Public Health Commons^™

Comprehensive Neighborhood Portraits And Child Asthma Disparities Introduction, Ashley W. Kranjac, Rachel T. Kimbro, Justin T. Denney, Kristin M. Osiecki, Brady S. Moffett, Keila N. Lopez

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

Objectives Previous research has established links between child, family, and neighborhood disadvantages and child asthma. We add to this literature by first characterizing neighborhoods in Houston, TX by demographic, economic, and air quality characteristics to establish differences in pediatric asthma diagnoses across neighborhoods. Second, we identify the relative risk of social, economic, and environmental risk factors for child asthma diagnoses. Methods We geocoded and linked electronic pediatric medical records to neighborhood-level social and economic indicators. Using latent profile modeling techniques, we identified Advantaged, Middle-class, and Disadvantaged neighborhoods. We then used a modified version of the Blinder-Oaxaca regression decomposition method to …

Health Policy & Management News, Georgia Southern University

Health Policy & Community Health: News & Publications (2011-2018)

• Georgia Southern Collaborates with Researchers from CDC and NACCHO to Create a Taxonomy of LBoH, Based on LHDs Perspectives

Impact Of Cannabis Use On Treatment Outcomes Among Adults Receiving Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment For Ptsd And Substance Use Disorders, Lesia M. Ruglass, Alina Shevorykin, Vanja Radoncic, Kathryn M. Z. Smith, Philip H. Smith, Isaac R. Galatzer-Levy, Santiago Papini, Denise A. Hien

Publications and Research

Background: Research has demonstrated a strong link between trauma, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorders (SUDs) in general and cannabis use disorders in particular. Yet, few studies have examined the impact of cannabis use on treatment outcomes for individuals with co-occurring PTSD and SUDs. Methods: Participants were 136 individuals who received cognitive-behavioral therapies for co-occurring PTSD and SUD. Multivariate regressions were utilized to examine the associations between baseline cannabis use and end-of-treatment outcomes. Multilevel linear growth models were fit to the data to examine the cross-lagged associations between weekly cannabis use and weekly PTSD symptom severity and primary …

Preventive Healthcare: A Neural Network Analysis Of Behavioral Habits And Chronic Diseases, Viju Raghupathi, Wullianallur Raghupathi

Publications and Research

The research aims to explore the association between behavioral habits and chronic diseases, and to identify a portfolio of risk factors for preventive healthcare. The data is taken from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) database of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for the year 2012. Using SPSS Modeler, we deploy neural networks to identify strong positive and negative associations between certain chronic diseases and behavioral habits. The data for 475,687 records from BRFS database included behavioral habit variables of consumption of soda and fruits/vegetables, alcohol, smoking, weekly working hours, and exercise; chronic disease variables of heart …

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 …

How Nurse-Led Practices Perceive Implementation Of The Patient-Centered Medical Home, Rosemary Frasso, A. Golinkoff, Heather Klusaritz, Katherine Kellom, Helen Kollar-Mcarthur, Michelle Miller-Day, Robert Gabbay, Peter F. Cronholm

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Purpose

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) promotes the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) model as a way to improve healthcare quality, the patient experience, and has identified nurse-led primary care as a mechanism meeting the increasing demand for quality primary care. The purpose of this study was to investigate the implementation of a PCMH model in nurse-led primary care practices and to identify facilitators and barriers to the implementation of this model.

Methods

Data were collected through in-depth interviews with providers and staff in nurse-led practices.

Results

These data suggest two categories of processes that facilitate the integration of PCMH in …

Mental Health Status And Access To Health Care Services For Adults In Maine, Erika C. Ziller Phd, Barbara Leonard Mph

Access / Insurance

Maine people with poor mental health describe significant challenges with affordability and access to health care. A new report released by the Maine Health Access Foundation (MeHAF) and the University of Southern Maine, Mental Health Status and Access to Health Care Service for Adults in Maine, describes how adults 18 and older in Maine who report depression and poor mental health have many barriers to getting health care. These results have important implications for planning in a time when major changes in health insurance coverage are expected.

