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In The News
October 15, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Psychology Professor Receives Competitive
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Research Grant
Carson, CA –Dr.
Carl Sneed, assistant professor of psychology at California
State University, Dominguez Hills, has been awarded a Minority
HIV/AIDS Research Initiative (MARI) grant from the Centers
of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to conduct research
in the area of HIV and STD (sexually transmitted diseases)
education and prevention strategies targeting African American
and Hispanic youth. The grant is for four years and has an
estimated total value of close to $1 million. Only six research
areas were slated for funding from this particular CDC funding
opportunity, making it a highly competitive grant.
“It feels really good,” said Sneed, who specializes
in adolescent health behaviors and has been with the university
for three years. “The probability of getting something
like this was pretty small, and we got the award for adolescent
research in the western region of the United States.”
According to CDC statistics, African
Americans and Hispanics account for a disproportionate
number of HIV/AIDS cases,
a gap that has been growing over the years. Yet little research
is focused on this shift. One aim of the MARI program is
to address this disparity by supporting HIV epidemiologic
and prevention research in these ethnic groups, and one area
of research the program encourages is in “effective
STD and HIV education and prevention activities” among
adolescents, given that education at an early
age is key to prevention.
Over the four years of the grant, Sneed, along with co-investigators
Drs. Ricky Bluthenthal and Sohaila Shakib, professors in
the Department of Sociology, will conduct a two-phased study
on the methods African American and Hispanic parents use
to communicate with their children about sex, paying particular
attention to unique cultural factors employed. Prior research
shows that parent-child communication has an impact in the
reduction of HIV/STD risk, yet, according to Sneed, little
is known about the strategies African American and Hispanic
parents use when talking to their children about sex, STDs
and/or HIV/AIDS.
“The information gleaned from this
study will be used to develop innovative and culturally relevant
intervention
materials targeting STD and HIV risk reduction through parent-adolescent
communication,” Sneed writes in his grant proposal. “The
proposed study seeks to reduce the rates of STDs and HIV
through understanding and the development of strategies to
improve parent-adolescent communication about sex among African
Americans and Latinos….The proposed study will fill
a very important gap in the literature.”
The university is very committed
to working closely with the surrounding community, and
this grant supports those efforts.
Sneed, Bluthenthal and Shakib will be collaborating with
the Boys & Girls Clubs of Long Beach and the city of
Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services in carrying
out the study. The organizations will work with the professors
on identifying 48 focus groups who will take part in the
first phase of the study and 400 families (the mother and
one child per family) who will take part in the second phase.
The first phase will focus on identifying the strategies
parents use to communicate with their children about sex,
and the second phase will use questionnaires to examine the
role
of family and culture on STD and HIV risk among the two racial
groups.
Mothers are the focus of the study,
Sneed said, because research shows mothers are more likely
to talk to their children
about these topics, and vice versa. However, he doesn’t
plan to dismiss the fathers’ role completely.
“We’re still looking for money to work with
mothers and fathers,” Sneed said, adding that he also
plans to seek funding for a longitudinal study that follows
the parent and child through the communication process. “There
area a number of funding opportunities in this area, and
this CDC grant opens the door for future funding of similar
projects.”
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About
CSU Dominguez Hills -- California
State University, Dominguez Hills is a highly diverse,
urban university located in the South Bay, primarily
serving the
Los Angeles metropolitan area. The university prides itself
on its outstanding faculty and friendly, student-centered
environment.
Known for excellence in teacher education, nursing, psychology,
business administration, and digital media arts, new degree
programs include computer science, criminal justice,
recreation and leisure
studies, social work, and communication disorders. On campus
is the Home Depot Center, a multi-purpose sports complex
that hosts
world-class soccer, tennis, track and field, lacrosse, and
cycling.
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