a new approach that may aid in decreasing the disparity of infant mortality in the African-American community. ^ Methods: The PubMed database was systematically searched to identify relevant articles for final review and analysis. Using the CASP 2006 system to critique literature, twelve articles were found that met inclusion and exclusion criteria. ^ Results: Evidence in the literature confirmed there was a current disparity among African Americans' infant mortality rates in comparison to other US ethnic groups. The underlying reasons for these disparities included the following maternal and infant characteristics: mothers younger than eighteen, having more than one live infant, having a high school education or less, never been married, and have infants born preterm or with low birth weight. Maternal smoking, substance abuse, and breastfeeding did not have a significant impact on infant sleep environments among African Americans. ^ Conclusion: Tailored health education programs at the community level, better access to pre-pregnancy and prenatal care, and increased maternal perception of risk that is relevant to the infants sleeping environment are all possible solutions that may decrease African American infant mortality rates.^

Determinants of physical activity in active and low-active, sixth grade African-American youth

This study compared the determinants of physical activity in active and low-active African-American sixth grade students (N=108, 57 F, 51 M). Objective assessments of physical activity over a seven-day period were obtained using the CSA 7164 accelerometer. Students were classified as active if they exhibited three pr more 20-minute bouts of moderate to vigorous physical activity over the seven-day period. Relative to low-actives, active boys reported significantly higher levels of self-efficacy, greater involvement in community physical activity organizations, and were significantly more likely to perceive their mother us active. Relative to low-actives, active girls reported significantly higher levels of physical activity self-efficacy, greater positive beliefs regarding physical activity outcomes, and were significantly less likely to watch television or play video games for greater than or equal to 3 hrs/day. These observations provide preliminary guidance as to the design of physical activity interventions targeted at African-American youth.

Psychosocial correlates of physical activity in white and African-American girls

Purpose To evaluate the relative utility of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) in explaining intentions and physical activity behavior in white and African-American eighth-grade girls. Methods One-thousand-thirty white and 1114 African-American eighth-grade girls (mean age 13.6 ± 0.7 years) from 31 middle schools in South Carolina completed a 3-day physical activity recall and a questionnaire assessing attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, self-efficacy, and intentions related to regular participation in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Results Among Whites, 17% of the variance in intentions was contributed by subjective norms and attitude, with intentions accounting for 8% of the variance in MVPA. The addition of perceived behavioral control and self-efficacy to the TRA significantly improved the prediction of intentions and MVPA accounting for 40% and 10% of the variance, respectively. Among African-Americans, subjective norms and attitude accounted for 13% of the variance in intentions, with intentions accounting for only 3% of the variance in MVPA. The addition of perceived behavioral control and self-efficacy to the TRA significantly improved the prediction of intentions and MVPA accounting for 28% and 5% of the variance, respectively. Conclusions The results provided limited empirical support for the TPB among white adolescent girls; however, our findings suggest that the planned behavior framework has limited utility among African-American adolescent girls. The relatively weak link between intentions and MVPA observed in both population groups suggest that constructs external to the TPB may be more important mediators of physical activity behavior in adolescent girls.

Singing Through Struggle: Music as a Mode of Cultural Exchange in African American Border City Churches After Emancipation, 1862-1890

This project investigates how religious music, invested with symbolic and cultural meaning, provided African Americans in border city churches with a way to negotiate conflict, assert individual values, and establish a collective identity in the post- emancipation era. In order to focus on the encounter between former slaves and free Blacks, the dissertation examines black churches that received large numbers of southern migrants during and after the Civil War. Primarily a work of history, the study also employs insights and conceptual frameworks from other disciplines including anthropology and ritual studies, African American studies, aesthetic theory, and musicology. It is a work of historical reconstruction in the tradition of scholarship that some have called "lived religion." Chapter 1 introduces the dissertation topic and explains how it contributes to scholarship. Chapter 2 examines social and religious conditions African Americans faced in Baltimore, MD, Philadelphia, PA, and Washington, DC to show why the Black Church played a key role in African Americans' adjustment to post-emancipation life. Chapter 3 compares religious slave music and free black church music to identify differences and continuities between them, as well as their functions in religious settings. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 present case studies on Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church (Baltimore), Zoar Methodist Episcopal Church (Philadelphia), and St. Luke’s Protestant Episcopal Church (Washington, DC), respectively. Informed by fresh archival materials, the dissertation shows how each congregation used its musical life to uphold values like education and community, to come to terms with a shared experience, and to confront or avert authority when cultural priorities were threatened. By arguing over musical choices or performance practices, or agreeing on mutually appealing musical forms like the gospel songs of the Sunday school movement, African Americans forged lively faith communities and distinctive cultures in otherwise adverse environments. The study concludes that religious music was a crucial form of African American discourse and expression in the post-emancipation era. In the Black Church, it nurtured an atmosphere of exchange, gave structure and voice to conflict, helped create a public sphere, and upheld the values of black people.

