The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #74659

Arnold R. Spokane, PhD, Lehigh University, 111 Research Drive, Bethlehem, PA 18015, (610) 758-3257, ars1@lehigh.edu

Inequities in the health status of poor and underrepresented minorities are well documented. The underlying mechanisms responsible for these disparities, however, remain unexplained. Individual risk and vulnerability factors, and mediators from the socio-cultural and physical environment arguably contribute to health disparity. The study of these complex phenomena requires cross disciplinary contributions from Epidemiology, Behavioral Science and Architecture. Direct measures of the built environment and methodological advances now permit more powerful tests of these interactions between built environments, behavior and health. Funding from National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Mental Health, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is supporting a series of such studies now in progress. Key studies and potential mechanisms are described.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. Educate participants on a variety of assessment tools and techniques
• used to ascertain environmental exposures in and around the home..
• 2. Discuss the nature of multidisciplinary focus in assessing these
• exposures.
• 3. Identify future course of action.

Keywords: Environmental Health, Environmental Justice

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.