Vetta Sanders Thompson

• PhD, MA
• Professor (Full) at Washington University in St. Louis

Background We assessed whether five geographic-based socioeconomic factors (medically underserved area (MUA); healthcare provider shortage area (HPSA); persistent poverty; persistent child poverty; and social vulnerability index (SVI)) were associated with the odds of HPV vaccination initiation, series completion, and parental vaccine hesitancy, an...

This study described caregiver attitudes and the information sources they access about HPV vaccination for adolescents and determined their influence on human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination initiation. An online survey was administered to 1,016 adults in July 2021. Participants were eligible if they were the caregiver of a child aged 9–17 residin...

In this chapter, we will discuss three key ethical issues related to data collected in stakeholder-engaged research: (1) data ownership, (2) deciding how data are used, and (3) deciding what is published. We begin with the legal and regulatory policies of universities and sponsors around data ownership and data sharing. We then discuss the role of...

Background: This study seeks to understand how and for whom COVID-19 disrupted cancer care to understand the potential for cancer health disparities across the cancer prevention and control continuum. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, participants age 30+ residing in an 82-county region in Missouri and Illinois completed an online survey from...

Background: In the United States (US), half of new human papillomavirus (HPV) infections occur among young people aged 15-24 years. Despite the effectiveness of HPV vaccination in protecting against HPV-associated cancers, its coverage among adolescents remains suboptimal. This study examined the association of sociodemographic characteristics and...

Community engagement is important for promoting health equity. However, effective community engagement requires trust, collaboration, and the opportunity for all stakeholders to share in decision-making. Community-based training in public health research can build trust and increase community comfort with shared decision-making in academic and comm...

Background This study seeks to understand how and for whom COVID-19 disrupted cancer care to understand the potential for cancer health disparities across the cancer prevention and control continuum. Methods In this cross-sectional study, participants age 30+ residing in an 82-county region in Missouri and Illinois completed an online survey from...

Communities with the highest disease burden from Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) often experience considerable health disparities. These disparities are due to systematic and structural racism, classism, ageism, and social determinants of health, leading to distrust of and lower engagement with biomedical research. These injustices...

Background Equity in vaccination coverage is a cornerstone for a successful public health response to COVID-19. To deepen understanding of the extent to which vaccination coverage compares with initial strategies for equitable vaccination, we explore primary vaccine series and booster rollout over time and by race/ethnicity, social vulnerability, a...

Background: The Research Engagement Survey Tool (REST) was developed to examine the level of partner (e.g., patients, caregivers, advocates, clinicians, community members) engagement in research studies. The REST is aligned with eight engagement principles based on the literature and consensus reached through a five round Delphi process. Each of t...

BACKGROUND Equity in vaccination coverage is a cornerstone to a successful public health response to COVID-19. To deepen understand of the extent to which vaccination coverage compared to initial strategies for equitable vaccination, we explore primary vaccine series and booster rollout over time and by race/ethnicity, social vulnerability, and geo...

Community-based participatory strategies are a promising approach to addressing disparities in community health outcomes. This paper details the efforts of Siteman Cancer Center to achieve breast health equity over the past 15+ years. We begin by describing the activities and successes arising from our breast health community partnerships including...

em>Background . Data suggest that colorectal cancer could be cut by approximately 60% if all people aged 50 years or older received regular screening. Studies have identified socio-cultural attitudes that might inform cancer education and screening promotion campaigns. This article applies item response theory (IRT) to a set of survey items selecte...

Objective The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationships between various domains of depressive symptomatology and functional recovery in Black and White stroke survivors. Methods Black (n = 181) and White (n = 797) stroke survivors from the Stroke Recovery in Underserved Population database were included. Four domains of depressive...

Introduction Engagement of relevant stakeholders’ ideas, opinions, and concerns is critical to the success of modern research projects. We have developed a tool to measure stakeholder engagement, called the Research Engagement Survey Tool (REST). The purpose of this paper is to present the implementation and uptake of the stakeholder engagement mea...

This concluding chapter provides a summary of the book. We discuss a partnership in care that begins with a basic understanding of the barriers and stressors faced by low-income women, culturally competent communication and engagement, and evidence-based interventions and strategies important to treatment across the cancer continuum. As this volume...

