Public Health Commons^™

The Effect Of A Health Educational Program On Sleep Related Health Outcomes, Swetha Sirigineedi

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Sleep quality has effects on both physical and mental health. Because of this, sleep hygiene is an important health goal. Participation in health programs promoting healthy behaviors has helped people reach their health goals and elicited positive behavior change. Because of this, it was of interest to determine if participation in a virtual, multi-media health education program improved health and wellbeing outcomes of Arkansans. The main objective of this study was to determine the effect of a 20-week behavior and health educational program on the ability of participants to achieve their health goals and improve their health behaviors related to …

Bullied Because Of Their Teeth: Evidence From A Longitudinal Study On The Impact Of Oral Health On Bullying Victimization Among Australian Indigenous Children, Md Irteja Islam, Verity Chadwick, Tuguy Esgin, Alexandra Martiniuk

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Making life better for Indigenous peoples is a global priority. Although bullying and oral health have always been a topic of concern, there is limited information regarding the impact of this problem on the general population, with no evidence in this regard among the Australian Indigenous population. Thus, we aimed to quantify the relationship between bullying victimization and oral health problems by remoteness among 766 Australian Indigenous children aged between 10–15-years using data from the LSIC study. Bivariate and multilevel mixed-effect logistic regression analyses were employed. Findings indicated children self-reported bullying more than parents reported their children were being bullied …

Blood Lead Levels In Minority Children: A Case Of Environmental Racism, Erick Rivera

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Racial minorities in the United States have suffered from being disadvantaged. Among these disadvantages is environmental racism. This includes minority communities being ‘sacrifice zones’ for toxic waste and being exposed to lead poisoning. The purpose of this study is to examine differences in blood levels between white children and children of color. This research will follow a bivariate model for the first research question, “Do youth of color (under the age of 18) have higher BLLs than white children?” The bivariate model will look at the relationship between ethno-racial group and BLLs. Specifically, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) will be …

Health Disparities In Adults With Developmental And Intellectual Disabilities, Tulsi Patel

Nursing | Senior Theses

This paper reviews literature pertaining to the treatment of people with developmental disabilities. It will emphasize the inadequacies of health care in this population. The literature that will be discussed focuses on disparities in care via proxy, sociodemographic and clinical factors associated with disparities, assessing the needs of this population, the prevalence of disabilities in rural and urban settings, and the comparison of health disparities between adults with and without developmental disabilities.

For the purpose of this paper, a few terms will be defined. Developmental disabilities (DD) will be defined as “a group of conditions due to an impairment in …

A Survey To Determine The Relationship Between Health Literacy And Vaccine Hesitancy In College Students At Butler University, Lindsey Schreiber

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

The prolonged pandemic has proven the need for vaccines to protect the public against COVID-19. The goal of immunity across populations has been hindered by vaccine refusal and vaccine hesitancy. Finding the root of this hesitancy could be critical in increasing vaccination, which is needed to alleviate the strain that Coronavirus has had on the world. A Qualtrics skip logic survey was created that collected demographic information, vaccine status, vaccine influences, vaccine concerns, and The Newest Vital Sign, a health literacy assessment. The purpose of this study was to find a relationship between health literacy and vaccine hesitancy in order …

Religious And Cultural Considerations In Nigeria Regarding The Low Vaccination Rates For The Oral Polio Vaccine, Allison Luann Welz

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

When the polio vaccine was developed in the 1950s, the healthcare field saw the eradication of polio happening by the turn of the 21st century. However, in 2022 there are still countries with endemic strains of polio, with Nigeria only recently being taken off of this list in 2020. This paper focuses on synthesizing research about the initial oral polio vaccine (OPV) efforts in 2002 Nigeria to improved efforts in the 2010s. Nigeria is widely known for boycotting the vaccine and implementing extensive educational programming attempts to remedy the situation. By looking at various cultural and religious factors that caused …

Operating Room Nurses Sleep Health: An Evidence-Based Practice Sleep Health Education Project, Gabriella M. Castignoli

DNP Projects

Background: "Sleep Health" is a new Healthy People 2023 priority due to notable poor sleep health across the nation, with more than 25% of U.S. adults reporting insufficient sleep. Adequate sleep is necessary to work effectively and safely, with operating room (OR) nurses at high risk for inadequate sleep due to atypical work schedules.

Purpose: This project aims to establish the importance of sleep health for OR nurses at a community-based hospital and improve sleep health perception and sleep health through sleep health education with staff.