Stereotype threat and the standardized testing experiences of African American children at an urban elementary school

Stereotype threat (Steele & Aronson, 1995) refers to the risk of confirming a negative stereotype about one’s group in a particular performance domain. The theory assumes that performance in the stereotyped domain is most negatively affected when individuals are more highly identified with the domain in question. As federal law has increased the importance of standardized testing at the elementary level, it can be reasonably hypothesized that the standardized test performance of African American children will be depressed when they are aware of negative societal stereotypes about the academic competence of African Americans. This sequential mixed-methods study investigated whether the standardized testing experiences of African American children in an urban elementary school are related to their level of stereotype awareness. The quantitative phase utilized data from 198 African American children at an urban elementary school. Both ex-post facto and experimental designs were employed. Experimental conditions were diagnostic and non-diagnostic testing experiences. The qualitative phase utilized data from a series of six focus group interviews conducted with a purposefully selected group of 4 African American children. The interview data were supplemented with data from 30 hours of classroom observations. Quantitative findings indicated that the stereotype threat condition evoked by diagnostic testing depresses the reading test performance of stereotype-aware African American children (F[1, 194] = 2.21, p < .01). This was particularly true of students who are most highly domain-identified with reading (F[1, 91] = 19.18, p < .01). Moreover, findings indicated that only stereotype-aware African American children who were highly domain-identified were more likely to experience anxiety in the diagnostic condition (F[1, 91] = 5.97, p < .025). Qualitative findings revealed 4 themes regarding how African American children perceive and experience the factors related to stereotype threat: (1) a narrow perception of education as strictly test preparation, (2) feelings of stress and anxiety related to the state test, (3) concern with what “others” think (racial salience), and (4) stereotypes. A new conceptual model for stereotype threat is presented, and future directions including implications for practice and policy are discussed.

Stereotype Threat and the Standardized Testing Experiences of African American Children at an Urban Elementary School

Stereotype threat (Steele & Aronson, 1995) refers to the risk of confirming a negative stereotype about one’s group in a particular performance domain. The theory assumes that performance in the stereotyped domain is most negatively affected when individuals are more highly identified with the domain in question. As federal law has increased the importance of standardized testing at the elementary level, it can be reasonably hypothesized that the standardized test performance of African American children will be depressed when they are aware of negative societal stereotypes about the academic competence of African Americans. This sequential mixed-methods study investigated whether the standardized testing experiences of African American children in an urban elementary school are related to their level of stereotype awareness. The quantitative phase utilized data from 198 African American children at an urban elementary school. Both ex-post facto and experimental designs were employed. Experimental conditions were diagnostic and non-diagnostic testing experiences. The qualitative phase utilized data from a series of six focus group interviews conducted with a purposefully selected group of 4 African American children. The interview data were supplemented with data from 30 hours of classroom observations. Quantitative findings indicated that the stereotype threat condition evoked by diagnostic testing depresses the reading test performance of stereotype-aware African American children (F[1, 194] = 2.21, p < .01). This was particularly true of students who are most highly domain-identified with reading (F[1, 91] = 19.18, p < .01). Moreover, findings indicated that only stereotype-aware African American children who were highly domain-identified were more likely to experience anxiety in the diagnostic condition (F[1, 91] = 5.97, p < .025). Qualitative findings revealed 4 themes regarding how African American children perceive and experience the factors related to stereotype threat: (1) a narrow perception of education as strictly test preparation, (2) feelings of stress and anxiety related to the state test, (3) concern with what “others” think (racial salience), and (4) stereotypes. A new conceptual model for stereotype threat is presented, and future directions including implications for practice and policy are discussed.

African-American Composers for the Concert Saxophone: A Look at Three Prolific Composers

African-American composers within the field of classical music have made very profound contributions to the literature. In the field of chamber music, Scott Joplin, William Grant Still, Adolphus Hailstork and other composers illustrious composers have created an established and well-documented body of repertoire for many orchestral wind instruments. The saxophone repertoire, however, has not been developed as fully due to its limited tradition as an orchestral instrument and its prominence in the tradition of jazz and popular music. African-American composers in particular appear to be significantly under-represented within the standard concert saxophone literature. My personal experiences with saxophone repertoire in academic settings, solo recitals, conferences and in surveys of standard repertoire from nationally-recognized saxophone teachers support this assertion. There are many African-American composers who have made substantial contributions to the body of repertoire for the concert saxophone. This dissertation examines the works of three prolific African-American composers for the concert saxophone; Dr. Yusef A. Lateef, Andrew N. White III, and Dr. David N. Baker. All have composed more than five separate works featuring the concert saxophone. This project comprises three recitals, each dedicated to one of the three composers selected for this dissertation. Each recital presented will present their compositions featuring the saxophone as a soloist with various types of accompaniment. The project also includes newly-created piano reductions of Dr. David Baker's works for saxophone and orchestra made collaboratively with Baker and arranger John Leszczynski.