This chapter contains three modules that cover principles of communication, barriers and stressors that impact patients’ adherence, and cultural competence. The goal of healthcare providers should be to communicate in a way that educates the patient, while also uplifting her sense of self-efficacy and motivating her to take control of her health. T...

Cancer Navigation: Charting the Path Forward for Low Income Women of Color is intended to be a practical guide mainly for individuals who care about the health of low income women of color and provide support and comfort to them. This book is to be used as a guidebook, a resource that is easily accessible to all, affordable and a quick reference re...

This chapter comprises two modules: program evaluation and community-based participatory research (CBPR). Self-awareness of culture, biases, and worldviews on the part of healthcare providers is the critical first step toward conceptualizing an evaluation that will garner buy-in from the community, capitalize on strengths, and mitigate vulnerabilit...

The three modules in this chapter cover patient navigation, survivorship care plans, and clinical trial participation. Cancer disparities among low-income women of color are best addressed using community partnerships, peer community health navigators or community health workers, and evidence-based clinical interventions. Traditional survivorship c...

The Research Engagement Survey Tool (REST) examines the level of partner engagement in research studies. This study used mixed methods, including web-based surveys (N = 336), a modified Delphi process (N = 18), and cognitive response interviews (N = 16), with convenience sampling to develop and validate a short version of the REST. We conducted fac...

Background The COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the US has been immensely successful in vaccinating those who are receptive, further increases in vaccination rates however will require more innovative approaches to reach those who remain hesitant. Developing vaccination strategies that are modelled on what people want could further increase uptake....

Objective: To identify differences in short-term outcomes of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) according to various racial/ethnic groups. Design: Analysis of Cerner de-identified COVID-19 dataset. Setting: A total of 62 health care facilities. Participants: The cohort included 49,277 adult COVID-19 patients who were hospitali...

Importance Policies to promote social distancing can minimize COVID-19 transmission but come with substantial social and economic costs. Quantifying relative preferences among the public for such practices can inform locally relevant policy prioritization and optimize uptake. Objective To evaluate relative utilities (ie, preferences) for COVID-19...

The COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the US has been immensely successful in vaccinating those who are receptive, further increases in vaccination rates however will require more innovative approaches to reach those who remain hesitant, deliberative or indifferent. Phenomena such empty mass vaccination sites and wasted vaccine doses in some regions...

Policies to promote social distancing can minimize COVID-19 transmission, but come with substantial social and economic costs. Quantifying relative preferences of the public for such practices can inform policy prioritization and optimize uptake. We used a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to quantify relative “utilities” (preferences) for five COVI...

Background Disparities in COVID-19 testing—the pandemic’s most critical but limited resource—may be an important but modifiable driver of COVID-19 inequities. Methods We analyzed data from the Missouri State Department Health and Senior Services on all COVID-19 tests conducted in the St. Louis and Kansas City regions. We adapted a well-established...

Background Despite recognition of the importance of stakeholder input into research, there is a lack of validated measures to assess how well constituencies are engaged and their input integrated into research design. Measurement theory suggests that a community engagement measure should use clear and simple language and capture important component...

Engagement activities are defined along a continuum that analyzes and represents nonacademic stakeholder activities and interactions with academic researchers. Proposed continua begin with none to limited stakeholder inclusion and input into research and continue with descriptions of increasing presence, input, and participation in decision-making....

Background: Stakeholder-engaged research is an umbrella term for the types of research that have community, patient, and/or stakeholder engagement, feedback, and bidirectional communication as approaches used in the research process. The level of stakeholder engagement across studies can vary greatly, from minimal engagement to fully collaborative...

Aim: Using a stakeholder-engaged approach, this study conducted content validation and item reduction of a quantitative measure of research engagement. Methods: A five-round modified Delphi process was used to reach consensus on items. Rounds 1-3 and 5 were conducted using web-based surveys. Round 4 consisted of a 2-day, in-person meeting. Delph...

Purpose: To adapt, implement, and evaluate a public health research methods training program for youth. The Community Research Fellows Training Program is an evidence-based public health research methods training program for adults (18 years and older). The Youth Research Fellows Training (YRFT) is an adaptation of this program for youth. Methods:...

Purpose: Community-based training in public health research can build capacity for community-based participatory research (CBPR) and foster health partnerships between academics and stakeholders. We describe a community-academic partnership developed from a 15-week program, the Community Research Fellows Training (CRFT), designed to increase resear...