Methods: The IOWA model for evidence-based practice and quality improvement tools, Plan-Do-Study-Act, and the …

Associations Of Public Open Space Attributes With Active And Sedentary Behaviors In Dense Urban Areas: A Systematic Review Of Observational Studies, Minica Motomura, Mohammad Javad Koohsari, Chien-Yu Lin, Kaori Ishii, Ai Shibata, Tomoki Nakaya, Andrew T. Kaczynski Ph.D., Jenny Veitch, Koichiro Oka

Faculty Publications

In the context of rapid urbanization, public open spaces in dense urban areas are critical built environment elements to support active lifestyles. Several reviews have explored the associations of public open space attributes with physically active and sedentary behavior. However, few reviews have included studies from Asia, and no studies have focused on dense urban areas. This systematic review analyzed 18 observational studies investigating associations between public open space attributes with physical activity and sedentary behavior in dense urban areas of East Asian countries, including Japan, Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong. We found that closer distance to and a greater …

Using Height-Adjusted Stunting Prevalence Will Fail Disadvantaged Children Worldwide, Jef L. Leroy, Edward A. Frongillo Jr. Ph.D., Elaine Borghi

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Stigma Surrounding The Use Of Food Insecurity Programs Among College Students, Brianna Kelly

Senior Honors Projects

While addressing food insecurity in college students, a multifactorial approach is crucial in understanding the prevalence of food insecurity and barriers that can further hinder a student from becoming food secure, such as stigma. In the United States, 38.3 million Americans are food insecure (Food Security in the US, 2020). Approximately 40% of college students across the nation reported past-month insecurity in a 2019 study (Frank et al., 2021). A qualitative study among students at the University of North Texas found that due to stigma, many students struggling with food insecurity often did not use federal services or turn to …

Covid-19 And Digital Health Literacy In University Students / Narrative Competence And Cognitive Mapping As A Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy In The Education Of Emergent Bilinguals, Molly Kathleen Hadley

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Early in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic became a global public health concern. College students became dependent on the online environment for learning, but also for receiving COVID-19 information. Understanding digital health literacy (DHL) in this unique population and subsequent prevention behaviors in a digitally connected population during a public health crisis is crucial to prepare for future pandemics. This study explored DHL in college students, their main sources of pandemic information and other information seeking behaviors, adherence to public health guidelines, and intentions to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. During the summer of 2020, 245 New York state college students completed …

Identifying Risk Factors For Hospitalization With Mental Illness And/Or Behavioral Disorders And Concurrent Temperature-Related Illness In New York State : A Cross-Sectional Study, Heather Aydin-Ghormoz

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Background: In New York State (NYS), extreme heat events in the warm months (May – September) are expected to increase over the next 60 years. Additionally, NYS experiences extremely low temperatures in the colder months (October – April). Extreme temperature events are linked to increased emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and mortality for individuals with mental and behavioral disorders. This research aims to characterize individual and regional risk factors for mental and behavioral disorder hospitalizations with concurrent temperature-related illness in NYS. Methods: Using data from the NYS Statewide and Planning Research and Cooperative System between 2005 – 2019, multivariate log binomial …

Environmental Factors And Human Health Interactions : Ultrafine Particles, Temperature Variability, And Proximity To Power Stations, Ian Ryan

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Background: Air pollution leads to more than four million premature deaths worldwide and nearly 200,000 in the US each year. While there is extensive research relating PM2.5 to hospital visits for various health outcomes, there is relatively little research on ultrafine particles (UFPs), a particularly small and dangerous air pollutant. Another important exposure is temperature due to its association with dehydration, heat stress, and cardiovascular-related hospital admissions. However, relatively little research has been conducted on diurnal temperature range (DTR), or the range of temperature within a single day, which is an important indicator of climate change. Importantly, the interaction between …

An Examination Of Historical Health Disparities Of The Black Population In America, And Their Effects On Contemporary Health Disparities In Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy, Sophia-Evelyne Blake Nehama

Public Health Undergraduate Program

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the significant health disparities that the African American population faces in comparison to White Americans. The Tuskegee Syphilis study is often cited to support the theory that medical mistrust is responsible for these disparities despite conflicting opinions that medical distrust is not the main reason for disparities. This study examines the effects that historical health disparities in Black populations have on contemporary vaccine hesitancy. An analysis of recent sources, including peer reviewed historical analysis and news articles with accredited sources was used to make up the entirety of the literary review. For data on contemporary …

Missed Opportunities In Social Media To Reduce Maternal Health Disparities For Black Women, Nerissa George

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Pregnancy-related maternal morbidity and mortality disproportionately affect Black women more than their White counterparts. Black pregnant women are more likely to omit or engage in prenatal care late than White women. Social media is an essential source of pregnancy-related information and shows it effectively improves pregnancy knowledge. Greater than 80% of Black women own a mobile device, and some data demonstrate that Black women use social media for pregnancy-related information. However, little is known about social media use during pregnancy for this population. Several gaps exist about what maternal health content is available on social media, how Black women use …

