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Press Releases
| WOMEN & INFANTS AND LATINO PUBLIC RADIO RECEIVE NIH GRANT |
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01/21/09
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Researchers at Women & Infants Hospital and Latino Public Radio (WELH 88.1FM, www.lprri.org) have received a two-year, $138,000 National Institutes of Health Partners in Research Program grant to develop a ten-week radio curriculum and to measure the effectiveness of the radio curriculum to increase the health and science literacy of listeners. This grant offers a unique opportunity to investigate a cutting-edge approach to improving health and science literacy in the Latino community.
Maureen Phipps, MD, MPH, director of the Division of Research at Women & Infants and associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology and community health at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and Pablo Rodriguez, MD, associate chair of Community Relationships in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Women & Infants, clinical associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and president of Latino Public Radio, are co-principal investigators on the study, entitled “ESCUCHE – Evaluating the Spanish Radio Community’s Understanding of Clinical Research and Health Topics.”
Community forums to discuss this initiative and further develop the program topics have been scheduled as follows:
• Wednesday, January 21st, 6:30 pm, the International Institute, 645 Elmwood Avenue, Providence
• Monday, January 26th, 6:30 pm, Progreso Latino, 626 Broad Street, Central Falls
• Wednesday, January 28th, 6:30 pm, Women’s Care, 18 Imperial Place 2D, Providence
Improving science literacy and health knowledge is essential to enhancing the overall health of diverse communities, increasing public understanding of the importance of research, and
engaging community partnerships in research. Non-English speaking communities are the most vulnerable to low rates of science and health literacy, and most programs addressing science literacy issues are not tailored to the Spanish-speaking audiences. In addition, straight translation of materials into Spanish does not usually address the cultural needs of the Latino community.
“Without programs that are specifically tailored to the Latino community, the probability of increasing science literacy is low,” said Dr. Rodriguez, the founder and chair of Latino Public Radio and host of a daily call-in talk show, “Nuestra Salud,” that focuses on issues broadly affecting the health of Latinos. Dr. Rodriguez is a well-known leader and advocate in the Hispanic community both locally and nationally and is active in civic and charitable organizations.
An academic community partnership has been established between Latino Public Radio and Women & Infants Hospital/Brown University. In addition, an ESCUCHE Advisory Committee comprised of community leaders and providers will direct the development of the two-year program.
Dr. Phipps commented, “Through this academic-community partnership, we plan to develop, deliver and evaluate a 10-week curriculum that aims to increase science literacy around clinical research and relevant health issues in a Spanish-speaking radio audience. We are excited about this opportunity to work together to potentially improve health through science literacy.”
ESCUCHE will involve interactive radio sessions including phone-in questions from the radio audience. The opportunity to listen to past programs will also be made available through the radio station’s website and by request to the radio station.
For more information about ESCUCHE, contact Michelle Lightfoot at (401) 274-1122, extension 2822 or mlightfoot@wihri.org.
Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, a Care New England hospital, is one of the nation’s leading specialty hospitals for women and newborns. The primary teaching affiliate of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University for obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics, Women & Infants is the seventh largest obstetrical service in the country with more than 9,000 deliveries per year. In 2003, Brown University and Women & Infants were named a National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Women & Infants has been named one of the best hospitals in gynecology in the 2000, 2001 and 2004 editions of America’s Best Hospitals in U.S. News & World Report. For information about Women & Infants, log on to www.womenandinfants.org. |
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