This bookexamines ways in which cancer health disparities exist due to class and context inequities even in the most advanced society of the world. This volume, while articulating health disparities in the St. Louis, Missouri metropolitan area, including East St. Louis, Illinois, seeks to move beyond deficit models to focus on health equity. As can...

African Americans disproportionately experience psychological distress, such as feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and worthlessness and are disproportionately exposed to risk factors associated with mental illness, such as racial discrimination, violence and poverty. To effectively address African Americans’ mental health needs, it is imperative t...

In this commentary, we discuss the science of stakeholder engagement in research. We propose a classification system with definitions to determine where projects lie on the stakeholder engagement continuum. We discuss the key elements of implementation and evaluation of stakeholder engagement in research posing key questions to consider when doing...

The Community Research Fellows Training program is designed to enhance capacity for community-based participatory research; program participants completed a 15-week, Master of Public Health curriculum. We conducted qualitative, semistructured interviews with 81 participants from two cohorts to evaluate the learning environment and how the program i...

Although the importance of community engagement in research has been previously established, there are few evidence-based approaches for measuring the level of community engagement in research projects. A quantitative community engagement measure was developed, aligned with 11 engagement principles (EPs) previously established in the literature. Th...

Proponents of community engagement to promote social change advocate bringing together researchers, practitioners, politicians, business leaders, advocates and other relevant stakeholders to identify and solve community problems and issues. This chapter will describe the need for academic and community partnerships, how academic institutions can de...

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination rates remain low, but college student vaccination could offset this trend. This study identifies characteristics that could enhance HPV vaccination among U.S. college students. Data were from the National College Health Assessment II survey (fall 2012, N = 18,919). Univariate and logistic regression analyses w...

Reviews the book, Just Medicine: A Cure for Racial Inequality in American Health Care by Dayna Bowen Matthew (see record 2016-30329-000 ). This book is a refreshing move away from discussions of the medical misconduct, racism and discrimination that produced inequalities in health care to a discussion of ways to reduce inequalities in care. Just Me...

Few studies have examined how diverse populations interpret warning labels. This study examined interpretations of 9 graphic cigarette warning labels (image plus text) proposed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration among a convenience sample of youth (ages 13-17) and adults (18+) across the United States. Participants (N = 1,571) completed a cro...

Before the burgeoning field of biospecimen collection can advance prevention and treatment methods, researchers must access diverse molecular data samples. However, minorities, especially African-American men, remain reticent to join these studies. This study, using theory-based approaches, investigated African-American men's barriers to participat...

Tobacco quitlines are critical components of comprehensive tobacco control programs. However, use of the US National Tobacco Quitline (1-800-QUIT-NOW) is low. Promoting quitlines on cigarette warning labels may increase call volume and smoking cessation rates but only if smokers are aware of, and receptive to, quitline services. We conducted qualit...

Community Networks Program (CNP) centers are required to use a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach within their specific priority communities. Not all communities are the same and unique contextual factors and collaborators' priorities shape each CBPR partnership. There are also established CBPR and community engagement (CE) prin...

Diabetes disproportionately affects underserved racial/ethnic groups in the United States. Diabetes prevention interventions positively influence health; however, further evaluation is necessary to determine what role culture plays in effective programming. We report on the status of research that examines cultural adaptations of diabetes preventio...

Graphic warning labels have been shown to be more effective than text-only labels in increasing attention and perceived health risks, but most U.S. studies have involved single exposures in laboratory or Internet settings. We recruited a convenience sample (N=202) of U.S. adult smokers from population subgroups with higher rates of smoking and smok...

This paper reports on an effort to identify a streamlined set of issues important for colorectal cancer communication and interventions with older African Americans. African American (N = 1,021), 683 women and 338 men, 50 to 75 years completed a telephone survey addressing demographics, colorectal cancer screening, cancer attitudes, and cancer rela...

Background: Comprehensive cancer centers have been mandated to engage communities in their work; thus measurement of the level of community engagement in projects is a priority area. Siteman Cancer Center's Program for the Elimination of Cancer Disparities (PECaD) works with communities to reduce health disparities through outreach, education, and...

Background: Although human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination has been available for seven years, uptake remains low, and evidence suggests disparities exist in vaccination completion. Perceptions about the HPV vaccine may be contributing to these trends. The purpose of this study was to examine perceptions about the HPV vaccine by socio-demographic...