Taking A User-Centered Design Approach To Develop A Data Dashboard For New York State Department Of Health And Implications For Improving The Usability Of Public Data Dashboards / Narrative Competence And Cognitive Mapping As A Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy In The Education Of Emergent Bilinguals, Bahareh Ansari

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In recent years, the increased availability of public data dashboards provided opportunities to democratize data access by summarizing large amounts of data into accessible snapshots to facilitate educational efforts and encourage evidence-based decision-making. However, many current practices have not reached their full potential because the dashboard design has not accounted for users’ needs and preferences. This dissertation employed the user-centered design framework with three studies. Study 1 investigated the usability problems of existing public health data dashboards through an expert review of existing dashboards on government websites. Study 2 established the requirements of a usable design for public health data …

The Communicative Capacities Of The Medical Discourse In Authoritarian Societies : The Case Of Aids In Iran, Elham Pourtaher

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study explores the role of medical discourse in the Iranian formal public sphere. It examines how an epidemiological wave of HIV/AIDS—known as "the third wave"—highlighted nontraditional sexual behaviors in public and enabled a shift in policy and discourse by the Islamic Republic State. Through analyzing published content on HIV/AIDS from five major Iranian newspapers between 2009 and 2013, this study identified four competing narratives of the third wave which coexist and have a dynamic relationship with one another. First, the medical narrative warns of an unfolding public health crisis and provides a technical perspective to make sense of the …

Drug-Facilitated Sexual Assault At The University Of Arkansas, Barrett Weidman

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

This work was written to fulfill two main purposes. First, to help survivors of Drug-Facilitated Sexual Assault (DFSA) process their experience by compiling the toxicological, pharmacological, and distribution of the three most used date-rape drugs. Second, to gauge the knowledge and interest of University of Arkansas students regarding drug impairments, sexual assault education, and bystander intervention training. A survey was conducted for the latter and revealed that 91.6% of students believe the University’s existing sexual assault prevention education and bystander intervention training have room for improvement. Also, 37.1% of students who have received this education report that the programming does …

Civility And Communication Interventions To Improve Patient Outcomes, Lane Denney

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing Undergraduate Honors Theses

Communication in health care is vital for the successful care of patients and their outcomes while they are hospitalized. Healthcare workers are responsible for communicating patient information whether it is between change of shifts or reporting to a patient’s provider. It is important that this information is communicated effectively. This review evaluates how nurses communicate in shift- report and how this affects patient outcomes and civility between nursing units and teams. Overall, bedside shift reports promoted the best patient outcomes and increased teamwork on hospital units.

Multimodal Approach To Chronic Pain Management And Prevention Of Opioid Use Disorder, Hannah Elston

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing Undergraduate Honors Theses

Background. Chronic pain (CP) is a major public health problem that affects one-third of the population and can interfere with the activities of daily life and cause decreased quality of life. Patients with CP have been increasingly prescribed opioids, contributing to the rise in the opioid epidemic. Due to the long-term nature of CP, the use of opioids as the sole treatment for CP can cause tolerance and increased dosages overtime which can lead to addiction and potentially overdose. Therefore, CP treatment should include multimodal approaches to treatment to prevent opioid misuse, opioid use disorder (OUD), and overdose. Multimodal treatments …

Attitudes Towards Covid-19 Vaccination: Literature Review And Attitudes Of Individuals Who Delayed Vaccination, Sydney Hornberger '22

Honor Scholar Theses

This thesis examines attitudes towards and ethics of receiving one of the fastest vaccines ever developed— the COVID-19 vaccine. The Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) in the U.S. has granted either Emergency Use Authorization or full approval to three vaccines: the Pfizer-BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson, and Moderna-NIAID vaccines. However, although the FDA approved and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends getting the vaccines, that does not necessarily mean people have an ethical responsibility or a positive attitude towards getting vaccinated against COVID-19; this current paper explores both of these ideas as related to COVID-19 vaccination. First, it …

Practicing Trauma-Informed Care In Nursing For A Better Outcome In Hospitalized Adolescents With Adverse Childhood Experiences And Trauma, Allysa Mia Fabricante

Nursing | Senior Theses

As nurses we want to give our patients the best care. That is why trauma-informed care (TIC) is important to include into nursing practice. TIC is a fairly new idea that addresses a patient's whole past and present life. Incorporating it into nursing practice can benefit patients who have adverse childhood experiences and trauma. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are traumatic events that occur to a person starting from birth to 17 years old. In a hospital setting an adolescent patient can be triggered if ACEs and trauma is not properly addressed. The long-term effects of ACEs can affect adolescents into …

First Generation Filipino Children And The Risk Of Childhood Obesity: Influence Of Screen Time, Krystal Joy Joy Ragasa

Nursing | Senior Theses

Background: Obesity is an epidemic in the United States and among all Asian subgroups, Filipinos are particularly at a much higher risk. Obesity raises the risk of acquiring other health complications, especially for those who develop obesity at a younger age. Research has shown that children who engage in higher levels of screen time are more likely to become obese, resulting in screen time restrictions and recommendations. Additionally, rates of obesity are higher in immigrants. There is a gap in the explanation of screen time’s effect on childhood obesity for first generation Filipino children.

