Joseph Telfair

Dr. Telfair is Professor of Public Health Research and Practice and Director of the UNCG Center for Social, Community and Health Research and Evaluation. He currently serves as Project Director for both the Sickle Cell Disease Treatment Demonstration Project’s National Coordinating Center/RTI and the Newborn Screening Initiative National Coordinating and Evaluation Center, both funded by HRSA. Dr. Telfair has worked on practice, cultural, ethical, educational, transition and adult care, community-based participatory research and social issues specific to genetics and sickle cell disease for more than 25 years. He also focuses on health care issues for the poor, rural, and multi-cultural/multi-ethnic populations and advocacy for patients with chronic diseases. Dr. Telfair had extensive experience as a social worker, social work consultant, program evaluator, and planning consultant before working as an assistant professor of Maternal and Child Health, co-director of the Public Health Social Work Program, and faculty associate of the Center for Public Health Practice at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He served as an associate director for the Division of Policy and Ethics, Duke/UNC Comprehensive Sickle Cell Program. Previously, he was Maternal and Child Associate Professor and Scholar with the Lister Hill Center for Health Policy and Scientist with the Center for Health Promotion, all in the School of Public Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Among many others, his expertise and areas of interests include community-based and community-oriented program evaluation and research; community-based translational research with community-based practitioners and related interdisciplinary professionals; culturally competent research and evaluation; health practice research, program evaluation at the local and national levels and policy issues of women, teens and children with chronic conditions (and their families); evaluation community-based risky behavior (drug, sexual behaviors) prevention programs for teens and adults; issues of access to, and utilization of, health care and other services for the poor, diverse and at-risk populations and persons in rural areas; and social and community aspects of HIV/AIDS Research and evaluation (Domestic/International)and the application to and practice of genetics in public. Dr. currently serves as Director of the two HRSA funded national sickle cell disease coordination and data centers and Co-Investigator of an NCI R25 on the Prevention of Breast and Cervical cancer Among Latinas. Dr. Telfair has served as both a reviewer and chair of grant advisory panels for numerous national agencies including NIH, HRSA, DHHS (OPA, AHRQ) and CDC. Dr. Telfair is recent member of the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health and Society. He has devoted his career to research, teaching, and practice in the areas of social epidemiology, cultural and linguistic competency, public health genetics, elimination of health disparities, community-based and rural health practice, program evaluation, and policy issues concerning women, adolescents and children with chronic conditions. As an Investigator and Evaluator on numerous projects and as Director of the UNCG Center for Social, Community and Health Research and Evaluation (CSCHRE), Dr. Telfair provides strong leadership and a unique skill set to the UNCG Community.

There are 28 included publications by Joseph Telfair :