Community-based participatory (CBP) strategies are considered important to efforts to eliminate disparities. This paper outlines how the Program for the Elimination of Cancer Disparities (PECaD) uses CBP strategies as a part of a long-term cancer education, prevention, and control strategy in an urban community. Community partnerships have proved t...

Regular screening for colorectal cancer (CRC) facilitates earlier detection, lowers mortality, and may reduce incidence through detection and removal of pre-cancerous polyps. Optimizing health professional delivery of CRC screening information and recommendations can assist in reducing CRC disparity in the African-American community. This article p...

The importance of sociocultural constructs as influences on cancer attitudes and screening has been established in the literature. This paper reports on the efforts to explore alternatives to sociocultural constructs previously associated with African-American cancer screening, but with low acceptance among community members or incomplete measureme...

ContextImplementing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2014 will require effective enrollment and outreach efforts to previously uninsured individuals now eligible for coverage. Methods From 1996 to 2013, the Health Communication Research Laboratory conducted more than 40 original studies with more than 30,000 participants to learn how to improve the...

The Community Research Fellows Training (CRFT) Program promotes the role of underserved populations in research by enhancing the capacity for community-based participatory research (CBPR). CRFT consists of 12 didactic training sessions and 3 experiential workshops intended to train community members in research methods and evidence-based public hea...

Mexican immigrants belong to the largest and one of the fastest-growing minority groups in the US, and they account for over one-third of the nation's foreign-born population. The size of the Mexican immigrant population likely exceeds U.S. Census Bureau figures due to the presence of undocumented Mexican immigrants (UMIs). Fearing detection and de...

Despite an overall decline in mortality, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second most common cause of cancer death among African-American women. As such, clinicians should prepare to address the unique sociocultural and psychological concerns encountered by African-American women breast cancer survivors. The objective of...

Informed decision making requires that those individuals making health and health-care decisions understand the advantages and disadvantages associated with particular health options. Research and theory suggest factors that contribute to the decision-making process: data on the likelihood of risks and benefits, level of certainty about outcomes, f...

Colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence rates have decreased due to the increased use of CRC screenings that permit the detection and removal of polyps. However, CRC is still the second most common cause of cancer death among men ages 40 to 79 years; incidence and mortality rates for CRC are higher among African American (AA) men than among white men and...

Reviews the book, Researcher Race: Social Constructions in the Research Process by Lauren Mizock and Debra A. Harkins (see record 2012-13895-000 ). In this book, the authors attempt to add to knowledge of how race affects research by exploring the impact of researcher race on participant response in same and interracial dyads. The book provides a v...

BACKGROUND: Signs of neighborhood deterioration have been associated with a variety of health and social outcomes, independent of poverty. We examine associations between the presence of broken windows and the rate of recruitment in a pilot for the National Children's Study (NCS). The NCS will follow 100,000 prenatally-recruited children until age...

BACKGROUND: Obtaining a probability sample of pregnant women presents challenges, particularly in an urban core. We summarize the challenges encountered during a pilot study of the National Children's Study (NCS), the methods used, and how representative the sample was of city births. The NCS will follow 100,000 prenatally recruited children until...

Purpose – To provide an overview of racial/ethnic disparities in human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, HPV vaccination, and cervical cancer on domestic and international levels.Design/methodology/approach – The literature, cervical cancer prevention guidelines, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention resources were culled to aggregate inform...

This chapter provides an overview of the role of socioeconomic status (SES) in health, including disease, health behaviors, and access to health. The literature on the social determinants of health is reviewed. The chapter then provides a review of the health status of the homeless, poor, and near-poor. The incidence and mortality rates for leading...

Reviews the book, Mixing Races: From Scientific Racism to Modern Evolutionary Ideas by Paul Lawrence Farber (see record 2011-16356-000 ). Mixing Races: From Scientific Racism to Modern Evolutionary Ideas , by Paul Lawrence Farber, is first a history of how scientific developments influenced attitudes about race and race mixing and then how changing...

This study describes attitudes and social and environmental factors that affect African American parents' intent to vaccinate their daughters against human papillomavirus (HPV). Thirty African American parents of daughters aged nine to 17 years and no history of HPV infection completed semi-structured interviews. Interviews addressed factors that i...

