Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Effects Of Video Enhancement In A Stated-Choice Experiment On Medical Decision Making, Susanne Hoffmann, Joachim Winter, Francis G. Caro, Alison Gottlieb

Gerontology Institute Publications

Background. The internet can be useful in administering stated-choice experiments to understand medical decision making and refine the content of patient decision aids. In internet-based stated-choice experiments, video and audio files can be used to provide information to respondents. Quality of data may or may not be affected.

Objectives. In a methodological experiment concerned with administration of a stated-choice experiment on the internet concerned with knee-replacement surgery, we compared the data quality obtained with video-enhanced and conventional text formats.

Methods. Members of the RAND Corporation’s American Life Panel and 50 years of age or older (n=1616) were randomly assigned to …

Black Is Decidedly Not Just Black: A Case Study On Hiv Among African-Born Populations Living In Massachusetts, Chioma Nnaji, Nzinga Metzger

Trotter Review

Black or African American is a racial category that includes the descendants of enslaved Africans as well as members of foreign-born black communities who migrated to the United States from places abroad, such as Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Grouping native-born and foreign-born blacks into a single homogeneous racial category may make it easier to track disease and health outcomes; however, it masks the different cultural experiences, histories, languages, social and moral values, and expectations that influence health beliefs, attitudes, practices, and behaviors. It also ignores such factors as migration, which forces foreign-born populations to examine both their traditional …

Social Actors Fight The Rising Tide Of Hiv In U.S. Southern Poor, Courtenay Sprague, Sara E. Simon

Center for Peace, Democracy and Development Publications

The greatest number of persons living with HIV in the United States are now living in the South, and they face poorer health outcomes and increased AIDS-related deaths as compared to the rest of the country. The southern United States has a disproportionate share of low-income individuals, with many lacking access to health care and health insurance. Health facilities are also comparatively fewer and more difficult to reach than in other areas of the United States. The impacts of this already poor health infrastructure on low-income people living with HIV in the South can be life-threatening.

This policy brief summarizes …

Service Provider Promising Practice: Job Squad, Inc. (West Virginia) - A Blog That Conveys The Importance Of Community Employment, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

Job Squad is a medium-sized CRP that provides services to individuals in 13 counties within West Virginia. In 2005, responding to customer demands, executive director Brenda Hellwig and her staff received training from Griffin Hammis Associates to offer community employment services. Once trained, the career counselors at Job Squad found that their most successful jobs were matches between job seekers and small businesses that needed their skills and could provide natural supports. The team then started the Community Economic Development blog at http:// jobsquadinc.blogspot.com/. This is a platform to communicate with employers,

Individual, Disease, And Work-Related Factors Associated With Work Patterns, Presenteeism And Sick Pay Policy Of The Colorectal Cancer Survivor After Treatment, Kristin A. Roper

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Participation of colorectal cancer survivors (CRC) in the workforce has been described by clinicians, survivors, and researchers as a way to improve mood, quality of life (QOL), and survival. Maintaining self-esteem and financial independence have also been attributed to continued employment of the CRC survivor. The purpose of this cross-sectional survey was to describe patterns of employment of the CRC survivor and to examine the individual, disease, and work-related factors that influence presenteeism and perceived adequacy of sick pay (ASP) policy. The Conceptual Model of Nursing and Health Policy and the Pathways to Work Life Recovery guided the design, selection …

How Will Public Health And Primary Care Come Together In Massachusetts?, Javier Crespo

Public Affairs Capstones Collection

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act aims to place public health and prevention practice closer to the clinical care delivery system by mandating basic preventive services and creating a national prevention plan. The Massachusetts health care system has a number of elements that can help foster closer linking of public health practices in the primary care setting. This research set out to examine whether the current healthcare system in Massachusetts will enable public health and primary care integration as intimated upon by the Affordable Care Act. This study will assess the current connection between public health and primary care …

Discovering Behavioral Intervention: A Parent’S Interactive Guide To Aba, Richard Fleming, Carol Curtin, Cheryl A. Gray, Charles D. Hamad

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) affect one in 110 children in the U.S. Parents of children with ASD need clear and accurate information to communicate with professionals as they seek appropriate services, including applied behavior analysis (ABA) based intervention. Behavioral professionals can assist parents in this endeavor by recommending resources, including online courses. This paper describes the development and evaluation of an online course on ABA for parents of children with ASD. Parents completing a summative field test (N=21) made significant gains in knowledge and reported high levels of satisfaction. Implications include the potential for enhanced parent-professional collaboration in treatment decision-making.