TitleDateViewsBrief Description
African American adolescents with sickle cell disease: Support groups and psychological well-being 1999 3826 There has been little systematic study of the impact of support groups on the psychological well-being (PWB) of adolescents with sickle cell disease (SCD). Questionnaires, administered by group leaders of 12 SCD support groups, were completed and ret...
The Association of Child Condition Severity with Family Functioning and Relationship with Health Care Providers Among Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs in Alabama 2005 1653 Objective: The purpose of the present study is to assess how the severity of a child’s condition affects family functioning and the relationship with health care providers among children with special health care needs in Alabama. Methods: Using the d...
Bridging Science and Practice: The Integrated Model of Community-Based Evaluation 2000 2691 A trend in community-based evaluation studies is to include everyone affected by the work, the community, administrators and participants, in their design and implementation. This concept has been accepted by communities and community evaluators, but...
The Community as Client: Improving the Prospects for Useful Evaluation Findings 1999 3409 Interviews with leaders of community-based health initiatives help define meaningful evaluation in contexts in which communities are called on to contribute consent, resources, or participation in program development and research.
Development and Testing of a Tool to Assess Self-Care Agency in Adults with Sickle Cell Disease. 2002 3862 This article summarizes the psychometric evaluation of the Chronic Illness Assessment Interview for Sickle Cell Disease (CIAI-SCD), an instrument based on a model of self-care for adult patients with chronic medical conditions. The CIAI-SCD was admin...
Does Race Influence the Provision of Care to Persons with Sickle Cell Disease?: Perceptions of Multidisciplinary Providers 1998 3828 This study examined whether multi-disciplinary health care providers (HCPs) perceived race of persons with sickle cell disease (SCD) as an influence in the delivery of health care. A total of 227 multidisciplinary HCPs completed the three-item Influe...
Educational Attainment as a Social Determinant of Health. 2012 15189 A review of the current literature on the relationship between health outcomes and level of education provides points for consideration by providers and policymakers wishing to address social and economic determinants of health and health dispari...
Evaluation of a Disease-Specific Self-Efficacy Instrument in Adolescents with Sickle Cell Disease and its Relationship to Adjustment 2007 5492 The psychometric properties of a disease-specific instrument used to assess self-efficacy in adolescents with sickle cell disease, the Sickle Cell Self-Efficacy Scale, were evaluated in a sample of 131 adolescents ranging from 11 to 19 years of age. ...
Factors in the Long-Term Adjustment of Children and Adolescent with Sickle Cell Disease 1994 2666 This paper focuses on the psychological and social factors that influence the adjustment process of children and adolescents with chronic conditions, primarily sickle cell disease. A review of the literature will reveal that psychological variables, ...
Factors that influence Psychosocial Functioning in Adolescents with Sickle Cell Disease 2000 3566 Objective: To examine whether psychosocial factors play a more important role than biomedical risk factors in predicting adolescent adaptation to sickle cell disease (SCD) ; to determine whether psychosocial factors moderate the relationship between ...
Findings from a community education needs assessment to facilitate the integration of genomic medicine into primary care. 2010 1898 Purpose: To assess the lay public's knowledge of, and beliefs about, genetics and genetic testing to create an educational initiative that promotes acceptance and utilization of genomic medicine in primary health care. Methods: A telephone survey ...
The impact of SCHIP enrollment on adolescent-provider communication 2005 1442 Purpose Effective communication between physicians and adolescents is critical to convey health information, provide counseling and identify emerging health problems. This article addressed two questions: (a) After an adolescent enrolls in a State C...
Implementation of culturally and linguistically competent policies by state Title V Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) programs. 2009 2094 Objective This descriptive study was intended to identify actual actions, steps and processes of Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) programs to develop, implement, sustain and assess culturally and linguistically competent policies, stru...
Improving the Prospects for a Successful Relationship between Community and Evaluator 1999 1889 The success of a community-based program evaluation can be enhanced by using a screening tool to delineate the program’s evaluative needs, resources, and commitments.
The influence of motivational messages on future planning behaviors among HIV concordant positive and discordant couples in Lusaka, Zambia. 2008 1192 In Zambia the HIV/AIDS epidemic has resulted in many single female-headed households. Strong patriarchal laws and customs prevent widows and children from maintaining economic assets. This study examines the impact of a video-based motivational inter...
Knowledge and perceptions of couples’ voluntary counseling and testing in urban Rwanda and Zambia: A cross-sectional household survey 2011 1449 Background: Most incident HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa occur between cohabiting, discordant, heterosexual couples. Though couples' voluntary HIV counseling and testing (CVCT) is an effective, well-studied intervention in Africa < 1% of couple...
Long-term follow-up after diagnosis resulting from newborn screening: statement of the US Secretary of Health and Human Services' Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders and Genetic Diseases in Newborns and Children. 2008 1155 The US Secretary of Health and Human Services' Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders and Genetic Diseases in Newborns and Children provides guidance to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with heritable disorders, with a special emphasi...
The Process of Selling a Community Evaluation to a Community: The Cumberland County Experience 1999 1147 How to engage local program stakeholders meaningfully in evaluation is a continuing challenge for many community based program evaluators. Lessons learned from a Smart Start evaluation in North Carolina are offered.
Promotion of couples' voluntary counseling and testing for HIV through influential networks in two African capital cities 2007 658 Background: Most new HIV infections in Africa are acquired from cohabiting heterosexual partners. Couples' Voluntary Counselling and Testing (CVCT) is an effective prevention strategy for this group. We present our experience with a community-based...
Providers' Perspectives and Beliefs Regarding Transition to Adult Care for Adolescents with Sickle Cell Disease 2004 3037 Until recently, few children with chronic illnesses such as sickle cell disease (SCD) lived past late adolescence. Substantial reductions in mortality mean a growing number of adolescents with SCD reach adulthood. Consensus among researchers and heal...
Public Health Social Work Competencies 2004 1018 Public Health Social Work uses social epidemiology principles to assess and monitor social problems affecting the health status and social functioning of at risk populations within the context of family, community, and culture. Professional standar...
Quality Health Care for Adolescents with Special Health-Care Needs: Issues and Clinical Implications 2005 2861 Assuring quality health care for the diverse U.S. adolescent population is a subject of growing concern among health-care providers and policy makers. Health-care services and policies must appreciate that experiences of adolescents with special heal...
Reliability and validity of a Self-Efficacy Instrument Specific to Sickle Cell Disease 2000 5813 The psychometric properties of a new, 9-item scale measuring disease-specific perceptions of self-efficacy were investigated in a community-based sample of adults (N = 83) with sickle cell disease (SCD). The Sickle Cell Self-Efficacy Scale (SCSES) wa...
Screening U.S. College Athletes for Their Sickle Cell Disease Carrier Status. 2011 2882 There are many issues surrounding the screening of collegiate athletes for their sickle cell disease carrier status (or sickle cell trait), a genetic condition. This paper summarizes the establishment of expert advice given to the Secretary's Advisor...
Self-Efficacy as a Predictor of Adult Adjustment to Sickle Cell Disease: One-Year Outcomes 2001 3951 Objective: The present study prospectively investigated the role of self-efficacy in predicting disease symptomatology and health services utilization for adult patients with sickle cell disease. Methods: These data are derived from a 12-month prosp...
Socioeconomic Distress and Health Status: The Urban-Rural Dichotomy of Services Utilization for People with Sickle Cell Disorders in North Carolina 2000 2622 Research on sickle cell disorder has not focused attention on the socioeconomic background and geographic distribution of people with the disease. This study examines 1,189 persons with sickle cell disorder in North Carolina during 1991 to 1995. Thre...
Transfer As a Component of the Transition of Adolescents with Sickle Cell Disease to Adult Care: Adolescent, Adult and Parent Perspectives 1994 4568 Purpose: There are no empirical studies which assess the transfer needs/concerns of adolescents and young adults with sickle cell disease (SCD) and their primary caretakers. The overall purpose of this research was to determine the issues, concerns, ...
Transition from pediatric to adult care in sickle cell disease: Establishing evidence-based practice and directions for research. 2011 2418 Transition of young adults with sickle cell disease (SCD) from pediatric to adult medical care is an important priority, given medical advances that have transformed SCD into a lifelong chronic condition, rather than a disease of childhood. Successfu...