Orientations in Time: Music and the Construction of Historical Narrative in 20th and 21st Century African-American Literature

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-06

HIV Status Disclosure among Older African American Men Who Have Sex with Men and Women

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-06

In Whose Image: The Emergence, Development, and Challenge of African-American Evangelicalism

The current era of American Christianity marks the transition from a Western, white-dominated U.S. Evangelicalism to an ethnically diverse demographic for evangelicalism. Despite this increasing diversity, U.S. Evangelicalism has demonstrated a stubborn inability to address the entrenched assumption of white supremacy. The 1970s witnessed the rise in prominence of Evangelicalism in the United States. At the same time, the era witnessed a burgeoning movement of African-American evangelicals, who often experienced marginalization from the larger movement. What factors prevented the integration between two seemingly theologically compatible movements? How do these factors impact the challenge of integration and reconciliation in the changing demographic reality of early twenty-first Evangelicalism?

The question is examined through the unpacking of the diseased theological imagination rooted in U.S. Evangelicalism. The theological categories of Creation, Anthropology, Christology, Soteriology, and Ecclesiology are discussed to determine specific deficiencies that lead to assumptions of white supremacy. The larger history of U.S. Evangelicalism and the larger story of the African-American church are explored to provide a context for the unique expression of African-American evangelicalism in the last third of the twentieth century. Through the use of primary sources — personal interviews, archival documents, writings by principals, and private collection documents — the specific history of African-American evangelicals in the 1960s and 1970s is described. The stories of the National Black Evangelical Association, Tom Skinner, John Perkins, and Circle Church provide historical snapshots that illuminate the relationship between the larger U.S. Evangelical movement and African-American evangelicals.

Various attempts at integration and shared leadership were made in the 1970s as African-American evangelicals engaged with white Evangelical institutions. However, the failure of these attempts point to the challenges to diversity for U.S. Evangelicalism and the failure of the Evangelical theological imagination. The diseased theological imagination of U.S. Evangelical Christianity prevented engagement with the needed challenge of African American evangelicalism, resulting in dysfunctional racial dynamics evident in twenty-first century Evangelical Christianity. The historical problem of situating African American evangelicals reveals the theological problem of white supremacy in U.S. Evangelicalism.

Culturally sensitive cancer education: Effect on knowledge, cancer fatalism, and participation in mobile mammography screening among African-American women

Purpose. To evaluate the effectiveness of a culturally sensitive educational intervention that used an African American lay survivor of breast cancer to increase knowledge of breast cancer, decrease cancer fatalism, and increase participation in mobile mammography screening among African American women. ^ Design. Experimental pretest/posttest design. ^ Setting. Two predominantly African American churches in a large southwestern metropolitan city. ^ Sample. Participants included 93 African American women, 40 years of age and older. Participants were randomly assigned to an intervention group (n = 48) or a control group (n = 45). ^ Methods. Pretest and post-test measures included the Breast Cancer Knowledge Test and the Powe Fatalism Inventory. In addition, demographic and breast screening practices were collected by questionnaire. The intervention group received a breast cancer educational testimonial from an African American lay survivor of breast cancer, who answered questions and addressed concerns, while stressing the importance of taking responsibility for one's own health and spreading disease prevention messages throughout the African American community. The control group viewed the American Cancer Society “Keep In Touch” video prepared specifically for African American women. Participants in both groups were given culturally sensitive educational materials designed to increase knowledge about breast cancer, and were instructed on breast self-examination by an African American registered nurse, using ethnically appropriate breast models. In addition, after the post-test, all eligible participants were given an opportunity to have a free mammogram via a mobile mammography unit parked at the church. ^ Findings. Participants in the intervention group had a significant increase (p = .03) in knowledge of breast cancer and a significant decrease (p = .000) in fatalism scores compared to those individuals in the control group. The intervention group had a 61% participation rate in screening, while the control group had a 39% participation rate in screening. However, the difference was not statistically significant at the .05 level (p = .07). ^ Conclusions. Results demonstrate that culturally sensitive breast cancer education is successful in increasing knowledge and decreasing cancer fatalism. While there was a trend toward behavior change in the intervention group, more research needs to be done in this area. ^

African American and Teaching in Higher Education IS a Course on Race and Culture

Using theoretical applications, the authors present an overview of theories that highlight approaches for teaching culturally sensitive content, personal experiences as educator and colleague in a predominantly white college campus and strategies for addressing culturally insensitive experiences in and outside the classroom. Presenters focus on the recruitment and retention of people of color and stress the need for today's predominantly white institutions to become more knowledgeable, tolerant and sensitive about their environments in an effort to make them more accepting.

African American Student Access To and Completion Of Higher Education, 1960-1992: A Correspondence Theory Analysis

“This presentation utilizes correspondence theory to analyze African American undergraduate student access to and completion of higher education in the United States. Findings from this research are presented and policy recommendations affecting Black student enrollment and graduation are discussed.”