Center in the News
Two groups that have high rates of smoking and vaping — the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community and the LGBTQ community — have specific hurdles that prevent them from quitting: the cost of cessation therapies and a lack of culturally specific care, according to a pair of reports from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. “Examining the smoking behaviors of specific communities is essential to understanding their unique needs,” said Sean Tan, a senior public administration analyst at the center and lead author of both reports. “We found that many NHPI and LGBTQ smokers who
“Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the California Health Interview Survey has released survey data early to help show the impact of COVID-19 on Californians,” said Todd Hughes, the survey director. “As mandates, guidelines and concerns have changed over the past two years, we have added new questions to CHIS to provide policymakers, community organizations, advocates and other stakeholders with data they can act on."
Data from the California Health Interview Survey and the American Community Survey highlight diversity and needs of California’s fastest growing population groups.
Approximately 45% of noncitizens without legal permanent resident status experience food insecurity, according to the report.
The report also breaks down percentages of people experiencing food insecurity by age group, with 42% of noncitizens without legal permanent resident status age 50 and older, 46% of those 27 to 49 years old, 36% of those 18 to 26 years old and 64% of children under 17 being affected.
Susan Babey, a senior research scientist at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, said while it is important to address food insecurity, it is also important to remember that a lack
Dr. Rodriguez has been studying gun violence for more than 25 years. He and Ninez Ponce, Ph.D., director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and a professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, recently received a grant to explore the issue in California, where about 3,000 people died from gunfire in 2019 — 54% by suicide.
Their report “Securing Food, Securing Our Health: The Impact of Food Insecurity on Latinx Children & Families” uses CHIS data.
The LA County Department of Public Health and First 5 LA on May 17, launched Help Me Grow LA or HMG LA. A survey by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research showed that children of color have lower rates of access to both screening and early intervention services compared to white children.
A UCLA Center for Health Policy Research report released in 2020 reported 22.6% of California children aged 12-17 self-reported needing help for emotional or mental health problems such as feeling sad, anxious or nervous.
That data shows that central-region residents are least likely of any other HHSA region in the county to have a usual place to go when sick or needing health advice, according to the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. Southeastern San Diego specifically has the second-highest proportion of residents with no health insurance — 12.2 percent — in the central region.
One California institution, on the other hand, has been asking such questions in the California Health Interview Survey, an ongoing effort interviewing 20,000 Californians each year about several dozen topics from internet use and difficulty finding health insurance to mental health care and asthma. The CHIS is conducted by the Center for Health Policy Research at UCLA, in collaboration with the California Department of Public Health and the Department of Health Care Services. One such study titled ""Gaps in Health Care Access and Health Insurance Among LGBT Populations in California"" found