Analyzing data from the ongoing federal/state public health survey, the Behavioral Risk …

Mental Health Of African Asylum-Seekers And Refugees In Hong Kong: Using The Social Determinants Of Health Framework, William Chi Wai Wong, Sealing Cheung, Heidi Yin Hai Miu, Julie Chen, Kelley Ann Loper, Eleanor Holroyd

School of Nursing & Midwifery, East Africa

Background: Hong Kong is non-signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, and has no systematic domestic policies committed to the rights of asylum-seekers and refugees (ASRs). This creates a tenuous setting for African ASRs there. This study explored how mapped social determinates of health has impacted the mental health and wellbeing of African ASR’s in Hong Kong.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out with 374 African ASRs. The survey comprised of: (a) sociodemographics; (b) health status; (c) health behaviours; and, (d) social experiences. Associations between social determinants of health and depression screen were explored and multivariable …

Integrating Malaria Surveillance With Climate Data For Outbreak Detection And Forecasting: The Epidemia System, Christopher L. Merkord, Yi Liu, Abere Mihretie, Teklehaymanot Gebrehiwot, Worku Awoke, Estifanos Bayabil, Geoffrey M. Henebry, Gebeyaw T. Kassa, Mastewal Lake, Michael C. Wimberly

GSCE Faculty Publications

Background: Early indication of an emerging malaria epidemic can provide an opportunity for proactive interventions. Challenges to the identification of nascent malaria epidemics include obtaining recent epidemiological surveillance data, spatially and temporally harmonizing this information with timely data on environmental precursors, applying models for early detection and early warning, and communicating results to public health officials. Automated web-based informatics systems can provide a solution to these problems, but their implementation in real-world settings has been limited.
Methods: The Epidemic Prognosis Incorporating Disease and Environmental Monitoring for Integrated Assessment (EPIDEMIA) computer system was designed and implemented to integrate disease surveillance with …

Bridging The Divide White Paper: Pregnant Women And Substance Use: Overview Of Research & Policy In The United States, Darla Bishop, Liz Borkowski, Megan Couillard, Amy Allina, Susanna Baruch, Susan Wood

Jacobs Institute of Women's Health

This paper examines the current literature and policy implications of substance use and substance use disorders among pregnant and parenting women. While this is not meant to serve as an exhaustive literature review on this topic, it seeks to describe: current research on health effects of substance use and substance use disorders on pregnant women1 and their children; policies and programs that help ensure that pregnant women who use substances have access to the highest quality healthcare, including prenatal care; the current barriers to accessing treatment for substance use disorders for pregnant women, including those who are incarcerated; and the …

Infection Control In Labor And Delivery Room, Learning From The Small Hospital Based Project, Savera Aziz Ali, Sumera Aziz Ali

School of Nursing & Midwifery

Background: It has been estimated that around 36% of the neonatal deaths occur due to infection in the lower and middle income countries. Infection control is a more substantial area of concern, particularly in Labor and delivery room. Multiple factors can cause infection in the labor room, therefore it is important to assess various factors of maternal and neonatal infection. Hence we explored multiple factors through this project and developed the action plan to address those factors effectively.
Methods: During our Leadership and Management course, we conducted a project in Labor room pertaining to a prevalent issue. The whole process …

Acceptability Of Hiv Testing Sites Among Rural And Urban African Americans Who Use Cocaine, D. Keith Branham, Tyrone F. Borders, Katharine E. Stewart, Geoffrey M. Curran, Brenda M. Booth

Health Management and Policy Faculty Publications

African Americans (AAs) who use cocaine in the Southern region of the U.S. have a relatively high risk of HIV and need for HIV testing. Among this group, those residing in rural areas may have less favorable opinions about common HIV testing sites, which could inhibit HIV testing. We examined rural/urban variations in their acceptability of multiple HIV testing sites (private physician clinic, local health department, community health center, community HIV fair, hospital emergency department, blood plasma donation center, drug abuse treatment facility, and mobile van or community outreach worker). Results from partial proportional odds and logistic regression analyses indicate …

