Digital Commons Network^™

Childhood Obesity In California: The Impact Of School Lunch Options And Physical Education Standards In Public Elementary Schools, Audrey Connell

Scripps Senior Theses

Obesity is a biosocial phenomenon in that it is shaped by both biological and social processes. On the biological level, excess body fat increases one’s risk of placing the body in a non-homeostatic state that can weaken the immune response. On the social level, social inequalities are linked to obesity in the United States where racial and ethnic minority communities with low education and high poverty rates bear the largest burden of obesity. In various institutions, multiple actors such as food marketers, public health officials, policy makers, and school administrators dictate the opportunities available to children for them to reach …

Comments On The Preliminary Framework For Equitable Allocation Of Covid-19 Vaccine, Ana Santos Rutschman, Julia Barnes-Weise, Robert Gatter, Timothy L. Wiemken

All Faculty Scholarship

On September 1, 2020 the National Academies released a draft framework for Equitable Allocation of a COVID-19 Vaccine. In this response, we analyze the proposed framework and highlight several areas.

Among the proposed changes, we highlight the need for the following interventions. The final framework for distribution of COVID-19 vaccines should give a higher priority to populations made most vulnerable by the social determinants of health. It should incorporate more geography-based approaches in at least some of the four proposed phases of vaccine distribution. It should address the possibility of a vaccine being made available through an emergency use authorization …

Changing Dynamics Of Opioid Overdoses In West Virginia And Impact Of Medication For Opioid Use Disorder And Recurrence Of Overdose On Reducing Mortality Among West Virginia Medicaid Beneficiaries, Zheng Dai

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Background

With increasing number of opioid overdoses in West Virginia (WV) in recent years and limited number of people receiving treatment, the dissertation study aims to better understand fatal overdose problems in WV and the impact of medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) in preventing overdose deaths.

Method

WV drug-related deaths from 2005 to 2018 was used to describe the involvement of fentanyl and FAs. WV Medicaid claim data was analyzed to describe the recurrent opioid overdose and the changes in receipt of MOUD. Further, a Medicaid opioid overdose cohort was created to evaluate the effect of occurrence of recurrent …

Green Completion As A Mitigation For Btex Exposure In Gas Flaring: Nigeria Case Study (Exposure Assessment And Cost Model), Akintunde S. Akinyemi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Gas flaring is an essential part of the oil and gas industry safety and waste management procedures; however, it presents a potential exposure to BTEX compounds, a group of Non-Methane Volatile Organic Compounds (NMVOC), within up to a 10-mile radius of the flare point. The physical and the psychological cost of the journey to work, make employees live close to the workplace. This study examined the perceived exposure of oil and gas industry workers to possible carcinogenic emissions outside the workplace. It looked at the outcomes of the exposure to BTEX through gas flaring drawing on archival data and using …

Dustbowl Waters: Doctrinal And Legislative Solutions To Save The Ogallala Aquifer Before Both Time And Water Run Out, Warigia M. Bowman

Articles, Chapters in Books and Other Contributions to Scholarly Works

Eighty-three years after the Dust Bowl, residents of America’s High Plains face a dire threat: their primary aquifer faces depletion, and entire sections of the country are set to run out of groundwater by the end of the century or sooner. The Ogallala Aquifer provides a significant amount of America’s agricultural irrigation water and is a primary source of drinking water for Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. This Article argues that policymakers should slow the Aquifer’s depletion rate by implementing changes to irrigation technology, crop choice, consumer behavior, legal doctrine, and legislation. This Article …

Environmental Barriers To Accessing Tertiary Prevention Among Hispanics Diagnosed With Type 2 Diabetes, Stella B. Biira

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the United States, Hispanics diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) have not accessed tertiary level prevention, which is critical in diabetes management and the prevention of further complications. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the association between neighborhood crime, the absence of community health centers, the lack of culturally competent providers, the lack of public transportation, the residential setting, the distance to T2DM education classes, and access to tertiary prevention among Hispanics diagnosed with T2DM. The research was guided by the Andersen behavioral model. A sample size of N = 4,977 was used in the study, …

African American Maternal Mortality In The United States: A Quantitative Analysis Of Chronic Disease And Maternal Deaths, Glory Inyang

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African American women have higher rates of chronic disease including diabetes and cardiovascular related disease compared to White women and are 3 to 4 times more likely to die during childbirth, more than any other ethnic group in the United States. . When African American women become pregnant these conditions may influence their maternal health outcomes. This study aimed to determine difference in pregnancy related death associated with chronic conditions between African American women and White women. Based on secondary/archival data from the Center for Disease Control and Preventions' 2017 National Center for Health Statistics Mortality Multiple Cause Files a …

Hiv Knowledge And Behaviors Among Young People In Kenya And Lesotho, Beatrice Ochieng