Understanding Hiv Care Delays In The Us South And The Role Of The Social-Level In Hiv Care Engagement/Retention: A Qualitative Study, Courtenay Sprague, Sara E. Simon

Center for Peace, Democracy and Development Publications

Introduction: In a significant geographical shift in the distribution of HIV infection, the US South - comprising 17 states - now has the greatest number of adults and adolescents with HIV (PLHIV) in the nation. More than 60% of PLHIV are not in HIV care in Alabama and Mississippi, contrasted with a national figure of 25%. Poorer HIV outcomes raise concerns about HIV-related inequities for southern PLHIV, which warrant further study. This qualitative study sought to understand experiences of low-income PLHIV on the AIDS Drug Assistance Program in engagement and retention in continuous HIV care in two sites in Alabama. …

Community Engagement And Research Section, Umass Center For Clinical And Translational Science, University Of Massachusetts Center For Clinical And Translational Science

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The UMCCTS Community Engagement and Research Section works to improve health in Massachusetts by fostering community engaged research among UMass researchers and community partners. We do this through conferences, pilot funding opportunities, webinars, training, consultation, linking researchers with community partners, and an email discussion group (listserv).

Two Community Collaborations With Sexual Minority Women’S Ngos In Shanghai & Hong Kong, Connie Chan, Hsin-Ching Wu

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Based on research with sexual minority communities in the United States, Connie Chan, professor of public policy and public affairs, conducted comparative research with community groups in Hong Kong and Shanghai, China. She provided capacity building training and resources directly to the organization which provides outreach and service to sexual minority women and girls in Shanghai, China. Professor Chan also supported Queer Sisters – an NGO that provides advocacy and community outreach to sexual minority girls and women in Hong Kong – by co-creating a needs assessment survey and helping them to interview their membership in Hong Kong.

Connie Chan …

Breakthrough Series Collaborative To Support Trauma-Informed Practice In Early Care & Education, Anne Douglass

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

This study investigated the use of a Breakthrough Series Collaborative (BSC) to promote the adoption of trauma-informed practices in urban early care & education (ECE) programs. Through this BSC, ECE programs implement new practices to promote safe, stable, and nurturing relationships and prevent trauma exposure; protect children exposed to trauma, help children heal, and support family protective factors that help children thrive.

Massachusetts Hospital School Program Evaluation Enhancing Transition To The Community, Russell Schutt

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Throughout the years, MHS has responded to the changing medical needs of children and young adults in MA and continues to be a model program nationally. Currently, MHS educates approximately 87 students from 58 MA communities. Since 2003, about 10-17 students have graduated each year. At age 22, young adults with disabilities transition from students to emergent adults living in the community. Students graduating from the Massachusetts Hospital School (MHS) are faced with opportunities and choices with respect to how and where they will live, work, study, socialize and receive ongoing medical care. In order to understand how well current …

International Epidemics: Interdisciplinary Thinking And Global Citizenship, Rajini Srikanth, Louise Penner

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Honors College aims to serve as a crucible for curricular innovation by enriching and deepening classroom study with on-the-ground learning. The symposium is a year-long course, with the winter session field trip giving students a two-week immersion in the details of HIV/AIDS health care delivery in one province of South Africa. Upon return, students volunteer at health centers or nonprofits exploring related topics, while continuing to study the complexity of South Africa’s history and its attitudes and approaches toward HIV/AIDS at the medical, cultural, economic, and social levels.

The Unequal Burden Of Debt And Its Impact On Health, Elizabeth Sweet, Zachary Dubois

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Average household debt in America has tripled in the past 30 years. Much of this burden is unequally borne by racial/ethnic minorities and those with lower incomes, who face discrimination in obtaining loans and must devote more household resources to paying off debts. Being indebted is a strong predictor of suicide, depression, and other adverse mental health outcomes. However, its impact on physical health is underexplored.

Implementing A Community-Based Intervention For African American Mothers And Daughters, Teri Aronowitz, Nandini Sengupta

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Adolescents represent one of the fastest growing risk groups for HIV. Inner-city, minority youth are at highest risk because of concentration of HIV in inner-city areas, higher rates of STDs, and early sexual initiation. Mothers are the primary sex educator of daughters, and girls state their relationship with their mother was an important influence on their delaying sexual activity. With 70% of adolescent HIV seroconversions occurring among African American (AA) females, studies are urgently needed to enhance mother-daughter sexual communication. The purpose of this poster is to offer insights on the logistics of carrying out a manualized program.