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 …

Terminate Lung Cancer (Tlc) Study—A Mixed-Methods Population Approach To Increase Lung Cancer Screening Awareness And Low-Dose Computed Tomography In Eastern Kentucky, Roberto Cardarelli, David Reese, Karen L. Roper, Kathryn Cardarelli, Frances J. Feltner, Jamie L. Studts, Jennifer R. Knight, Debra Armstrong, Anthony D. Weaver, Dana Shaffer

Family and Community Medicine Faculty Publications

For low dose CT lung cancer screening to be effective in curbing disease mortality, efforts are needed to overcome barriers to awareness and facilitate uptake of the current evidence-based screening guidelines. A sequential mixed-methods approach was employed to design a screening campaign utilizing messages developed from community focus groups, followed by implementation of the outreach campaign intervention in two high-risk Kentucky regions. This study reports on rates of awareness and screening in intervention regions, as compared to a control region.

Study Of Machine Safety For Reduced-Speed Or Reduced-Force Work, Yuvin Chinniah, Barthélemy Aucourt, Réal Bourbonnière

Rapports de recherche scientifique

Les risques liés aux éléments mobiles de machines industrielles sont connus pour être à l’origine d’accidents graves et mortels. L’article 186 du Règlement sur la santé et la sécurité du travail (RSST) vise à encadrer des interventions, notamment de maintenance, de réparation et de réglage en complément de l’article 182 qui, lui, régit les interventions de production en interdisant l’accès aux zones dangereuses et en assurant l’arrêt des éléments mobiles en cas de présence de travailleurs dans ces zones dangereuses. Cette activité de recherche vise à étudier l’application de l’article 186 du RSST. Elle …

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 …

Coping Styles And Depression Among Patients With Solid Organ Cancers Attending Two Tertiary Care Hospitals Of Karachi: A Cross Sectional Study., Khadija Vadsaria, Adnan Jabbar, Iqbal Azam Syed, Sameera Rizvi, Ghulam Haider, Haider Naqvi

Community Health Sciences

Cancer undoubtedly affects patients in all aspects. Cancer diagnosis is a stressful event and coping is the primary mechanism used to adjust and counteract the stress. This study aims to assess the coping styles and prevalence of depression among solid organ cancer patients during treatment phase, attending two tertiary care hospitals of Karachi. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among solid organ cancer patients at Aga Khan University Hospital and Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Center. Coping and depression were assessed by Brief COPE and Self Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ) 20 respectively. Purposive sampling technique was used to recruit 488 patients. Coping styles …

Reproductive History Before And After Hiv Diagnosis: A Cross-Sectional Study In Hiv-Positive Women In Spain, Victoria Hernando, Belen Alejos, Marta Montero, M Jesús Pérez-Elias, José Ramón Blanco, Livia Giner, Juan Luis Gómez-Sirvent, Jose Antonio Iribarren, Enrique Bernal, Francisco Bolumar

Publications and Research

The aim of this study is to examine the reproductive history of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive women, before and after HIV diagnosis, to describe the characteristics of women with pregnancies after HIV diagnosis, and to assess the prevalence of mother-to-child transmission.

A cross-sectional study was performed among women within reproductive ages (18–49) selected from the cohort in the Spanish AIDS Research Network (CoRIS). A descriptive analysis of the pregnancy outcomes was made according to women’s serostatus at the moment of pregnancy and association of women’s characteristics with having pregnancy after HIV diagnosis was evaluated using logistic regression models.

Overall, 161 …

Large-Scale Behavior-Change Initiative For Infant And Young Child Feeding Advanced Language And Motor Development In A Cluster-Randomized Program Evaluation In Bangladesh, Edward A. Frongillo Jr., Phuong H. Nguyen, Kuntal K. Saha, Tina Sanghvi, Kaosar Afsana, Raisul Haque, Jean Baker, Marie T. Ruel, Rahul Rawat, Purnima Menon

Faculty Publications

Background: Promoting adequate nutrition through interventions to improve infant and young child feeding (IYCF) has the potential to contribute to child development.

Objective: We examined whether an intensive intervention package that was aimed at improving IYCF at scale through the Alive & Thrive initiative in Bangladesh also advanced language and gross motor development, and whether advancements in language and gross motor development were explained through improved complementary feeding.

