African-Americans Heart Health in Indiana | Leveling the Field
Sponsor: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
PI: Mohan J Dutta; Co-Investigators: Bart Collins, Titilayo A. Okoror
Total Yrs: 3 years
Total $: $1,500,000
Reducing the incidence of heart disease in the high-risk African-American population in Indiana is the aim of a new $1.5 million grant at Purdue University. Prof. Dutta and his team will collaborate with the Indiana Minority Health Coalition and its affiliates in Lake and Marion counties during the three-year project, which is funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The research team will create a technology hub that will allow partners and patients to post information, collaborate online, offer feedback and build technology-based community infrastructures. This health disparities hub will utilize HUBzero, a Web portal environment developed at Purdue.
Leveling the Field
Using the power of information as leverage, health communication professor Mohan Dutta hopes to arm African-Americans in Indiana with a knowledge base and a meeting space to improve heart health in their communities and drive research specific to their individual needs. A technology hub funded by a $1.5 million grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is becoming a key tool in the grassroots effort. This work recently appeared in the College of Liberal Arts (CLA) THiNK Magazine.
Voices of Hunger Projects | Removing Barriers to Healthy Living
Sponsor: CLA, HOME
PI: Mohan J. Dutta
Total $: $1,500
Some Purdue graduate students in the Brian Lamb School of Communication interviewed and volunteered with 15 food bank clients for the Voices of Hunger in Tippecanoe County project, an ongoing collaboration between communication professor Mohan Dutta and Food Finders Food Bank.
Social and Behavioral Influences on Clinical Communication and Pain Management
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health (NIH)
PI: C.G. Shields & R.M. Epstein, Co-Investigators
Total Yrs: 5 years, 1/1/2011 – 12/31/2016
Total $: $2,700,000
The major goals of this project are to identify the degree to which social disparities exist in physicians’ communication about important clinical issues with patients with serious and life-limiting illnesses. We will also study patient communication behaviors that exacerbate or attenuate those disparities. Results from this research will inform interventions for physicians and patients to promote better communication and thereby reduce or eliminate social disparities in care.