Transdisciplinary Approaches to Ameliorating Racial Disparities in Prostate Cancer Outcomes

Authors

Chanita H. Halbert, University of Pennsylvania
Katrina Armstrong, University of Pennsylvania
John Holmes, University of Pennsylvania
David Fenstermacher, University of Pennsylvania
Janet Weiner, University of Pennsylvania
Carmen Guerra, University of Pennsylvania
J. S. Schwartz, University of Pennsylvania
Jerry C. Johnson, University of Pennsylvania
Edmund Weisberg, University of Pennsylvania
Chantal Montagnet, University of Pennsylvania
Benita Weathers, University of Pennsylvania
Charnita Zeigler-Johnson, University of Pennsylvania
Ernestine Delmoor, National Black Leadership Initiative on Cancer
Timothy R. Rebbeck, University of Pennsylvania

Keywords

African American men; Health and race; Health disparities; Interdisciplinary research; Prostate – Cancer; Prostate cancer; Transdisciplinary research

Disciplines

Community-Based Research | Immune System Diseases | Inequality and Stratification | Medicine and Health | Oncology | Public Health | Race and Ethnicity | Virus Diseases

Abstract

Though prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cause cancer deaths among men in the US, it ranks first among African American men in terms of incidence, morbidity, and mortality. To address this and other complex health issues, some researchers advocate transdisciplinary research as a framework for analysis; however, few examples exist that indicate how the framework should be applied. This report uses prostate cancer outcomes as a paradigm to describe how such a framework can be used to identify determinants of racial disparities. By integrating diverse scientific disciplines, methods, and analytic approaches from psychology, sociology, epidemiology and genetics, health services, and information science, the environmental, behavioral, biological, sociological, and psychological factors that contribute to racial disparities can be identified. This framework can also be used to investigate the complex ways in which these factors interact and contribute to racial disparities in complex diseases like prostate cancer.

Recommended Citation

Halbert, Chanita H.; Armstrong, Katrina; Holmes, John; Fenstermacher, David; Weiner, Janet; Guerra, Carmen; Schwartz, J. S.; Johnson, Jerry C.; Weisberg, Edmund; Montagnet, Chantal; Weathers, Benita; Zeigler-Johnson, Charnita; Delmoor, Ernestine; and Rebbeck, Timothy R. (2007) "Transdisciplinary Approaches to Ameliorating Racial Disparities in Prostate Cancer Outcomes," Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice: Vol. 1: Iss. 1, Article 3.
Available at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/jhdrp/vol1/iss1/3