The State Data Center of Iowa and the Iowa Commission on the Status of African-Americans in Iowa: 2008

To recall and celebrate the positive contributions to our nation made by people of African descent, American historian Carter G. Woodson established Black History Week beginning on Feb. 12, 1926. In 1976, as part of the nation’s bicentennial, the week was expanded into Black History Month. This report gives data information about African-Americans in Iowa.

African-Americans in Iowa, 2008

To recall and celebrate the positive contributions to our nation made by people of African descent, American historian Carter G. Woodson established Black History Week beginning on Feb. 12, 1926. In 1976, as part of the nation’s bicentennial, the week was expanded into Black History Month.

African-Americans in Iowa, 2015

To recall and celebrate the positive contributions to our nation made by people of African descent, American historian Carter G. Woodson established Black History Week beginning on Feb. 12, 1926. In 1976, as part of the nation’s bicentennial, the week was expanded into Black History Month.

African-Americans in Iowa, February 2016

To recall and celebrate the positive contributions to our nation made by people of African descent, American historian Carter G. Woodson established Black History Week beginning on Feb. 12, 1926. In 1976, as part of the nation’s bicentennial, the week was expanded into Black History Month.

African Americans in Iowa, 2006 (Status of African Americans in Iowa)

Produced by the State Data Center of Iowa for the Iowa Commission on the Status of African-Americans. It is an annual snapshot of the demographic profile of the African American population in Iowa.

African Americans in Iowa, 2007

Produced by the State Data Center of Iowa for the Iowa Commission on the Status of African-Americans. It is an annual snapshot of the demographic profile of the African American population in Iowa.

African Americans in Iowa, 2009

Produced by the State Data Center of Iowa for the Iowa Commission on the Status of African-Americans. It is an annual snapshot of the demographic profile of the African American population in Iowa.

African Americans in Iowa, 2010

Produced by the State Data Center of Iowa for the Iowa Commission on the Status of African-Americans. It is an annual snapshot of the demographic profile of the African American population in Iowa.

African Americans in Iowa, 2011

Produced by the State Data Center of Iowa for the Iowa Commission on the Status of African-Americans. It is an annual snapshot of the demographic profile of the African American population in Iowa.

African Americans in Iowa, 2012

Produced by the State Data Center of Iowa for the Iowa Commission on the Status of African-Americans. It is an annual snapshot of the demographic profile of the African American population in Iowa.

African Americans in Iowa, 2013

Produced by the State Data Center of Iowa for the Iowa Commission on the Status of African-Americans. It is an annual snapshot of the demographic profile of the African American population in Iowa.

African Americans in Iowa, 2014

Produced by the State Data Center of Iowa for the Iowa Commission on the Status of African-Americans. It is an annual snapshot of the demographic profile of the African American population in Iowa.

The illness experiences of African Americans residing in an inner city community, Houston, Texas

This dissertation documents health and illness in the context of daily life circumstances and structural conditions faced by African American families living in Clover Heights (pseudonym), an inner city public housing project in the Third Ward, Houston, Texas. Drawing from Kleinman's (1980) model of culturally defined health care systems and using the holistic-content approach to narrative analysis (Lieblich, Tuval- Mashiach, & Zilber, 1998) the purpose of this research was to explore the ways in which social and health policy, economic mobility, the inner city environment, and cultural beliefs intertwined with African American families' health related ideas, behaviors, and practices. I recruited six families using a convenience sampling method (Schensul, Schensul, & LeCompte, 1999) and followed them for fourteen months (2010–2011). Family was defined as a household unit, or those living in the same residence, short or long-term. Single, African American women ranging in age from 29–80 years headed all families. All but one family included children or grandchildren 18 years of age and younger, or children or other relative 18 years of age and older. I also recruited six residents with who I became acquainted over the course of the project. I collected data using traditional ethnographic methods including participant-observation, archive review, field notes, mapping, free-listing, in-depth interviews, and life history interviews. ^ Doing ethnography afforded the families who participated in this project the freedom to construct their own experiences of health and illness. My role centered on listening to, learning from, and interpreting participants' narratives, exploring similarities and differences within and across families' experiences. As the research progressed, a pattern concerning diagnosis and pharmacotherapy for children's behavioral and emotional problems, particularly attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD), emerged from my formal interactions with participants and my informal interactions with residents. The findings presented in this dissertation document this pattern, focusing on how mothers and families interpreted, organized, and ascribed meaning to their experiences of ADHD and PBD. ^ In the first manuscript presented here, I documented three mothers' narrative constructions of a child's diagnosis with and pharmacotherapy for ADHD or PBD. Using Gergen's (1997) relational perspective I argued that mothers' knowledge and experiences of ADHD and PBD were not individually constructed, but were linguistically and discursively constituted through various social interactions and relationships, including family, spirituality and faith, community norms, and expert systems of knowledge. Mothers' narratives revealed the complexity of children's behavioral and emotional problems, the daily trials of living through these problems, how they coped with adversity and developed survival strategies, and how they interacted with various institutional authorities involved in evaluating, diagnosing, and encouraging pharmaceutical intervention for children's behavior. The findings highlight the ways in which mothers' social interactions and relationships introduced a scientific language and discourse for explaining children's behavior as mental illness, the discordances between expert systems of knowledge and mothers' understandings, and how discordances reflected mothers' ‘microsources of power’ for producing their own stories and experiences. ^ In the second manuscript presented here, I documented the ways in which structural factors, including gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, coupled with a unique cultural and social standpoint (Collins, 1990/2009) influenced the strategies this group of African American mothers employed to understand and respond to ADHD or PBD. The most salient themes related to mother-child relationships coalesced around mothers' beliefs about the etiology of ADHD and PBD, ‘conceptualizing responsibility,’ and ‘protection-survival.’ The findings suggest that even though mothers' strategies varied, they were in pursuit of a common goal. Mothers' challenged the status quo, addressing children's behavioral and emotional problems in the ways that made the most sense to them, specifically protecting their children from further marginalization in society more so than believing these were the best options for their children.^