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has a great burden of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and high new HIV infection rates among youths age 15-24 years. Suboptimal practice of HIV risk-reducing sexual behaviors among youths threatens to reverse the gains made in preventing the spread of HIV in SSA. The purpose of this quantitative cross-sectional study was to investigate the effects of comprehensive knowledge of HIV transmission and prevention, on individuals’ attitude toward people living with HIV, and ability to obtain condoms (if needed) on practice of HIV risk-reducing sexual behaviors, in adolescents age 15-19 years and young adults age 20-24 years in …

Population Density And Spatial Distribution Of Neglected Tropical Diseases In Sierra Leone, Abou B. Funna

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are the most common health conditions affecting the poorest residents of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). These infections affect an estimated 2 billion people worldwide, including 500 million people living in SSA. About 85% of NTD infections are a result of helminth infections; hookworm is also a common occurrence among SSA’s poorest people, especially children. Schistosomiasis is the 2nd most prevalent NTD after hookworm. This quantitative correlational study investigated population distribution and the spread of NTDs in Sierra Leone. The focus was on 5 major NTDs: ascariasis, hookworm, schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminthiasis, and trichuris. Data were obtained from the …

Use Of Managerial Epidemiology By Healthcare Leaders In Ambulatory Settings, Chantelle Schenning

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite many health reforms, the United States continues to struggle with limited healthcare access, exponential healthcare costs, and poor quality of care. Overcoming these challenges requires healthcare leaders’ effective navigation of industry transformation towards population health and a shift in patient volume to ambulatory healthcare settings. Research has demonstrated that the use of managerial epidemiology, an application of epidemiology tools and principles to management decision-making within healthcare organizations, can better serve the health of the population and could improve the triple aim of inadequate access, high costs, and poor quality. However, the adoption of this practice is weak and its …

Severe Maternal Morbidity In Michigan: An Investigation Of Health Disparities, Laura Houdeshell-Putt

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Severe maternal morbidity (SMM) rates in Michigan have increased over the past 20 years and continue to affect racial and ethnic women disproportionately. Women experiencing health conditions that complicate pregnancy outcomes have a greater risk of having poor obstetric outcomes that result in a SMM event. To evaluate the distribution of women experiencing health conditions that complicate pregnancy and a SMM event, geographic information systems were utilized in this study. The purpose of this study was to depict trends in the prevalence of 4 health conditions and SMM among women hospitalized for obstetric delivery in Michigan from 2016–2017. The 4 …

Just Because (Most) Hospitals Are Publishing Charges Does Not Mean Prices Are More Transparent, Cody L. Mullens, J Andres Hernandez, Evan D. Anderson, Lindsay Allen

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently mandated that all hospitals publish their charge description masters (CDMs) online, in a machine-readable format, by January 1, 2019. In addition, CMS recommended that CDM data be made available in a manner that was consumer friendly and accessible to patients.

Objective: This study aimed to (1) examine all hospitals across the state of Pennsylvania to understand policy compliance and (2) use established metrics to measure accessibility and consumer friendliness of posted CDM data.

Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was conducted to quantify hospital website compliance with the recent CMS policies requiring …

Community Social Determinants And Health Outcomes Drive Availability Of Patient-Centered Medical Homes, Nathaniel Bell, Rebecca Wilkerson, Kathy Mayfield-Smith, Ana Lopez-De Fede

Publications

The collaborative design of America’s patient-centered medical homes places these practices at the forefront of emerging efforts to address longstanding inequities in the quality of primary care experienced among socially and economically marginalized populations. We assessed the geographic distribution of the country’s medical homes and assessed whether they are appearing within communities that face greater burdens of disease and social vulnerability. We assessed overlapping spatial clusters of mental and physical health surveys; health behaviors, including alcohol-impaired driving deaths and drug overdose deaths; as well as premature mortality with clusters of medical home saturation and community socioeconomic characteristics. Overlapping spatial clusters …

Art-Based Health Education For Homeless And Marginally Housed Women In San Francisco, Trineca R-N Godfrey

Master's Projects and Capstones

San Francisco currently has the highest rate of unsheltered homeless persons in the United States. Between limited resources and stigma many women included in this most vulnerable population are left with little to no support. Cis women as well as trans and non- binary people are at high risk for negative mental health outcomes due to violence (physical and psychological), stigma, lack of social support, societal marginalization, and the lack of healthcare. Lyon-Martin Health Services and the Women’s Community Clinic, in San Francisco’s Mission Neighborhood, caters to this community through its Outreach Department. Following a staff and outreach client needs …

A Shift In Global Thought And Practice: Assessing The Impacts Of The Human Security Paradigm On Global Public Health, Elizabeth Livingston Leone

Honors College Theses

With the increasing emphasis on health through human security since the 1990s by the United Nations, scholars have debated how human security has influenced public health. I examine how the idea of human security has become a paradigm and if this paradigm has adopted in public health programs. I argue that the rise of human security has led to an emphasis on the role of global actors, preventative care and health education when states adopt the paradigm. This adoption should in turn improve public health in Ghana and the Ivory Coast.