This presentation will provide information on previously unmeasured (privacy, male gender role attitudes), as well as alternative constructs (empowerment versus fatalism), aspects of constructs not often measured (salience of ethnic identity versus racial pride or ideology) and a more inclusive measure for other constructs (collectivism) and their...

Previous studies have identified several factors to be associated with physical activity (PA) among African-Americans, e.g., demographic and health-related characteristics. Formative studies suggest a link between sociocultural factors and PA among ethnic minorities; yet, it is unclear whether these factors play a role in PA among African-Americans...

This study sought to determine knowledge about human papillomaviruses (HPV), vaccination acceptability and intent to vaccinate, and describe the individual characteristics, and sociocultural attitudes that affect African American parents' intent to vaccinate their daughters. Two hundred African Americans completed self-administered surveys that ass...

From 1999 to 2009, the Eliminating Health Disparities Pre-doctoral Fellowship Program provided specialized education and mentoring to African American graduate students in public health. Fellows received a public health degree, coursework in understanding and eliminating health disparities, experiential learning, mentored research, and professional...

An important step in using culture to increase colorectal cancer screening is the development and use of a reliable and valid measure. Measurement items that work well are defined as those that use clear and simple language, do not result in significant missing data, do not yield unexpected frequencies or patterns of association, and capture an imp...

This study examined the effects (affective reactions, cognitive reactions and processing, perceived benefits and barriers and intent to screen) of targeted peripheral+evidential (PE) and peripheral+evidential+socio-cultural (PE+SC) colorectal cancer communications. This study was a two-arm randomized control study of cancer communication effects on...

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer among African American men and women, and the third most common cause of cancer death among African Americans. CRC disparity may be partly attributable to differences in African Americans' screening utilization, which remain below the national objective of 50% established by Health...

Studies that examine colorectal cancer screening (CRCS) behaviors and correlates rely on self-reports of screening status. Self-reports of CRCS may be more biased than other self-reported cancer screening because of multiple screening options, tests may be offered in combination, and screening schedules differ for each test. The National Cancer Ins...

Responses to illness are determined and regulated by cultural norms, which determine how people characterize health and illness, determine the origin of illness, and plan ways to protect and maintain health (Spector, 1996). To date, researchers' attempts to address culture and cultural appropriateness of health communications have not included the...

This study examined gender and racial/ethnic differences in sexual debut. We analyzed 1999-2007 data from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS), a cross-sectional, nationally representative survey of students in Grades 9-12 established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to compute the p...

Studies are increasingly examining the role of sociocultural values, beliefs, and attitudes in cancer prevention. However, these studies vary widely in how sociocultural constructs are defined and measured, how they are conceived as affecting cancer beliefs, behaviors, and screening, and how they are applied in interventions. To characterize the cu...

Reviews the book, Health disparities in the United States: Social class, race, ethnicity, and health by Donald A. Barr (see record 2008-07667-000 ) . This text is the latest among a number of texts designed to provide an overview and analysis of the issues that contribute to health disparities while offering recommendations to move toward the elimi...

The lack of health information is one of several factors implicated in the poor health status of African American men. Although a growing body of research delineates the obstacles to African Americans' engagement in preventive health behaviors, relatively little is known about the barriers that adversely affect men's involvement in health-informati...

Little is known about how minority groups react to public information that highlights racial disparities in cancer. This double-blind randomized study compared emotional and behavioral reactions to four versions of the same colon cancer (CRC) information presented in mock news articles to a community sample of African-American adults (n = 300). Par...

Background: African-Americans have higher incidence and mortality rates of colorectal cancer (CRC) than all other ethnic/racial groups. This has been attributed to many factors, but low CRC screening rates make a contribution. Literature suggests that various factors contribute to low screening rates. Demographic characteristics like income, insura...

Background: African American cervical cancer incidence rates exceed that of the general population of the US, as do cervical cancer mortality rates (NCI, 2007). One factor believed to influence excess cervical cancer incidence and mortality is human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. HPV is associated with cervical cancer in women; HPV 16 virus accoun...

While there is widespread agreement that communication programs and materials will be more effective when they are 'culturally appropriate' for the populations they serve, little is known about how best to achieve this cultural appropriateness. The specific strategies used to realize the potential of culturally appropriate communication take many f...