Aim: The purpose of the proposed …

Summary Of: Understanding The Role Of Misinformation In Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy In A Rural State, Ann Marie Hess, Colin T. Waters, Elizabeth A. Jacobs, Kerri L. Barton, Kathleen M. Fairfield

Northern New England Clinical & Translational Research

Findings from this study regarding COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and sources of trusted information are important for developing public health strategies to increase vaccination rates. Understanding the concerns of individuals as assessed in this study provides opportunities for trusted health professionals, friends and family to reinforce facts about the importance of being vaccinated.

Study found @ "Understanding the Role of Misinformation in COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy" by Ann Marie Hess, Colin T. Waters et al.

An Evaluation Of Covid-19 Vaccination Rates Of The Patients At The Kentucky Racing Health Services Center., Aditya Mehta

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

COVID-19 vaccines have been widely available to the U.S. public since early 2021. However, vaccination rates still vary considerably across geographical areas and different populations. The objective of this study was to research overall vaccination rates against COVID-19 for Latinx patients at the Kentucky Racing Health Services Center (KRHSC). Vaccination and booster data was collected from June to December 2021 for all unique patients visiting the center. It was initially hypothesized that these rates of vaccination and booster doses for the KRHSC patients would be lower than the data reported by Kentucky and Jefferson County. After a retrospective review, the …

Columbia Law School’S Center For Gender And Sexuality Law On Leaked Dobbs Opinion, Center For Gender And Sexuality Law

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

The leaked Supreme Court opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, signals a major break with at least three generations of constitutional law. Should this opinion be officially issued by the Court, it will eliminate not only constitutional protections for abortion, but well-settled legal principles on which basic personal rights have rested for over 60 years.

What Comes Now? Religious Liberty And The End Of Roe, Law, Rights, And Religion Project

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

New York, NY – The Law, Rights, and Religion Project at Columbia Law School, an academic think tank that conducts research and policy analysis on the complex ways in which religious liberty rights interact with other fundamental rights, has a number of materials that can help to shed light on three key issues around the possible end of Roe v. Wade in light of the draft Supreme Court opinion released yesterday.

Twitter Posts, Gist, And The Perceived Harmfulness Of The Human Papillomavirus Vaccine, Candice Fawn Coffman

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Individuals frequently encounter two types of information when evaluating the risk of a vaccination: statistical evidence describing the frequency of positive and negative outcomes, and anecdotal evidence describing positive and negative personal experiences. The present study evaluated the relative importance of both types of evidence when considered simultaneously. We predicted that the presentation of even one negative anecdote would have an effect on the key risk information (the â??gistâ??) that subjects extracted from the statistical and anecdotal data. Self-generated twitter posts (tweets) and standard measures of perceived risk were used to test the latter prediction. The current findings partially supported …

Community Characteristics And Financial And Operational Performance Of Rural Health Clinics In The United States: A Chartbook, John Gale Ms, Zachariah Croll Mph, Jamar Croom Ms, Louisa Munk Mph, Yvonne Jonk Phd

Rural Health Clinics

This chartbook provides an overview of Rural Health Clinic (RHC) characteristics and issues using data from CMS’s Provider of Services file, Medicare Cost Reports, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s’ County Health Ranking and will be useful to policymakers and others interested in the performance of RHCs nationally. It can also be useful to RHC administrators to benchmark staffing patterns, productivity, and efficiency. Finally, it provides a discussion of the challenges related to collection and reporting of RHC quality data.

For more information, please contact John Gale, [email protected]

Lgbtq+ Health Disparities: Healthcare Intervention, Kara Steinbrecher

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing Undergraduate Honors Theses

The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) community has carried the burden of countless health disparities throughout its history tied to discrimination, bias, prejudice, and stigma. LGBTQ+ individuals are disproportionately at higher risk for substance abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, cardiovascular disease, mental illness, suicide, and unequal access to healthcare, related to social stigma and bias that exists in healthcare itself. The purpose of this systematic literature review is to analyze existing health disparities among the LGBTQ+ population in the United States and the efficacy of various interventions of health care professionals to reduce them. Twenty-one articles from multiple online …