Robert E. Aronson

I received the Master of Public Health degree from the Department of Health Education, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in May 1986, and the Doctor of Public Health degree from the Department of International Health at the School of Hygiene and Public Health, Johns Hopkins University in May 1997. I have worked in the field of public health continuously since 1984, either in public health practice, research and/or teaching. My research agenda has focused on: 1) developing approaches to evaluate community-level changes as outcomes of intervention efforts; and 2) applying a cultural ecological framework to understanding racial, ethnic and income related disparities in health outcomes. In recent years I have worked on the evaluation of complex community interventions, including: California Healthy Cities and Communities (1998-2003); Project DIRECT, a CDC funded national demonstration project for diabetes prevention and control (2002- present); Oklahoma Infants Assistance Program (1999-2000); Men´s Services Program of Baltimore City Healthy Start (1997-1998); and Baltimore City Healthy Start Infant Mortality Prevention Demonstration Program (1992-1997). Currently my research on health disparities has focused on men’s health issues and on constructs of masculinity, manhood and fatherhood, and their relationships to risk factors for HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections, and other health problems. I have extensive experience in ethnographic/qualitative research and program development and evaluation in minority communities in the U.S.

There are 21 included publications by Robert E. Aronson :

TitleDateViewsBrief Description
Achieving a “Broad View of Health”: Findings From the California Healthy Cities and Communities Evaluation 2007 2132 Promoting a “broad view of health” is an important objective of the healthy cities movement, including recognition of the powerful role that social relations and living conditions play in the health of community members. This article presents a quant...
Achieving organizational change: findings from case studies of 20 California healthy cities and communities coalitions 2008 2492 SUMMARY As part of an evaluation of the California Healthy Cities and Communities (CHCC) Program, we assessed the extent to which coalitions implementing the healthy cities and communities model demonstrated capacity to leverage financial resources,...
The Art and Science of Integrating Undoing Racism with CBPR: Challenges of Pursuing NIH Funding to Investigate Cancer Care and Racial Equity 2006 2186 In this nation, the unequal burden of disease among People of Color has been well documented. One starting point to eliminating health disparities is recognizing the existence of inequities in health care delivery and identifying the complexities of ...
Brothers leading healthy lives: outcomes from the pilot testing of a culturally and contextually congruent HIV prevention intervention for black male college students 2013 2445 We used a treatment group-only design to pilot test a newly developed intervention to increase condom use among higher risk heterosexually active African American/black male college students. A community-based participatory research partnership devel...
A comparison of two analytic methods for the identification of neighborhoods as intervention and control sites for community-based programs 1997 1691 Study Objective: Interest in community as the focus of public health interventions is growing. However, choosing intervention and comparison neighborhoods when designing community based programs poses a challenge to program planners. Ideally, interve...
Ethnic and Racial Differences of Baseline Stroke Knowledge in a “Stroke Belt” Community 2012 1193 Acute stroke is often a treatable condition; however, intervention is time dependent and typically should ensue within 3 hr from onset of symptoms. The ability of individuals to understand stroke risk factors to reduce individual risk and to recogniz...
Ethnographically informed community evaluation: A framework and approach for evaluating community-based initiatives 2007 3984 Objectives: This paper describes ethnographically informed community evaluation (EICE), a framework for evaluating complex community-based interventions, and illustrates its use in the evaluation of Baltimore City Healthy Start, a federally funded in...
Factors Associated with Misperception of Weight in the Stroke Belt 2008 2905 BACKGROUND: Understanding the reasons for over-weight and obesity is critical to addressing the obesity epidemic. Often the decision to lose weight is based as much on one’s self-perception of being overweight as on inherent health benefits. OBJECTI...
Identifying Culturally Appropriate Strategies for Educating a Mexican Immigrant Community about Lead Poisoning Prevention 2006 2972 Lead paint is one source of exposure for lead poisoning; however, recent Latino and other immigrant populations are also at risk of exposure through ceramic cooking pots with lead glaze, some imported candies, and certain stomach ailment home remedie...
Laying the Groundwork for Evidence-Based Public Health: Why Some Local Health Departments Use More Evidence-Based Decision-Making Practices Than Others 2015 1656 We examined variation in the use of evidence-based decision-making (EBDM) practices across local health departments (LHDs) in the United States and the extent to which this variation was predicted by resources, personnel, and governance. We analyzed ...
Neighborhood Mapping and Evaluation: A Methodology for Participatory Community Health Initiatives 2007 5155 Objectives: This paper describes the use of neighborhood mapping as a key element in an ecological study of a community-based urban infant mortality prevention program. We propose the use of neighborhood mapping in evaluation research to more fully e...
Perceptions of Parenting: Individual Differences and the Effect of Community 2001 3283 Neighborhood norms are an important determinant of beliefs and attitudes about parenting, and measuring changes in community norms is an important component of evaluating community-based programs for improving child outcomes. The purpose of this stud...
Perceptions of vaccine efficacy, illness, and health among inner-city parents 1993 3470 Summary: A resurgence of measles in the past decade has focused attention on the limitations of current immunization programs, particularly for inner-city, low-income populations. As part of a larger study of immunization rates, we discussed percepti...
Predictors of Congruency between Self-reported Hypertension Status and Measured Blood Pressure in the Stroke Belt 2013 1447 Background: Few studies have comprehensively investigated the validity of self-reported hypertension (HTN) and assessed predictors of HTN status in the stroke belt. This study evaluates validity self-reporting as a tool to screen large study populat...
Predictors of Uncontrolled Hypertension in the Stroke Belt 2013 1466 Inadequate control of high systolic blood pressure in older adults has been largely attributable to poor control of overall hypertension (HTN). The Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of ...
PSOC in community context: multi-level correlates of a measure of psychological sense of community in low-income, urban neighborhoods 1999 11514 Recent years have seen a steady increase in attention to communities as a source of both risk and protective factors for various individual outcomes. Psychological sense of community (PSOC) is one concept which can be important in describing the ways...
Race, Socioeconomic Status, and Age: Exploring Intersections in Preterm Birth Disparities among Teen Mothers 2015 2326 Few studies have examined disparities in adverse birth outcomes and compared contributingsocioeconomic factors specifically between African-American and White teen mothers. Thisstudy examined intersections between neighborhood socioeconomic status (a...
Skill Improvement among Coalition Members: Evaluation Findings from the California Healthy Cities and Communities Program 2007 1517 Community-driven, collaborative approaches to health promotion have the potential to enhance skills among community members and, in turn, increase community capacity. This study uses data from an evaluation of the California Healthy Cities and Commun...
Strengthening Community Leadership: Evaluation Findings From the California Healthy Cities and Communities Program 2008 3577 Collaborative approaches to community health improvement such as healthy cities and communities have the potential to strengthen community capacity through leadership development. The healthy cities and communities process orients existing local lead...
Views on exercise and physical activity among rural-dwelling senior citizens 2004 3486 Context: This study was conducted with senior citizens in the 2 rural communities of Ada and Lindsay, Oklahoma. These communities are both predominantly white, with the largest minority population being American Indian. Both communities are more than...
What do men who serve as lay health advisors really do? Immigrant Latino men share their experiences as Navegantes to prevent HIV. 2009 2188 HoMBReS was a lay health adviser (LHA) intervention designed to reduce sexual risk among recently arrived, nonEnglish-speaking Latino men who were members of a multicounty soccer league in central NC. Our community- based participatory rese...