Multilevel Analysis In Rural Cancer Control: A Conceptual Framework And Methodological Implications, Whitney Zahnd, Sara L. Mclafferty, Jan M. Eberth

Faculty Publications

Rural populations experience a myriad of cancer disparities ranging from lower screening rates to higher cancer mortality rates. These disparities are due in part to individual-level characteristics like age and insurance status, but the physical and social context of rural residence also plays a role. Our objective was two-fold: 1) to develop a multilevel conceptual framework describing how rural residence and relevant micro, macro, and supra-macro factors can be considered in evaluating disparities across the cancer control continuum and 2) to outline the unique considerations of multilevel statistical modeling in rural cancer research. We drew upon several formative frameworks that …

How Urban Land Use Contributes To Inequitable Health Outcomes: An Interdisciplinary Review & Analysis, Bliss Storm Croton

University Honors Theses

Using existing literature as a basis for initial review, this paper seeks to explore the relationship between urban land use and socioeconomic status as both pertain to the prevalence of psychological health diagnoses among neighborhood residents. The purpose of this analysis is to investigate the combined literature from multiple areas of research in order to gain a more holistic, up-to-date scope of knowledge regarding how discriminatory neighborhood land use may result in poorer psychological health outcomes for urban populations. By utilizing an interdisciplinary approach, some of the locally relevant, long-term impacts of uneven development and environmental injustice are examined based …

Service-Learning Research For Development: An Option For The Poor In Practice Through Social Analysis And Community Engagement, Thomas M. Kelly, Kate L. Nolt

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

A group of faculty, staff and students from Creighton University conducted a research project using a strengths-based approach to create a community health needs assessment (CNHA) in the fall of 2017. The instruments, including a survey to determine health status, a focus group questionnaire, an environmental scan and an individual interview instrument, were developed to help shift the paradigm from which many international medical missions are conducted with Creighton’s community partner in the Dominican Republic, the Centro de Educación para la Salud Integral (CESI). In the process of creating, developing, implementing, assessing and reformulating this strength-based CHNA, researchers encountered both …

“We Can Learn Some Things From Them, But They Can Learn Some Things From Us Too”: Intergenerational Perceptions Of Shared Infant Feeding Information, Alexis L. Woods Barr

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Breastfeeding is associated with unparalleled benefits for infants, mothers, families and society. In light of the breastfeeding disparities and health disparities experienced by the African American community, their women and children stand to gain the most from breastfeeding practices compared to other first-food feeding methods. Moreover, African American mothers are constantly exposed to messages, images, and stereotypes about motherhood (from multiple channels of communication) which influences their infant feeding practices. Many of these exposures send mixed messages and tend to be cultural contradictions of Black motherhood. What complicates this issue is the shortage of research that investigates the intergenerational infant …

Sustainable Solutions, Fall/Winter 2020, Issue 41

Sustain Magazine

No abstract provided.

Exposures At Day Labor Corners: Using Existing Georeferenced Data To Describe Features Of Urban Environments, Maria Eugenia Fernández-Esquer, Amy E Hughes, Sandi L Pruitt

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: Latino day laborers are male immigrants from mainly Mexico and Central America who congregate at corners, that is, informal hiring sites, to solicit short-term employment. Studies describing the occupational environment of Latino day laborers traditionally measure jobsite exposures, not corner exposures. We sought to elucidate exposures at corners by describing their demographic, socioeconomic, occupational, business, built, and physical environmental characteristics and by comparing corner characteristics with other locations in a large urban county in Texas.

METHODS: We used multiple publicly available data sets from the U.S. Census, local tax authority, Google's Nearby Places Application Programming Interface, and Environmental Protection …

Rethinking Community Based Strategies To Tackle Health Inequities In South Asia, Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta, Abhay Bang, Kaosar Afsana, Bishal Gyawali, Mohammed Shafiq Mirzazada, Renuka Jayatissa

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

No abstract provided.

