Mental and Social Health Commons^™

Evaluation Of Group Movement Programs (Plié And Paired Plié) For People With Memory Loss, Alzheimer’S Disease Or Dementia, Martin Blanco, Deborah Barnes

GW Research Days 2016 - 2020

Today, one in ten people ages 65 and older have Alzheimer’s dementia. This serious condition often causes great suffering among affected individuals and their families, and there are no medications that stop or slow the disease. It is therefore important to evaluate alternative interventions that may benefit both patients and their care partners. Preventing Loss of Independence through Exercise (PLIÉ) and Paired PLIÉ are group movement programs that combine neuroscience and integrative medicine for individuals with dementia. We analyzed data from [N=39] anonymous evaluation surveys performed as part of two ongoing randomized control trials. Survey data included general questions on …

(Video) Dirty Cotton: Occupational Pesticide Exposure And Elevated Suicide Risk Among Male Cotton Farmers In India, Bethany Natalia Kondavaty

GW Research Days 2016 - 2020

Purpose: The aim of this critical analysis was to examine the association (or lack thereof) of occupational pesticide exposure and elevated suicide risk among male cotton farmers in India.

Methods: A literature review was performed using Scopus, PubMed, and Google Scholar databases. The review included documents published before and after year 2002. Children were excluded from the search as well as women, with exception to research on gender differences in suicide.

Results: Studies outside India show a positive correlation between work-related pesticide exposure and suicide. Animal studies have shown that pesticides, as organophosphates, are toxic, …

A Multivariate Analysis Of Nationwide Changes In Opioid Prescriptions From 2012-2016, Drishti Pillai, Leighton Ku

GW Research Days 2016 - 2020

Background

Between 2012 and 2016, the opioid overdose mortality rate in the U.S. almost doubled from 7.4 to 13.3 per 100,000 population, leading to calls for a national opioid crisis. This crisis has generated interest in Medicaid’s dual role as a health insurance system that provides reimbursement for both prescription opioid analgesics like Oxycodone used to treat chronic pain, which could inadvertently fuel addiction, and prescription opioids used as treatment medication to help people survive and recover from drug abuse, such as Naloxone.

Methods

In this study, we conduct a multi-variate analysis of Medicaid prescription drug utilization data for the …

Active And Passive Stress Management Mechanisms In Physically Active Young Adults, Krista Lepping, Melissa Napolitano

GW Research Days 2016 - 2020

Background: Physical activity and stress are common factors that affect the health and wellness of young adults worldwide. Higher levels of stress in students can lead to increased blood pressure and decreased immune system defenses. Previous studies have found that students who report more physical activity also report lower levels of stress. Perceived stress is subjective, however, and therefore the amount of physical activity that affects stress levels could vary. Additionally, extensive research has yet to be conducted on the different coping mechanisms that physically active students use to relieve stress. These mechanisms may include physical activity as a …

Cross-Sectional Comparison Of Behavioral Risk Factors For Hiv/Hcv In People Who Inject Drugs (Pwid) In Egypt, Sarah Martinez, Amira A. Roess, Monica S. Ruiz, Atef Bakhoum, Ehab El Kharrat

GW Research Days 2016 - 2020

Background

Egypt has the greatest HCV prevalence worldwide at 15% and a concentrated HIV epidemic in male people who inject drugs (PWID) at 6.8%, who are at a high risk for HCV infection as well. Injection drug use is criminalized in Egypt, and there is limited availability of harm reduction programs. Drug-use and sexual risk behaviors between PWID and the general population have not been studied there.

Methods

To address this gap, a cross-sectional HIV/HCV epidemiological study of 632 consenting injection drug users in Cairo and Alexandria was conducted. Bivariate logistic regression analysis was done to evaluate the associations between …

Improving Adolescents’ Driving Behaviors Through A Personal Narrative-Based Psychosocial Intervention In Serbia, Hagere Yilma, Rajiv Rimal, Nargis Ryskulova

GW Research Days 2016 - 2020

Objectives: Road traffic crashes continue to be the leading cause of death among adolescents. While males are more vulnerable to crashes than females, driver education interventions are less likely to succeed among males than females. Some studies suggest that stronger optimistic bias and overconfidence bias in males may be the reason for this.

