Digital Commons Network^™

Use Of The County Health Rankings By Local Health Departments In Florida, 2010 - 2011, Nancy L. Winterbauer, Bonita Sorensen, James B. Tidwell

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

This paper describes how local health departments (LHDs) in Florida used the County Health Rankings over the first two years of their release (2010 – 2011). We surveyed LHD leadership to describe if, how and to what extent the Rankings were used by Florida’s 67 LHDs to improve the health of their communities and describe changes in use from the 2010 to the 2011 release. Our results indicate substantial use of the Rankings by Florida’s LHDs, particularly as applied to community health assessments, staff education, as a starting point for examining other indicators and databases, and in grant applications. From …

Effectiveness And Challenges For Implementing Quality Improvement Activities In Nebraska’S Local Health Departments, Li-Wu Chen, Anh Nguyen, Janelle J. Jacobson, Diptee Ojha, David Palm

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

What is already known on this topic? Although the implementation strategies and effectiveness of quality improvement (QI) activities have been examined extensively for many industries, including the health care sector, very few studies have focused on QI activities in the public health context.

What is added by this report? The study results indicated that Nebraska’s LHDs still face significant barriers for QI implementation, including low capacity, knowledge gaps, inadequate resources, and low institutional QI maturity.

What are the implications for public health practice/policy/research? Policy makers and LHDs should provide QI training and external QI expertise to LHD staff and better …

Building Capacity To Support And Study Qi In Local Georgia Public Health Systems, William C. Livingood, Nandi Marshall, Angela Peden, Ketty Gonzales, Gulzar H. Shah, Russ Toal, Kellie Penix, Dayna Alexander, Kay Davis, Sylvester Nixon, Purity Cummings, William Riley, Lynn Woodhouse

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

The study of quality improvement within Georgia’s local public health systems provides important insight into the use of regional bodies as quality improvement (QI) collaboratives and multijurisdictional entities. This report describes QI initiatives following a RWJF funded quick strike research grant to assess health district capacity to conduct QI in Georgia’s local public health systems. These QI initiatives use QI to improve public health outcomes including: Adolescent pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Infection prevention, HIV prevention and control, and HIV Management.

Tax Levy Financing For Local Public Health: Relationships Between Fiscal Allocation, Fiscal Effort And Fiscal Capacity, William Riley, Kim J. Gearin, Carmen D. Parrotta, Jill Briggs, M. Elizabeth Gyllstrom

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

This study examines property tax levy (local tax levy) as a source of local health department (LHD) funding during a five year period (2006-2010) in all Minnesota counties by assessing fiscal effort, fiscal allocation and fiscal capacity. Local health departments rely on pluralistic funding from local, state, federal and private sources. However, local tax levy funding is unexplored and little is known regarding the extent of fiscal allocation (tax levy used for LHD), fiscal effort (potential amount of tax levy available for LHD), and fiscal capacity (wealth of community). More important it is not known to what extent variation between …

Mandated Activities And Limited Decision-Making Authority Among Local Public Health Officials, Betty Bekemeier, Anthony L-T Chen, Nami Kawakyu

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

Local public health department leaders face difficult decisions regarding the allocation of increasingly scarce resources, yet existing evidence for public health decision making, while still limited, is underutilized by public health officials. Participants in this study described processes regarding resource allocation in response to local budget cuts as based largely on legally mandated activities and categorical funding and perceived these factors as limiting much of their agency-level decision making to a relatively small portion of flexible funding. In the limited areas in which they perceived themselves to have flexibility, they generally considered their agencies to have very little capacity for …

Evidence-Based Decision Making In Local Health Departments, Linda Weiss, Collette Sosnowy, Christopher M. Maylahn, Nancy J. Katagiri, Sylvia Pirani

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

Evidence-based decision making (EBDM) represents an important strategy to increase efficacy and efficiency of public health programs and practice. There is insufficient information on the application of EBDM among local health departments (LHDs). This qualitative study examined use of EBDM in New York State (NYS) LHDs and factors facilitating and impeding its adoption through interviews and focus groups with 47 LHD commissioners, health directors, and other upper-level staff. Findings suggest variability in application of EBDM in NYS LHDs. A number of internal factors (e.g., staff capacity, organizational culture) and external factors (e.g., policy environment, appropriate and …

From The Frontier: Translating Research To Practice, Paul C. Erwin

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

The purpose of this invited article is to describe the process of translating research into public health practice. An example is provided, showing how questions arose in the practice setting, a researcher was identified to help answer the questions, and findings from the research were applied in the practice setting. In this example, Dr. Lea LaFave (Community Health Institute/JSI in New Hampshire) worked with Dr. Danielle Varda (Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado/ Denver, School of Public Affairs) to use social network analysis to better understand a network of coalitions focused on underage substance abuse. The social network analysis …

Stimulating Public Health Improvement In Complex And Constrained Delivery Systems: Findings From The Public Health Pbrns, Glen P. Mays

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Public Health Practice-Based Research Networks Program sponsored a series of studies to examine how public health decision-makers are responding to accreditation, quality improvement, and public reporting initiatives amid the ongoing fiscal pressures. Overall, the evidence to date indicates that these initiatives represent promising strategies for strengthening evidence-based decision-making and expanding the delivery of evidence-tested programs and policies in local public health settings. Continued, comparative research and evaluation activities are needed to provide more definitive evidence about which combination of strategies work best, for which population groups, in which community and organizational settings, and why.