Combat Paper Project, William Joiner Institute For The Study Of War And Social Consequences, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Coming home from war is enormously difficult. A new language is required to express the magnitude of war’s effects and consequences. Combat Paper transforms the uniforms of battle to paper and from this transformation comes art. Developed by veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan in San Francisco, the project has now traveled broadly across the United States and the world.

Heterogeneity, Not Randomness, Sets Challenges For Quantitative Genetics And Epidemiology: A Response To Davey Smith’S “Gloomy Prospect”, Peter J. Taylor

Working Papers on Science in a Changing World

Social epidemiologist Davey Smith (2011) argues that epidemiologists should accept a gloomy prospect: considerable randomness at the individual level means that they should keep their focus on modifiable causes of disease at the population level. The difficulty epidemiology has had in moving from significant population-level risk factors to improved prediction of cases at an individual level is analogous to the lack of success in the search for systematic aspects of the non-shared environmental influences that human quantitative genetics claims overshadow common environmental influences (e.g., the family’s socioeconomic status which siblings have in common). This article responds to the argument and …

Tripartite Conflicts Of Interest And High Stakes Patent Extensions In The Dsm-5, Lisa Cosgrove, Sheldon Krimsky, Emily E. Wheeler, Jenesse Kaitz, Scott B. Greenspan, Nicole L. Dipentima

Counseling and School Psychology Faculty Publication Series

Background: The revision process for and recent publication of the DSM-5 initiated debates about the widening of diagnostic boundaries. The pharmaceutical industry had a major financial stake in the outcome of these debates. This study examines the three-part relationship among DSM panel members, principal investigators (PIs) of clinical trials for new DSM-5 diagnoses, and drug companies.

Methods: Financial conflicts of interest (FCOI) of DSM panel members responsible for some new diagnoses in the DSM-5 and PIs of clinical trials for related drug treatments were identified. Trials were found by searching ClinicalTrials.gov. Patent and revenue information about these drugs was found …

Financial Security Scorecard: A State-By-State Analysis Of Economic Pressures Facing Future Retirees, Christian Weller, Nari Rhee, Carolyn Arcand

Public Policy and Public Affairs Faculty Publication Series

As Americans increasingly worry about their retirement prospects, states play an important and growing role in retirement security policy. States already manage long-term care programs for the elderly through Medicaid. Concerned about the impact of future elder poverty on state and local budgets and their local economies, a number of states are exploring the creation of low-cost and low-risk retirement savings plans for private sector workers who lack access to pensions or 401(k)s on the job. Some states have developed programs to help older workers find work.

This report presents the Financial Security Scorecard, designed to inform state-level stakeholders and …

Troubled By Heterogeneity? Control, Infrastructure & Participation In Social Epidemiology And Life Course Development, Peter J. Taylor

Working Papers on Science in a Changing World

This working paper presents the panels of a poster prepared for a conference, “Complex Systems, Health Disparities, and Population Health: Building Bridges,” held at NIH in Bethesda, MD in February 2014. Just as poster presenters hope viewers stop and talk, my aim in sharing the panels as a working paper is to elicit more conversation about different kinds of heterogeneity and the ways they are addressed or suppressed in social epidemiology and life course development. The thinking behind this concern is as follows. The two foundational developments of modern biology—the theories of evolution by natural selection and the genetic basis …

Expanding Women’S Healthcare Access In The United States: The Patchwork “Universalism” Of The Affordable Care Act, Randy Albelda, Diana Salas Coronado

Center for Social Policy Publications

This paper explores the promise of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly called “Obamacare” (referred to here as the ACA), with attention to the ways gender matter by tracing the development and implementation of key US social protection systems, an examination of the current health system with particular attention to women’s coverage, and the potential impacts of the ACA, including how it conforms to international human rights norms for health care. The ACA promises to vastly improve the key dimensions of health coverage in the US, but it conforms with other US social policy by relying on market-based …

Evaluation Of The Jewish Community Housing For The Elderly Memory Support Initiative, Joan Hyde

Gerontology Institute Publications

Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly (JCHE) is a large, multi-campus organization that houses and serves 1,500 residents (80 market rate and 1,420 low income). The average age is 80 years old, with one-third of residents 85 and older. Three quarters of the residents are not native English speakers. Through HUD and other funding, JCHE offers a range of supports to these residents, including translators, interpreters and staff with language and cultural competence, meals, transportation and, through their Service Coordinators, facilitation of resident access to government benefits, home care and other services.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association’s 2012 special report …

Service Provider Promising Practice - Work Inc. (Massachusetts): Using Data To Track Job Development Activities During Organizational Change, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

Work Inc. is a medium-sized CRP in Massachusetts that has served people with IDD for the last 32 years. Over the last 15 years, since Work Inc. began tracking employment services data, its approach to employment supports in the community has evolved. The agency’s data-tracking methods have both guided and developed alongside this change process.