Methods: In a quasi-experiment conducted in Serbia, forty schools were stratified by size and randomly assigned to watch a road traffic safety presentation utilizing personal narratives or to a control arm. Surveys were administered before the intervention (N=1,449) and again six months later (N=1,072). Data was …

(Video) Reframing Discourse: Using Brfss Data To Deconstruct Influences Of Parenthood On Depression And Lgbtq+ Mental Health, Kate Luxion

GW Research Days 2016 - 2020

Introduction: Rates of depression contribute to the mental health epidemic, with parents in the United States considered a population at greater risk. Framing of mental health and depression has remained centered on cisgender, heterosexual identities (cis-heteronormative) despite diversity in family constellations. This presentation looks to reframe and expand the discussion on LGBTQ+ parents, depression, and mental health. The hypotheses tested look first at the differences in depression diagnosis. Second, the number of poor mental health days per month are examined for differences between the subsamples.

Methods: The study reviewed data from the 2014-2016 BRFSS surveys (n=371,268) focused on parents as …

(Video) Differences In Psychosocial And Behavioral Risk Profiles Of Cigarette Smokers And E-Cigarette Users Among Minnesota Adolescents: 2016, Tara E. Jenson

GW Research Days 2016 - 2020

Background/Objectives: Rates of cigarette smoking among adolescents have been trending downward, however rates of adolescent e-cigarette use rates are now twice those of adolescent cigarette smoking nationally. The objective of this study was to examine the association of demographic, socioeconomic, psychosocial and health behavioral factors as surveyed by the Minnesota Student Survey with cigarette smoking and e-cigarette use among Minnesota adolescents.

Methods: This study analyzed the 2016 Minnesota Student Survey (MSS), an anonymous, school-based, cross-sectional survey of students in grades five, eight, nine and eleven. The 2016 MSS contains a total of 168,733 records, 118,198 of which were …

Resilience Of Children With Chronic Health Conditions: The Impact Of Neuropsychiatric Comorbidities, Sarah Bernstein, Sandra Cushner-Weinstein

GW Research Days 2016 - 2020

BACKGROUND: Resilience, the ability to overcome adversity and effectively recover from stressful experiences, is a complex theory with many contributing factors. Previous studies have shown that condition-specific summer camps for children with chronic health conditions increase resilience and adaptive coping skills, change attitudes toward the illness, and improve quality of life. The aim of this study was to determine how neuropsychiatric comorbid diagnoses such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), learning disability, and anxiety disorder influence the resilience of children with chronic health conditions.

METHODS: Children with chronic health conditions including autism, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, Tourette’s syndrome, sickle cell anemia, …

Climate Change, Natural Disasters, And Suicide: A Systematic Review, Ans Irfan, Peter Lapuma

GW Research Days 2016 - 2020

Background.
Natural disasters are projected to increase due to climate change. Mental health is not a well-researched area in public health, particularly as it relates to environmental health and in the aftermath of natural disasters. The suicide rate is approximately 13 per 100,000 people in the US, nationally. This already high suicide rate warrants researching this area mental health. Understanding the relation between natural disasters and suicide rates might help alleviate human suffering and potentially save lives in the future, in post-disaster settings. This research will further the knowledge of the association between natural disasters and suicide and provide foundation …

E-Cigarettes And Smoking Cessation Among Pregnant Women: Insights From A Secondary Analysis Of A Randomized Controlled Trial, Shawn Chiang, Lorien Abroms

GW Research Days 2016 - 2020

Background: The use of electronic cigarettes is a rapidly expanding phenomenon. Currently, there is a scarcity of data to help guide decisions regarding the potential harm and benefits of e-cigarettes. This study examines whether pregnant smokers who used e-cigarettes are more likely to quit smoking than those who had never used e-cigarettes.

