Clinical Epidemiology
Assistant Professor of Social Work in Medicine. B.S.W.
1979, City University of New York; M.S.W. 1984, Hunter College; D.S.W.
1994, Hunter College School of Social Work
Behavioral Science, Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
Laura Robbins, DSW is the Director of the Education Division
at the Hospital for Special Surgery and Associate Director of the
Education, Epidemiology and Health Services Research component of the Cornell
Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Disease Center. Her research focuses on barriers
to utilization and access to health care services. She is particularly
interested in culturally determined health beliefs and behaviors that determine
use of services such as health education and social support programs. Currently,
she is investigating service utilization in two disease specific areas,
osteoporosis and lupus. The target populations are women from Latino and
Chinese communities. Her recent study in osteoporosis, funded by the New
York State Department of Health, is aimed at documenting the knowledge,
beliefs and prevalence of this disease in acculturated Latina and Chinese
women. While evaluating levels of knowledge and health beliefs regarding
prevention of these diseases, Dr. Robbins is also evaluating how knowledge
and beliefs mediate utilization of existing services. The second study
is a randomized control study of a psycho-education program as a routine
part of a Rheumatology practice model for lupus patients. The primary outcome
of this study is health status. The intervention is a psycho-education
program with an outreach model designed to increase compliance through
a peer support and education program. The program, available in English
and Spanish, consists of didactic education sessions as well as a telephone
peer support component.
In the field of Pediatrics, Dr. Robbins ongoing research focuses on
pediatric care for under-served children with musculoskeletal conditions.
This study, aslo funded by the New York State Department of Health, to
date has screened over 12,000 children. In addition to screenings, we continue
to document parents' experiences with access to specialized and primary
care services in order to identify the link between health behaviors and
service utilization.
Recent Publications
Robbins, L. Social and Cultural
Assessment. In: Wegener, S., Belza, B., Gall, E. (Eds.). Primer
on Clinical Care in the Rheumatic Diseases. The American
College of Rheumatology, 1996.
Robbins, L., Peterson, M.J., Galsworthy,
T., Wilson, P., Lane, J., Elkin, E. The Prevalence of Osteoporosis in a
Cohort of Community-Based Latina Woman. Journal of Bone and Mineral
Research, 1997.
Robbins, L. Patient Education. In:
Klippel, J. Weyand, C., Wortmann, R. (Eds.). Primer on the Rheumatic
Diseases, 11th Edition, National Arthritis Foundation, 1997.
Robbins, L. Qualitative Research:
Contributions to Scientific Inquiry and Patient Care, Arthritis Care and
Research. Arthritis Care and Research, August, 11 (4): 225-227,
1998.
Robbins, L., Levy, R., Lee, S.,
Leuchter, J., O'Brasky, M. Developing musculoskeletal education programs
for physicians and the general public: Findings from a needs assessment.
Arthritis Care and Research, 11 (6), 1998.
