How do you apply health psychology research to understanding and addressing racial and ethnic disparities in tobacco-related outcomes? Monica Webb Hooper, director of the Office of Cancer Disparities Research at the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, will address this topic at the next Prevention Research Center for Healthy Neighborhood (PRCHN) seminar.
She will present “Health Psychology Research to Address Tobacco Use and Related Disparities” Wednesday, Jan. 11, from noon to 1:15 p.m. in the ground floor conference room of the BioEnterprise Building.
Tobacco smoking is a causative factor in many of the leading causes of death in the U.S., including heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases, stroke and diabetes. Since the 1983 Surgeon General’s Report concluded that cigarette smoking was a cause of cancer, more than 50 million Americans have successfully quit smoking. The prevalence of smoking is approximately 17 percent. However, tobacco use and related morbidity are persistently greater in traditionally disenfranchised communities.
The field of health psychology has played an integral role in the successes observed in tobacco control, contributing new knowledge and innovative interventions. This talk highlights key health psychology contributions across the tobacco control continuum, which range from theoretical models to aid in our understanding of addiction processes, the impact of tobacco smoking on mental and physical health, and individual-difference factors associated with tobacco smoking, cessation and relapse.
Webb Hooper’s research interests are in health behavior change, with an emphasis on the intersection between cancer risk behaviors, and minority health and disparity elimination.
Her research program, the Tobacco, Obesity, and Oncology Laboratory, conducts theoretical, experimental and applied investigations on tobacco use, cessation and relapse prevention in multiple populations of smokers, including the general population, African-Americans, Hispanics, cancer patients/survivors and people living with HIV/AIDS. Her research has been funded continuously since 2006 by the National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society and the Florida Department of Health James and Esther King Biomedical Research Program.
Parking is available at the event and a light lunch is served.
The PRCHN seminar series takes place on the second Wednesday of each month.
Contact Susan Petrone at smp146@case.edu for more information.