Methods: Data were drawn from the Quit4Baby study, a text-message-based smoking cessation randomized controlled trial. The sample was comprised of 481 participants with complete follow-up data at 1 month follow-up. Linear and logistics regression models to control for confounds were conducted to evaluate the association between e-cigarette use …

What May Be Associated With Young Adult E-Cigarette Use? Examination Of Key Correlates, Diane J. Martinez, Monique M. Turner, Kathleen Roche, Kimberly Horn

GW Research Days 2016 - 2020

Given increasing rates of e-cigarette use among young adults, research is needed on the attitudes and beliefs that drive use among this age group. Tobacco control approaches used to prevent cigarette smoking may not work as effectively for preventing e-cigarette use. To address this research gap, the present study applied the Integrated Behavior Model (IBM) encompassing the affect heuristic theory to examine the individual-level determinants (i.e., attitude, perceived norm, personal agency, intention, and e-cigarette risk perception) of young adults' e-cigarette use. The 2013-2014 Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study Wave 1 baseline adult dataset consisted of 9,112 young …

(Video) Maternal Depression And Child Externalizing Behaviors, Julia Gruspier, Shannon Shisler, Rina C. Eiden

GW Research Days 2016 - 2020

About 10.97% of women with children aged 1 to 4 years old are identified with depression. Children of mothers with depression are more likely to exhibit externalizing behavior problems, and these problems have been reported to appear more frequently in male children. We examined the association between maternal depression and externalizing behavior in toddlers, and whether child sex moderated these effects, as previous studies have shown child behavior to be linked to both child sex and maternal depression. The sample included 186 mother/child dyads (95 male children) who were recruited in the first trimester of pregnancy from an urban hospital. …

Smoking Characteristics And Psychiatric Comorbidities Of Pregnant Smokers: An Analysis Of Quit4baby Randomized Controlled Trial, Shawn Chiang, Lorien C. Abroms, Jennifer M. Schindler-Ruwisch, Leah E. Leavitt

GW Research Days 2016 - 2020

Background: Text messaging or short message service (SMS) programs have been shown to be effective in helping adult smokers quit smoking (Abroms et al., 2014). However, to our knowledge, no prior research has examined psychiatric comorbidities associated with smoking in the text messaging context. The risk of smoking has been shown to increase as a function of the number of psychiatric illnesses with which a person is diagnosed (Aubin, Rollema, Svensson, & Winterer, 2012). The current study examined this association and other correlates of smoking-psychiatric comorbidity in a sample of U.S. pregnant smokers enrolled in Quit4Baby, a smoking cessation text …

Using Biofeedback In Hiv+ Patients, Domenique Escobar, Mikhail Kogan, Randi Abramson

GW Research Days 2016 - 2020

Background - The prevalence of HIV in Washington, DC is estimated to be at least 3%, triple what the World Health Organization defines as an epidemic. Even at that conservative estimate, the number of people living with HIV in the District of Columbia is the highest in the nation. Individuals living with HIV face stigma, anxiety, stress and depression, among a host of other physical and mental effects. Stress has a significant impact on the immune system and a biofeedback program can be of benefit to patients undergoing any stress. Biofeedback is a technique that trains people to improve their …

A Systematic Review Of Coal Fired Power Plant Proximity And Local Socioeconomic Status Trends And Outcomes, Oshane Mcrae, Peter Lapuma

GW Research Days 2016 - 2020

Among the significant sources of energy, coal based energy bears the largest share (42%) of the electricity produced in the United States. Already existing coal fired power plants are the largest emitter of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States. Among the cumulative emissions contributed by the industrial sector, significant portions are from coal fired power plants. Coal-fired power plants emit 66% of sulfur oxides, 40% of carbon dioxide, 33% of mercury and 22% of nitrogen oxides in the U.S. and are linked as risk factors to respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases and other ailments shown to impact environmental and human …

Assessing The Effectiveness Of Partners In Quitting, A Text Message-Based Smoking Cessation Program, Rachael Schoenbrun

GW Research Days 2016 - 2020

This presentation will discuss the implementation of Partners in Quitting, a new text message-based smoking cessation program. It will also provide preliminary data on client engagement rates, program effectiveness, and program challenges. Partners in Quitting is an outreach program that has been implemented at Bread for the City, a large DC hub for free health and social services. Partners in Quitting provides an evidence-based, easily accessible, and comprehensive smoking cessation program to the clients of Bread for the City.