Community Health and Preventive Medicine Commons^™

Community To Clinic Navigation To Improve Diabetes Outcomes, Nancy E. Schoenberg, Gabriele Ciciurkaite, Mary Kate Greenwood

Behavioral Science Faculty Publications

Rural residents experience rates of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) that are considerably higher than their urban or suburban counterparts. Two primary modifiable factors, self-management and formal clinical management, have potential to greatly improve diabetes outcomes. “Community to Clinic Navigation to Improve Diabetes Outcomes,” is the first known randomized clinical trial pilot study to test a hybrid model of diabetes self-management education plus clinical navigation among rural residents with T2DM. Forty-one adults with T2DM were recruited from two federally qualified health centers in rural Appalachia from November 2014–January 2015. Community health workers provided navigation, including helping participants understand and implement …

Validation Of Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis For Assessing Dry Weight Of Dialysis Patients In Pakistan, Huma Asmat, Romaina Iqbal, Fatima Sharif, Aamer Mahmood, Aamir Abbas, Waqar Kashif

Department of Medicine

Accurate dry weight estimation (DW) to achieve euvolemia is one of the key objectives of hemodialysis (HD). While conventionally DW is estimated by clinical examination, bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) has been proposed as an objective method to determine DW and has been tested extensively in the Western population. We aim to validate BIA for determining DW in a Pakistani population against the conventional clinician's method. This is a single-center validation study conducted at two outpatient HD units of Aga Khan Hospital, Karachi. One hundred and forty-eight DW readings of patients who were on maintenance HD were taken both by BIA …

Evaluating The Accountable Health Communities Demonstration Project., Laura Gottlieb, Jeffrey D. Colvin, Eric Fleegler, Danielle Hessler, Arvin Garg, Nancy Adler

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Despite substantial evidence documenting the social patterning of disease, relatively little information is available on how the health care system can best intervene on social determinants to impact individual and population health. Announced in January 2016, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation's (CMMI) Accountable Health Communities (AHC) initiative provides an important opportunity to improve the evidence base around integrated social and medical care delivery. To maximize learning from this large-scale demonstration, comprehensive evaluation efforts should focus on effectiveness and implementation research by supporting local, regional, and national studies across a range of outcomes. Findings from this demonstration could transform …

Individual And Store Characteristics Associated With Brand Choices In Select Food Category Redemptions Among Wic Participants In Virginia, Qi Zhang, Chuanyi Tang, Patrick W. Mclaughlin, Leigh Diggs

Community & Environmental Health Faculty Publications

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) often allows participants to redeem food benefits for various brands at different costs. To aid the program’s food cost containment efforts, it is important to understand the individual and store characteristics associated with brand choices. This study used the WIC Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) data for 239,062 Virginia WIC participants’ brand choices in infant fruits and vegetables (F&Vs) and whole grain bread in May 2014–February 2015, one of the first such data sets available in the U.S. for research purposes. Mixed effects logistic regression models were used to analyze …

The Scoping Review Method: Mapping The Literature In “Structural Change” Public Health Interventions, Rosie Hanneke, Yuka Asada, Lisa D. Lieberman, Leah Christina Neubauer, Michael C. Fagan

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

This case discusses how we used scoping review methodology to map the literature in an emergent area of research, “structural change” public health interventions. Scoping reviews are similar to systematic reviews in both scale and rigor; both of these literature review methodologies are comprehensive approaches to reviewing the literature on a topic. However, while a systematic review attempts to answer a specific, targeted research question, a scoping review is designed to map and categorize all of the literature on a broad topic. For this reason, it is an excellent method to employ in emergent research areas, in which researchers have …

Community Health News, Georgia Southern University

Community Health Department News (2011-2018)

• Georgia Southern Examines Maternal Caregiver Support for Prevention of Childhood Obesity

The Use Of Vital Statistics Data For Research Of Consequence: Birth Outcomes And Population Health In A Rural Region, Claudia Kozinetz, Shimin Zheng, Eunice Mogusu

ETSU Faculty Works

Objective: The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has influenced increasing interests in population health and population health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to exemplify the importance of using existing vital statistics data for understanding and monitoring health outcomes and consequentially health disparities at the population level. Data from birth records for two geographic regions from 2009-2014 were compared; low birth weight (LBW) and preterm delivery (PD) were used as surrogates for population health outcomes.