Methods: A cluster-randomized design compared 2 intervention packages: intensive interpersonal counseling on IYCF, mass media campaign, and community mobilization (intensive) compared with usual nutrition counseling and mass media campaign (nonintensive). Twenty subdistricts …

Expanding Intersectionality Praxis: Informing Culturally-Responsive Programming For Black And Latino Gay And Bisexual Young Men, Justin T. Brown

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Black/Latino gay/bisexual young men face a multitude of health disparities caused by various determinants of health. However, despite the awareness of the gaps, health intervention research rarely explores the impact of current health intervention strategies on Black/Latino gay/bisexual young men’s overall health and well-being. Traditional health interventions are deficit-based, health condition-specific, and often limited in their cultural-specificity. As health-related fields move toward holistic, evidence-based practices, new primary prevention approaches need to emerge. Using qualitative investigation strategies, this study included primary analysis of participatory workshop artifacts, and secondary analysis of survey and focus group data. This study identified critical factors necessary …

The Association Between Electronic Bullying And School Absenteeism Among High School Students In The United States, Erin Grinshteyn, Y. Tony Yang

Nursing and Health Professions Faculty Research and Publications

BACKGROUND: This study examines the relationship between exposure to electronic bullying and absenteeism as a result of being afraid. METHODS: This multivariate, multinomial regression analysis of the 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Survey data assessed the association between experiencing electronic bullying in the past year and how often students were absent in the last month due to feeling unsafe at/in transit to school. The model controlled for other predictors of school absence including demographics, physical / behavioral health, and risk factors. Missing data were multiply imputed. RESULTS: Electronic bullying was significantly associated with absences. Controlling for model covariates, the relative risk …

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 …

Multilevel Modeling Of Binary Outcomes With Three-Level Complex Health Survey Data., Shafquat Rozi, Sadia Mahmud, Gillian Lancaster, Wilbur Hadden, Gregory Pappas

Community Health Sciences

Complex survey designs often involve unequal selection probabilities of clus-ters or units within clusters. When estimating models for complex survey data, scaled weights are incorporated into the likelihood, producing a pseudo likeli-hood. In a 3-level weighted analysis for a binary outcome, we implemented two methods for scaling the sampling weights in the National Health Survey of Pa-kistan (NHSP). For NHSP with health care utilization as a binary outcome we found age, gender, household (HH) goods, urban/rural status, community de-velopment index, province and marital status as significant predictors of health care utilization (p-value < 0.05). The variance of the random intercepts using scaling method 1 is estimated as 0.0961 (standard error 0.0339) for PSU level, and 0.2726 (standard error 0.0995) for household level respectively. Both esti-mates are significantly different from zero (p-value < 0.05) and indicate consid-erable heterogeneity in health care utilization with respect to households and PSUs. The results of the NHSP data analysis showed that all three analyses, weighted (two scaling methods) and un-weighted, converged to almost identical results with few exceptions. This may have occurred because of the large num-ber of 3rd and 2nd level clusters and relatively small ICC. We performed a sim-ulation study to assess the effect of varying prevalence and intra-class correla-tion coefficients (ICCs) on bias of fixed effect parameters and variance components of a multilevel pseudo maximum likelihood (weighted) analysis. The simulation results showed that the performance of the scaled weighted estimators is satisfactory for both scaling methods. Incorporating simulation into the analysis of complex multilevel surveys allows the integrity of the results to be tested and is recommended as good practice.

Childhood And Adolescent Obesity: Primary Health Care Physicians’ Perspectives From Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Faiza Nasser Alotaibi, Majeedah Alotaibi, Shiakhah Alanazi, Hanan Al-Gethami, Deemah Alateeq, Rowaydah Mishiddi, Amna Rehana Siddiqui

Community Health Sciences

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES:

Primary health care (PHC) physicians are foremost to confront childhood and adolescent obesity. Our objective was to evaluate PHC Physicians perspectives for managing overweight/obesity in children and adolescents.

METHODS:

PHC services from eight public hospitals in Riyadh participated. A self-administered tool maintaining anonymity evaluated facilitators and barriers for managing overweight/obese children and adolescent patients. Physicians who 'always' recommended weight management for an overweight / obese patient during past year, by involving patient, parents, and others were classified as having positive and appropriate practice.