Emergency Department Nurses' Knowledge Of Evidence-Based Ischemic Stroke Care, Laura Traynelis

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

Adoption Of A Heart Healthy Diet In Rural Eastern Kentucky, Kevin Luley

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

Women, Sustainability, And Development, Alison Huddleston

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

Uncovering Nellie Bly, Martha Groppo

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

Not The Usual Type, Catherine Anne Brereton

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

An Examination Of Maternal Stress, Inflammatory Markers, And Preterm Labor In Pregnant Women, Cecilia Boateng

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

An Ecological Analysis Of Same-Sex Domestic Violence Between Gay Men, Ericka Barbour

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

Novel Role Of A Cypovirus In Polydnavirus-Parasitoid-Host Relationship, Philip Houtz

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

Showcase Of Undergraduate Scholars, Office Of Undergraduate Research

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

From The Editor's Viewpoint, Diane M. Snow

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

Oswald Winners - Design And Fine Arts, Office Of Undergraduate Research

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

Childhood Depression And Obesity: Role Of The Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (Hpa) Axis Activity, Joanne Tyler

Kaleidoscope

This study examined relations between child depression and eating behavior and weight problems, including the role ofbaseline cortisol and cortisol reactivity in these relations. Data were drawn from a larger study, and included 50 children between the ages of6 and 12. Children reported on their depressive symptoms, and children and parents reported on child engagement in external eating, under-eating, over-eating, parental pressure to eat, enjoyment of food, and food and satiety responsiveness. For children exhibiting hypercortisolism, depression was associated with decreased over-eating and food responsiveness. Hypercortisolism was especially important for girls and children later in pubertal development. The reduced appetite …

Functionalization Of Gold Nanoparticles (Gnpss) Using The Isolate, Functionalize, And Release (Isofure) Methodology, David Spencer, Hariharasudhan D. Chirra, J. Zach Hilt

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

The Principal Causes Of The First Balkan War, Laura Shahan

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

Caravaggio And The Head Of Goliath, Veronica Polinedrio

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

The Uyghurs Of China: A Struggle Of Past, Present, And Future, Clinton Parker

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

Biocomaptibility Analysis And Cancer Therapy Applications Of Core-Shell Composite Magnetic Nanoparticles, Anastasia Kruse, Robert J. Wydra, J. Zach Hilt, Kimberly W. Anderson

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

Socioeconomic Challenges Of Patients With Clinical Blindness In Rural China, Yuen Aimee Chan

Kaleidoscope

Clinical blindness of 20/200 vision or greater in both eyes is rampant throughout Africa. Remarkably, most of these cases are either curable or preventable. There are 45 million blind people in the world and those who live in sub-Saharan Africa have a mortality rate four times higher than other areas worldwide [1]. Unite For Sight (UFS) is a non-profit organization that promotes eye health and reduce preventable blindness in communities worldwide. UFS has assisted over 1,000,000 patients and has provided 32,000 sight-restoring surgeries free of charge [2]. An opportunity for combination of volunteer work with research will contribute to this …

Morphological And Genetic Activation Of Microglia After Diffuse Traumatic Brain Injury In The Rat, Tuoxin Caou, Amanda M. Lisembee, Kelley D. Hall, James R. Pauly, Jonathan Lifshitz

Kaleidoscope

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivors experience long, term post-traumatic morbidities. In diffuse brain injured rats, a chronic sensory sensitivity to whisker stimulation models agitation in brain injury survivors and provides anatomical landmarks across the whisker-barrel circuit to evaluate traumatic neuropathology. As a consequence of TBI, acute and chronic microglial activation can contribute to degenerative and reparative events underlying post-traumatic morbidity. Here, we hypothesize that delayed microglial activation is concomitant with neuroplastic change after diffuse brain injury in the rat, by examining differential microglial activation states and neuroplasticity through gene and protein expression. Adult male, Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to a …

Not The Usual Type, Catherine Anne Brerton

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

Investigating Planer Propagation Of A Shockwave In A Shock Tunnel, John Rathbun, Dave Mclane

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

Fear And Self-Loathing In The First Century: Why It Matters That Paul Was Not Gay, Catherine Anne Brereton

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.