Digital Commons Network^™

Protection Through Participation: Crowdsourced Tap Water Quality Monitoring For Enhanced Public Health, Sarah A. Jakositz

Master's Theses and Capstones

Lead contamination in municipal drinking water is a national public health issue and is generally the result of water contact with leaded distribution piping and on-premise plumbing. As a result, the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Lead and Copper Rule requires point of use sampling methods at a small fraction of consumer taps on the public water distribution system. While this approach is practical, it leaves large gaps of consumers without direct monitoring and protection. In response, a novel contest-based crowdsourcing study was conducted to engage the public in monitoring their own water quality at their home taps and study factors …

Race And Income Disparities In Disaster Preparedness In Old Age, Katherine M. Cox

Master's Theses and Capstones

Objective: Older adults are one of the most vulnerable populations impacted by disasters and communities continue to struggle addressing preparedness. This study investigated to what extent income status and race/ethnicity in old age interplayed with disaster preparedness.

Methods: Data came from the 2010 Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative panel survey of older Americans over 51 years old. Our sample was restricted to respondents who participated in a special survey about disaster preparedness (N=1,705). Disaster preparedness was measured as a score, which includes 13 variables related to personal, household, program, and medical preparedness. Race/ethnicity was categorized by White, Black, …

Enduring Impact Of Childhood Stressors On Adult Health: Testing Psychological And Behavioral Pathways, Tracy Keirns

Doctoral Dissertations

Stress and health has been a topic of interest among researchers in a variety of fields such as medical sociology, psychology, public health, child abuse, and epidemiology. For decades this research had largely been conducted in silos within each of the respective fields. In recent years, these silos have started to diminish. Sociologists have begun to consider the accumulation of stressors over the life course, including how serious childhood stressors (such as child abuse) impact morbidity and mortality later in life. Using Wave I, Wave III and Wave IV data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health …