Risk Communication Within Mexican-American Families

NCT00469339 | Completed

• 2 other identifiers: 99990714007-HG-N140
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 498
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This study will examine what methods work best for encouraging Mexican-American family members to talk about their risk for diabetes, heart disease, breast cancer and colon cancer. Within the Mexican-American community, the family culture provides an important setting in which individuals interpret and share their health information and formulate strategies to engage in health-promoting behaviors. The information from the study will be used to design risk communication approaches for Mexican-American households. Members of households with at least three adults 18 to 70 years of age who are part of the existing Mexican-American households recruited by the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center may be eligible for this study. Participants are interviewed about their medical history, family history of disease, health behaviors, beliefs about disease and disease risk, experiences living in the United States, and relationships with family members and close friends. They are then provided information about their family risk for diabetes, heart disease, breast cancer and colon cancer, based on the information they provided in the interview. Two additional interviews are conducted over the telephone that include questions about how the participants communicate with family members about their risk and health behaviors.

Conditions

Diabetes; Colon Cancer; Cardiovascular Disease; Breast Cancer

Keywords

Breast Cancer; Diabetes; Colon Cancer; Cardiovascular Disease; Natural History

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (4)

• Understand how culture and the familial social system facilitate or impede communications regarding family health history and risk for disease, and the development of strategies to adopt health promoting behaviors.

  Understand how culture and the familial social system facilitate or impede communications regarding family health history and risk for disease, and the development of strategies to adopt health promoting behaviors.

  one survey and two telephone interviews

• Investigate whether the type of personalized risk feedback (predisposing or predisposing plus enabling) affects family members beliefs about the causes and controllability of disease onset and perceived risk for disease.

  Investigate whether the type of personalized risk feedback (predisposing or predisposing plus enabling) affects family members beliefs about the causes and controllability of disease onset and perceived risk for disease.

  one survey and two telephone interviews

• Investigate whether shared perceptions of risk and beliefs about disease mediates the relationship between communications about family risk and the development of cooperative strategies to adopt health promoting behaviors within the family.

  Investigate whether shared perceptions of risk and beliefs about disease mediates the relationship between communications about family risk and the development of cooperative strategies to adopt health promoting behaviors within the family.

  one survey and two telephone interviews

• Examine whether a family-centered feedback approach, as compared to an individual-focused approach, encourages communications regarding family risk and the development of strategies to adopt health promoting behaviors within the household.

  Examine whether a family-centered feedback approach, as compared to an individual-focused approach, encourages communications regarding family risk and the development of strategies to adopt health promoting behaviors within the household.

  one survey and two telephone interviews

Study Arms (1)

cohort of Mexican-American households

cohort of Mexican-American households

Behavioral: Family Health History

Interventions

Family Health History BEHAVIORAL

cohort of Mexican-American households

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Mexican-American households@@@

You may qualify if:

• Member household of existing population-based cohort of Mexican-American households recruited by the Department of Epidemiology at UTMDACC. The existing population based cohort consists of self-identified Mexican-Americans living in predominantly Mexican-American neighborhoods in the Houston area. All individuals in the cohort are 18 years of age or older and had to be able to complete a personal interview.
• Household includes at least three adults (18 to 70 years of age) who are willing to participate in the study, where at least two of the household participants are related biologically and represent differing generations, and additionally in which one household participant is a spouse or partner of another household participant.
• Ability for each participating household member to complete one in-home survey instrument via computerized assessment tool or personal interview and to complete two telephone interviews.
• Ability of all household participants to speak either English or Spanish.

You may not qualify if:

• More than two household members are unable to complete the baseline questionnaire using a computerized assessment tool.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI): lead

Study Sites (1)

MD Anderson Cancer Center

Houston, Texas, 77030-4096, United States

Location

Related Publications (4)

• Glass TA, McAtee MJ. Behavioral science at the crossroads in public health: extending horizons, envisioning the future. Soc Sci Med. 2006 Apr;62(7):1650-71. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.08.044. Epub 2005 Sep 29.

  PMID: 16198467 BACKGROUND

• Green LW. Public health asks of systems science: to advance our evidence-based practice, can you help us get more practice-based evidence? Am J Public Health. 2006 Mar;96(3):406-9. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2005.066035. Epub 2006 Jan 31.

  PMID: 16449580 BACKGROUND

• Susser M. The tribulations of trials--intervention in communities. Am J Public Health. 1995 Feb;85(2):156-8. doi: 10.2105/ajph.85.2.156. No abstract available.

  PMID: 7856769 BACKGROUND

• Lin J, Marcum CS, Wilkinson AV, Koehly LM. Developing Shared Appraisals of Diabetes Risk Through Family Health History Feedback: The Case of Mexican-Heritage Families. Ann Behav Med. 2018 Feb 17;52(3):262-271. doi: 10.1093/abm/kax037.

  PMID: 29538667 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Breast Neoplasms; Diabetes Mellitus; Colonic Neoplasms; Cardiovascular Diseases

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Neoplasms by Site; Neoplasms; Breast Diseases; Skin Diseases; Skin and Connective Tissue Diseases; Glucose Metabolism Disorders; Metabolic Diseases; Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases; Endocrine System Diseases; Colorectal Neoplasms; Intestinal Neoplasms; Gastrointestinal Neoplasms; Digestive System Neoplasms; Digestive System Diseases; Gastrointestinal Diseases; Colonic Diseases; Intestinal Diseases

Study Officials

• Laura M Koehly, Ph.D.

  National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: COHORT
• Time Perspective: RETROSPECTIVE
• Sponsor Type: NIH
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: May 3, 2007
• First Posted: May 4, 2007
• Study Start: April 27, 2007
• Last Updated: May 1, 2026

Record last verified: 2025-07-08

Locations

US (1)