Methods: A population-based, multi-year, cross-sectional study design using a pooled dataset of birth records from Tennessee (TN) was the framework for the analyses. …

Factors Associated With Sexual Dysfunction In Taiwanese Females With Rheumatoid Arthritis, Miao-Chiu Lin, Ming-Chi Lu, Hanoch Livneh, Ning-Sheng Lai, How-Ran Guo, Tzung-Yi Tsai

Counselor Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may experience sexual dysfunction because of symptoms or adverse effects from treatments. Data on female sexual dysfunction (FSD) in Asian females with RA issue are limited. This study investigated the prevalence and factors associated with FSD in Taiwanese patients with RA.

Methods: This cross-sectional study used a purposive sampling method to recruit 195 females with RA from a single hospital in southern Taiwan. Demographic and clinical characteristics were obtained by review of medical records and a structured questionnaire. The Chinese version of the Female Sexual Function Index and the Taiwanese Depression Questionnaire were …

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

Teri Aronowitz

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.

Massachusetts Healthy Aging Data Report: Community Profiles, Elizabeth Dugan, Frank Porell, Nina Silverstein, Ruth Palombo, Stacey Mann

Nina Silverstein

The Massachusetts Healthy Aging Data Report: Community Profiles was created by researchers at the Gerontology Institute of the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston and commissioned by the Tufts Health Plan Foundation.

In this report, we have created a custom profile of nearly 100 healthy aging indicators for every city and town in Massachusetts including the 16 neighborhoods of Boston (367 Community Profiles). Each Community Profile is designed to help community residents, agencies, providers, and governments understand the older adults who live in their cities and towns – their ages, …

Recruitment Of Young Adult African American Women In Health Research: Best Practices And Lessons Learned, Sarah M. Camhi, Laura L. Hayman

Laura L. Hayman

As part of the breakout session entitled "Creating Crucial Connections: Lessons Learned from Engaging Diverse Communities in Research," this presentation discusses engaging young adult African American women in community-engaged research and the steps taken to develop critical partnerships which provided the foundation for conducting relevant research in the community.

Massachusetts Healthy Aging Data Report: Community Profiles, Elizabeth Dugan, Frank Porell, Nina Silverstein, Ruth Palombo, Stacey Mann

Elizabeth Dugan

The Massachusetts Healthy Aging Data Report: Community Profiles was created by researchers at the Gerontology Institute of the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston and commissioned by the Tufts Health Plan Foundation.

In this report, we have created a custom profile of nearly 100 healthy aging indicators for every city and town in Massachusetts including the 16 neighborhoods of Boston (367 Community Profiles). Each Community Profile is designed to help community residents, agencies, providers, and governments understand the older adults who live in their cities and towns – their ages, …

Hepatitis C Serosorting Among People Who Inject Drugs In Rural Puerto Rico, Ian Duncan, Ric Curtis, Juan Carlos Reyes, Roberto Abadie, Bilal Khan, Kirk Dombrowski

Publications and Research

Due to the high cost of treatment, preventative measures to limit Hepatitis C (HCV) transmission among people who inject drugs (PWID) are encouraged by many public health officials. A key one of these is serosorting, where PWID select risk partners based on concordant HCV status. Research on the general U.S. population bySmith et al. (2013) found that knowledge of one's own HCV status facilitated serosorting behaviors among PWID, such that respondents with knowledge of their own status were more likely to ask potential partners about their status prior to sharing risk. Our objective was to see if this held true …

Neighborhood Environment And Falls Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults, Emily Nicklett, Matthew Lohman, Matthew Smith

Dartmouth Scholarship

Falls present a major challenge to active aging, but the relationship between neighborhood factors and falls is poorly understood. This study examined the relationship between fall events and neighborhood factors, including neighborhood social cohesion (sense of belonging, trust, friendliness, and helpfulness) and physical environment (vandalism/graffiti, rubbish, vacant/deserted houses, and perceived safety walking home at night).