The Concurrent Decline Of Soil Lead And Children’S Blood Lead In New Orleans, Howard W. Mielke, Christopher R. Gonzales, Eric T. Powell, Mark A. S. Laidlow, Kenneth J. Berry, Paul W. Mielke Jr., Sara Perl Egendorf

Publications and Research

Lead (Pb) is extremely toxic and a major cause of chronic diseases worldwide. Pb is associated with health disparities, particularly within low-income populations. In biological systems, Pb mimics calcium and, among other effects, interrupts cell signaling. Furthermore, Pb exposure results in epigenetic changes that affect multigenerational gene expression. Exposure to Pb has decreased through primary prevention, including removal of Pb solder from canned food, regulating lead-based paint, and especially eliminating Pb additives in gasoline. While researchers observe a continuous decline in children’s blood lead (BPb), reservoirs of exposure persist in topsoil, which stores the legacy dust from leaded gasoline and …

Sundaas Story: A Mixed-Methods Study Of Household Sanitation Provisioning In Urban Informal Housing In India, Sarita Vijay Panchang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aims of this research were to examine sanitation insecurity in urban informal housing through the lens of the built environment, social disparities, and health implications. While the Millennium Development Goals for halving the global proportion of people without access to safe drinking water were met ahead of schedule, progress fell short for sanitation, creating new objectives for the Sustainable Development Goals to be met in 2030. Much research in the Global South is dedicated to community-level sanitation promotion, but often presumes a rural rather than urban setting. Urban informal housing settings constitute a unique challenge due to the range …

Health Engagement Challenges And Strategic Perspectives For The 2023 Health Financing Transition In The Federated States Of Micronesia And The Republic Of The Marshall Islands, Alex Wheatley, Subroto Banerji

Pacific Journal of Health

The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) are small sovereign island nations in the Pacific. These nations maintain a special relationship with the US Government (USG) through the Compacts of Free Association (COFA), first signed into law in 1986. One component of COFA—the more than $60 million in direct USG annual financial assistance to FSM and RMI through Compact Sector grants—will end in 2023. This financing shift brings an opportunity to re-assess FSM-RMI-USG engagement specifically around health systems strengthening moving forward. At present, FSM-RMI are included in HHS’ domestic appropriations and authorizations framework; …

Hypertension And Hiv In An Urban Slum Setting, Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, Olga Tymejczyk

Dissertations and Theses

Background: Rapidly growing urban slum settings increasingly face co-occurring communicable and non-communicable health crises, against the backdrop of extreme poverty, and social and environmental vulnerability. In Haiti, sparse data suggest a growing burden of hypertension and cardiovascular disease (CVD), along with substantial prevalence of HIV, increasingly recognized as a major CVD risk factor. As life-saving antiretroviral treatment (ART) is extended to more people living with HIV (PLWH), their risk of CVD increases with longer life expectancy and possibly cumulative ART exposure. Pregnant HIV-positive women may face additional cardiovascular vulnerability, due to the risk of gestational hypertension and pre-eclampsia. Integration of …

Towards A People’S Social Epidemiology: Envisioning A More Inclusive And Equitable Future For Social Epi Research And Practice In The 21st Century, Ryan J. Petteway, Mahasin Mujahid, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Amani Allen

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Social epidemiology has made critical contributions to understanding population health. However, translation of social epidemiology science into action remains a challenge, raising concerns about the impacts of the field beyond academia. With so much focus on issues related to social position, discrimination, racism, power, and privilege, there has been surprisingly little deliberation about the extent and value of social inclusion and equity within the field itself. Indeed, the challenge of translation/action might be more readily met through re-envisioning the role of the people within the research/practice enterprise—reimagining what “social” could, or even should, mean for the future of the field. …

Mapping 123 Million Neonatal, Infant And Child Deaths Between 2000 And 2017, Roy Burstein, Simon I. Hay, Veincent Christian F. Pepito, 556 Co-Authors

Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health Publications

Since 2000, many countries have achieved considerable success in improving child survival, but localized progress remains unclear. To inform efforts towards United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3.2—to end preventable child deaths by 2030—we need consistently estimated data at the subnational level regarding child mortality rates and trends. Here we quantified, for the period 2000–2017, the subnational variation in mortality rates and number of deaths of neonates, infants and children under 5 years of age within 99 low- and middle-income countries using a geostatistical survival model. We estimated that 32% of children under 5 in these countries lived in districts that …

Perceptions Of Rural Birthing Practices: A Glimpse Into Maternal And Child Health For Women In Kangra District, Himachal Pradesh, Mackenzie Burke

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Over the past two decades birthing practices within India have drastically changed. This change is most visible in the shift from homebirths to hospital births following the implementation of the National Rural Health Mission. This study aims to understand and give voice to women’s perceptions of birthing practices in the rural villages of Kangra District of Himachal Pradesh. A total of ten interviews were conducted with both mothers and healthcare practitioners in the surrounding villages of Kangra District in order to gain a thorough, qualitative understanding of birthing practices in the local communities. The healthcare practitioners’ responses were divided according …

Pubh 4132 – Health Promotion Program Planning I, Nandi A. Marshall

College of Public Health: Faculty Syllabi (2014-2021)

This course introduces students to the theory and application of community-based program planning and evaluation. The first of a two-course sequence, the focus will be on the development of a health promotions program plan designed to apply course content to a real-life health issue. Concepts in community assessment, organization, and mobilization for the purpose of addressing identified public health concerns will serve as the foundation for the planning process.