Service Provider Promising Practice: Lending Works From Progressive Employment Concepts (California) - Helping Business Owners Find Start-Up Capital, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

Progressive Employment Concepts (PEC), a community rehabilitation provider with several locations in northern California, was founded in 1995 to support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) to find employment in their communities. PEC currently supports 90 people in individual jobs. A core belief at PEC is that everyone it serves is job-ready and can work in competitive employment in their communities. PEC began Lending Works, a nonprofit organization, in 2007. Lending Works provides loans to people with disabilities interested in self-employment. Loans are usually up to $2,000, and people apply for them by submitting information about themselves and their …

Service Provider Promising Practices: Lcs In Wisconsin - An Organizational Investment In Capacity-Building And Staff Training, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

Over the last five years, LCS, a provider in Racine, Wisconsin, has developed the capacity of its staff to expand integrated employment service options. LCS has hired and retained staff who are passionate about integrated employment, and has invested in supporting them to deliver high-quality integrated employment services. Through state-of-the-art training and other resources, LCS has navigated internal and external challenges to building staff competencies, and has solidified its mission of sustaining highly qualified staff.

Service Provider Promising Practice: Launchability Academy Training Program (Texas) - On-Site Training To Improve Employment Outcomes, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

LaunchAbility is a CRP that serves people with IDD in several locations throughout North Texas. LaunchAbility’s employment services program offers placement exclusively in the community. The LaunchAbility Academy Training Program was established in collaboration with the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (DARS) as a way to engage employers and prepare job seekers for employment. Program administrators at LaunchAbility developed the Academy model inspired by their work with Walgreens and the Project Search program www.projectsearch.us/. The Academy offers a combination of on-site direct work experience and workplace culture, etiquette, and behavior training (also known as soft skills) to people with …

State Agency Promising Practice: Oregon’S Keys For Case Managers Initiative - Ensuring Case Manager Technical Capacity, Investment, And Engagement In Employment First, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

After the adoption of the Employment First policy in Oregon in 2010, state administrators identified the critical role of case managers for people on the support services waiver, and acknowledged the need for their buy-in and investment in the Employment First agenda. The case managers’ knowledge of the individuals they serve, the conversations they have with individuals and their families, and their knowledge of the community are critical to each individual’s success in finding employment, as well as to the forward movement of the Employment First initiative. At that time, the state agency serving individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities IDD conducted …

State Agency Promising Practice: Wisconsin’S Community Conversations - Building A Youth Employment Coalition Through Structured Opportunities To Communicate, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

Wisconsin’s Developmental Disabilities Services agency and Vocational Rehabilitation agency, in conjunction with the Wisconsin Board for People with Developmental Disabilities and Wisconsin’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, implemented a series of community conversations to build dialogue and create a coalition around employment for youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Through this initiative, a range of community members came together in structured forums to discuss ways to improve integrated employment outcomes for youth.

State Agency Promising Practice - Missouri: Using A Regional Technical Assistance Infrastructure To Promote Employment First, Allison Hall, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

Case management services in Missouri’s Division of Developmental Disabilities underwent a shift from a state structure to a regional structure. Within this structure, 12 regions each serve approximately 12–15 counties. Each region has a technical assistance (TA) position designed to support each of the designated priority work areas. These include self-determination, family supports, individual supports and services, Employment First, and accessible housing. When the change from a state to regional structure occurred, administrators had to look for staff who could support those priorities. In addition, they created a central technical assistance staff person to act as the state content expert …

Pain Characteristics Associated With The Onset Of Disability In Older Adults: The Maintenance Of Balance, Independent Living, Intellect, And Zest In The Elderly Boston Study, Suzanne G. Leveille, Laura H.P. Eggermont

Suzanne G. Leveille

OBJECTIVES: To determine the effects of chronic pain

on the development of disability and decline in physical

performance over time in older adults.

DESIGN: Longitudinal cohort study with 18 months of

follow-up.

SETTING: Urban and suburban communities.

PARTICIPANTS: Community-dwelling older adults aged

65 and older (N = 634).

MEASUREMENTS: Chronic pain assessment consisted of

musculoskeletal pain locations and pain severity and pain

interference according to the subscales of the Brief Pain

Inventory. Disability was self-reported as any difficulty in

mobility and basic and instrumental activities of daily living

(ADLs, IADLs). Mobility performance was measured using the Short Physical Performance Battery …