Using Quality Improvement Methods To Increase Use Of Pain Prevention Strategies For Childhood Vaccination., Jennifer Verrill Schurman, Amanda D. Deacy, Rebecca J. Johnson, Jolynn Parker, Kristi Williams, Dustin Wallace, Mark Connelly, Lynn Anson, Kevin Mroczka

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

AIM: To increase evidence-based pain prevention strategy use during routine vaccinations in a pediatric primary care clinic using quality improvement methodology.

METHODS: Specific intervention strategies (i.e., comfort positioning, nonnutritive sucking and sucrose analgesia, distraction) were identified, selected and introduced in three waves, using a Plan-Do-Study-Act framework. System-wide change was measured from baseline to post-intervention by: (1) percent of vaccination visits during which an evidence-based pain prevention strategy was reported as being used; and (2) caregiver satisfaction ratings following the visit. Additionally, self-reported staff and caregiver attitudes and beliefs about pain prevention were measured at baseline and 1-year post-intervention …

Understanding Contributing Factors To Child Drownings In Public Pools In Australia: A Review Of National Coronial Records, Lauren A. Petrass Dr, Jennifer Blitvich

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

This study examined the incidence and circumstances associated with child drowning in public pools in Australia; and identified the frequency and nature of coroners’ recommendations. Retrospective case-series analysis of child (aged 0-10 years) unintentional drowning deaths in public pools were conducted based on Coronial data. A total of 12 child drownings were identified. A lack of supervision was recognized as the key contributing factor in 92% of cases, with the caregiver responsible for multiple children (83%); older children supervising younger children (17%); and a busy pool environment (25%) consistently linked with in-adequate supervision. To address drownings in public pools it …

Perspectives On Conceptualizing Developmentally Appropriate Sexuality Education, Sara Silverio Marques, Eva Goldfarb, Julianna Deardoff, Norman A. Constantine

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Despite recognition of the importance of a developmentally appropriate approach to sexuality education, there is little direct guidance on how to do this. This study employed in-depth interviews with experienced sexuality educators and developers of sexuality education materials to identify how this concept is understood and applied in the field. Developmentally appropriate sexuality education was conceptualized consistently across interviews to include (a) addressing developmentally relevant topics, (b) adapting content to cognitive development, (c) accommodating developmental diversity, and (d) facilitating the internalization of sexual health messages. However, these views fell short of incorporating the breadth of knowledge offered by adolescent development …

North Douglas County Community Needs Health Assessment (Phase 2), Callie H. Lambarth, Diane Reid, Beth L. Green

Early Childhood

Beginning in August 2016, Phase 2 of the North Douglas County (NDC) Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) built on work completed in the Phase 1 planning process, and engaged the communities of Drain, Elkton, and Yoncalla, Oregon in the development and administration of a regional health services survey. The purpose of the survey was to learn from families with children ages 0-8 in the NDC region in order to:

• Identify service needs across a range of health service types, e.g., dental care, immunizations, prenatal care, well-child care, primary care, and mental health;
• Identify barriers to access;
• Prioritize the programs and …

Smoking Behavior Among Saudi Arabian Male College Students In The U.S.: A Case Study, Zi Yan, Hend Altobaiti Altobaiti, Kathleen Fitzpatrick

Health Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: Saudi Arabia is ranked 23rd for tobacco consumption globally, and approximately, 25-43% of male college students in Saudi Arabia were smokers. This study uses a qualitative approach to explore the facilitators and barriers that influence the smoking behavior among Saudi international college students in the U.S. Methods: About 15 Saudi male international students who studied at a small liberal arts college were recruited and interviewed for about 30-50 min, following a semi-structured interview guideline. Results: The hookah was preferred by participants to the cigarettes because of its smell and the entertaining way of doing it. The major facilitators of …

Validation Of Respiratory Questionnaire For Lung Function Assessment Among An Occupational Group Of Textile Workers In Pakistan, Tanzil Jamali, Asaad Ahmed Nafees

Community Health Sciences

Objective: To determine the association of spirometric lung pattern with respiratory symptoms and to validate the American Thoracic Society respiratory questionnaire for lung function assessment among textile workers.
Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted from August to December 2009 among adult textile workers of Karachi. Data was collected through the American Thoracic Society Division of Lung Disease respiratory questionnaire and the lung function was assessed by using a spirometer. Results of three acceptable readings of spirogram were recorded and the best of the three readings was used for analysis. SPSS 19 was used for data analysis.
Results: There were 372 …