Hypertension, glomerular number, and birth weight in African Americans and white subjects in the southeastern United States

Low nephron number has been related to low birth weight and hypertension. In the southeastern United States, the estimated prevalence of chronic kidney disease due to hypertension is five times greater for African Americans than white subjects. This study investigates the relationships between total glomerular number (N-glom), blood pressure, and birth weight in southeastern African Americans and white subjects. Stereological estimates of N-glom were obtained using the physical disector/fractionator technique on autopsy kidneys from 62 African American and 60 white subjects 30-65 years of age. By medical history and recorded blood pressures, 41 African Americans, and 24 white subjects were identified as hypertensive and 21 African Americans and 36 white subjects as normotensive. Mean arterial blood pressure ( MAP) was obtained on 81 and birth weights on 63 subjects. For African Americans, relationships between MAP, N-glom, and birth weight were not significant. For white subjects, they were as follows: MAP and N-glom ( r = -0.4551, P = 0.0047); Nglom and birth weight ( r = 0.5730, P = 0.0022); MAP and birth weight ( r = -0.4228, P = 0.0377). For African Americans, average N-glom of 961 840 +/- 292 750 for normotensive and 867 358 +/- 341 958 for hypertensive patients were not significantly different ( P = 0.285). For white subjects, average N-glom of 923 377 +/- 256 391 for normotensive and 754 319 +/- 329 506 for hypertensive patients were significantly different ( P = 0.03). The data indicate that low nephron number and possibly low birth weight may play a role in the development of hypertension in white subjects but not African Americans.

The relationship between health literacy and indicators of informed decision making for colorectal cancer screening among African Americans

African Americans are disproportionately affected by colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence and mortality. CRC early detection leads to better treatment outcomes and, depending on the screening test, can prevent the development of CRC. African Americans, however, are screened less often than Whites. Aspects of decision making (e.g., decisional conflict, decision self-efficacy) can impact decision making outcomes and may be influenced by social determinants of health, including health literacy. However the relationship between social determinants of health and indicators of decision making in this population is not fully understood. Additionally, individuals have a choice between different CRC screening tests and an individual’s desire to use a particular screening test may be associated with social determinants of health such as health literacy. This study aimed to examine the relationship between social determinants of health and indicators of decision making for CRC screening among African Americans. A total of 111 participants completed a baseline and 14-month follow-up survey assessing decisional conflict, decision self-efficacy, decisional preference (shared versus informed decision making), and CRC test preference. Health literacy was negatively associated with decisional conflict and positively associated with decision self-efficacy (ps < .05). Individuals who were unemployed or working part-time had significantly greater decisional conflict than individuals working full-time (ps < .05). Individuals with a first-degree family history of CRC had significantly lower decision self-efficacy than individuals without a family history (p < .05). Women were significantly more likely to prefer making a shared decision rather than an informed decision compared to men (p < .05). Lastly, previous CRC screening behavior was significantly associated with CRC test preference (e.g., individuals previously screened using colonoscopy were significantly more likely to prefer colonoscopy for their next screening test; ps < .05). These findings begin to identify social determinants of health (e.g., health literacy, employment) that are related to indicators of decision making for CRC among African Americans. Furthermore, these findings suggest further research is needed to better understand these relationships to help with the future development and improvement of interventions targeting decision making outcomes for CRC screening in this population.