RESULTS:

Of the 58 respondents, 51.7% had appropriate practices. Lack of patient motivation (82.2%), …

High Prevalence Of Toxigenic Clostridium Difficile In Public Space Lawns In Western Australia, Peter Moono, Su Chen Lim, Thomas V. Riley

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Clostridium difficile is a well-established hospital pathogen. Recently, it has been detected increasingly in patients without hospital contact. Given this rise in community associated infections with C. difficile, we hypothesized that the environment could play an important role in transmission of spores outside the hospital. Lawn samples (311) collected in public spaces in the metropolitan area of Perth, Western Australia, from February to June 2016 were cultured for C. difficile. C. difficile was isolated from the samples by direct and enrichment culture, and characterized by standard molecular methods using toxin gene PCR and ribotyping. The overall prevalence of …

Aids Awareness Interventions For Women: The Role Of Voluntary Organizations In The Secunderabad And Hyderabad Region Of Southwestern India, G.S. Chayadevi, Bindu A. Bambah

Journal of International Women's Studies

In this paper, we examine the role of Voluntary organizations (VO’s) in combating the incidence of HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases among Female Sex Workers in Hyderabad and Secundrabad. These are twin cities in the newly formed state of Telangana state in the southwestern region of India, called the Deccan Plateau. We trace the evolution of VO’s towards becoming agents of information and prevention of AIDS in the region. Our focus is on how VOs’ interventions impact the prevention of HIV among female sex workers. The activities that contribute towards this aim are sexual health, counseling, medication and continuous health …

Reproductive Health And Human Rights: Lessons From Ireland, Tanya Saroj Bakhru

Journal of International Women's Studies

The years between 2008-2013 were a period of economic austerity and ideological turmoil in Ireland. Alongside the tragic death of Savita Halappanavar, a woman who died in 2012 due to complications resulting from her refused request for an abortion in an Irish hospital, economic, political and ideological forces converged to promote a tipping point in the demand for full sexual and reproductive rights for women in Ireland. Within this temporal moment, a “convergence of various economic, political and ideological forces that make possible the emergence of specific kinds of practices” (Barndt, 2008, p. 36), the Irish Family Planning Association …

The Slow Food Movement: A 'Big Tent' Ideology, Mark N. Wexler, Judy Oberlander, Arjun Shankar

Journal of Ideology

The Slow Food Movement (SFM) has been characterized as a reminder of the centrality of the kitchen in the “good old days”. It has also been referred to as a poor use of science posing as a rallying point for the beleaguered middle class trying to reclaim psychological territory lost to the fast-paced commercialization of what was once private or leisure time. This paper argues that both these criticisms contain more than a kernel of truth. However, each misses the mark when it comes to explaining the relative successes of SFM. In this paper, we explore SFM’s basic ideological premises. …

A Critical Discussion Of Patient Engagement In Research, Andrea Elaine Bombak, Heather M. Hanson

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

Patients are increasingly expected to take a more involved role in research. Funding for some projects now requires incorporating patients’ viewpoints or involvement in research processes. While intended to achieve commendable goals, it is important to critically assess the means used to achieve these aims. Presently, there may be issues of valuing only certain epistemologies, failing to evaluate existing programs and their impacts, marginalizing less “engaged” patients, and promoting only tokenism. These are areas that require exploration and reflection before assuming that patient engagement approaches are sufficient or the only means of incorporating patient perspectives into research.

What Can A Primary Care Physician Discuss With Older Patients To Improve Advance Directive Completion Rates? A Clin-Iq, Judith M. Myers, Edmund Duthie Jr., Kathryn Denson, Steven Denson, Deborah Simpson

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

Advance directives (ADs) provide patients with the opportunity to indicate their preferences for medical care while they still maintain the capacity to express their wishes, thus retaining autonomy. ADs increase the likelihood that patients will receive the care they desire, as their family members and physicians will better understand the level of care desired. Despite this, the AD completion rate by elderly patients continues to be low, especially for patients not facing serious illnesses. Primary care physicians (PCPs) are uniquely positioned to engage patients in discussions about ADs before a health crisis arises yet often do not due to time …