Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Health Care Reform: Colorectal Cancer Screening Expansion, Before And After The Affordable Care Act (Aca), Michael Preston

Michael Preston

Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer found in men and women in the United States. In 2014, the American Cancer Society estimated over 140,000 new cases of colorectal cancer and approximately 50,000 deaths. Health care reform was introduced in 2010 and became the cornerstone for Americans seeking change in the health care system. Health care reform is a critical factor in increasing CRC screenings by increasing coverage rates for all Americans.

The Relationship Between Community Investment In Permanent Supportive Housing And Chronic Homelessness, Thomas Byrne, Jamison Fargo, Ann Elizabeth Montgomery, Ellen Munley, Dennis P. Culhane

Dennis P. Culhane

The Public Health Impacts Of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations On Local Communities, Michael Greger, Gowri Koneswaran

Michael Greger, MD, FACLM

Large-scale farm animal production facilities, also known as concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), release a significant amount of contaminants into the air and water. Adverse health effects related to exposure to these contaminants among CAFO workers have been welldocumented; however, less is known about their impact on the health of residents in nearby communities. Epidemiological research in this area suggests that neighboring residents are at increased risk of developing neurobehavioral symptoms and respiratory illnesses, including asthma. Additional research is needed to better understand community-scale exposures and health outcomes related to the management practices and emissions of CAFOs.

Their Bugs Are Worse Than Their Bite: Emerging Infectious Disease And The Human-Animal Interface, Michael Greger

Michael Greger, MD, FACLM

In the twenty-five years since that announcement, what we now know as AIDS has killed 20 million people (National AIDS Trust 2005). Where did the AIDS virus— and other emerging diseases, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Ebola, mad cow— come from?

Let's Go: Participating In Community Health Initiatives, Margot G. Malachowski

Margot G Malachowski, MLS, AHIP

Animal Carcinogenicity Studies: Implications For The Reach System, Andrew Knight, Jarrod Bailey, Jonathan Balcombe

Jonathan Balcombe, PhD

The 2001 European Commission proposal for the Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH) aims to improve public and environmental health by assessing the toxicity of, and restricting exposure to, potentially toxic chemicals. The greatest benefits are expected to accrue from decreased cancer incidences. Hence the accurate identification of chemical carcinogens must be a top priority for the REACH system. Due to a paucity of human clinical data, the identification of potential human carcinogens has conventionally relied on animal tests. However, our survey of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) toxic chemicals database revealed that, for a majority of the …

Animal Carcinogenicity Studies: 1. Poor Human Predictivity, Andrew Knight, Jarrod Bailey, Jonathan Balcombe

Jonathan Balcombe, PhD

The regulation of human exposure to potentially carcinogenic chemicals constitutes society’s most important use of animal carcinogenicity data. Environmental contaminants of greatest concern within the USA are listed in the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) chemicals database. However, of the 160 IRIS chemicals lacking even limited human exposure data but possessing animal data that had received a human carcinogenicity assessment by 1 January 2004, we found that in most cases (58.1%; 93/160), the EPA considered animal carcinogenicity data inadequate to support a classification of probable human carcinogen or non-carcinogen. For the 128 chemicals with human or …

Core Resources Of International Health Researchers: An Analysis Of Citations In Major International Health Journals, Young-Joo Lee

Young-Joo Lee

Asthma And Adaptive Functioning Among Homeless Kindergarten-Aged Children In Emergency Housing, J. J. Cutuli, Janette E. Herbers, Theresa L. Lafavor, Sandra M. Ahumada, Ann S. Masten, Charles N. Oberg

J. J. Cutuli

Background. Children who experience homelessness have elevated rates of asthma, a risk factor for other problems. Purpose. Examine rates of asthma and its relation to health care use and adaptive functioning among young children staying in family emergency shelters. Methods. Children and caregivers (N = 138) completed assessments in shelters, including measurement of child cognitive functioning, parent report of child health care service utilization and asthma diagnosis, and teacher report of child school functioning. Results. Asthma diagnosis was reported for 21% of 4‑to‑6‑year‑ old children, about twice the national and state prevalences. Children with asthma used more health care services …

Public Health Resources And Outreach: National Network Of Libraries Of Medicine, New England Region, E. Hatheway Simpson

E. Hatheway Simpson

Describes the work of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, New England Region, and Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce to provide outreach services and promote awareness of evidence-based information resources for public health practice.

National Library Of Medicine Health Information Resources, E. Hatheway Simpson

E. Hatheway Simpson

No abstract provided.

Evidence-Based Public Health: Identifying And Using Information Resources, E. Hatheway Simpson

E. Hatheway Simpson

Public health evidence-based practice involves using the best available evidence to make informed public health practice decisions. This webinar introduced the concepts of evidence-based public health (EBPH) and provided an overview of resources that are online and freely accessible to the public health workforce. Resources highlighted included evidence-based guidelines, systematic reviews, formulated literature searches, best and promising practices, and additional sources of evidence available from the Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce, PHPartners.org.

Evidence-Based Practice For Public Health Project: Final Report, E. Hatheway Simpson, Elaine R. Martin

E. Hatheway Simpson

There are numerous clinically based models for finding the “best evidence” for the diagnosis and treatment of disease. This process is called evidence-based medicine or EBM, which has been defined as "the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients. The practice of evidence-based medicine means integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research”.¹ The need for improved access to high quality public health information has been echoed in various forums involving public health professionals, librarians, and information specialists since the mid 1990s. …

Public Health Information Access Project: Providing Information Access Through A Digital Library, E. Hatheway Simpson

E. Hatheway Simpson

Presentation on the Public Health Information Access Project, including objectives, description, challenges, and lessons learned.

Improving Access To Credible And Relevant Information For Public Health Professionals: A Qualitative Study Of Information Needs In Communicable Disease Control, Nancy R. Lapelle, E. Hatheway Simpson, Roger S. Luckmann, Elaine Russo Martin

E. Hatheway Simpson

In order to understand the information needs and the current and ideal approaches to information access in one major area of public health, semi-structured key informant interviews were conducted with 12 communicable disease control public health professionals in Massachusetts at their worksite. Examples of the types of information they commonly accessed and how it was accessed were solicited and/or observed where feasible. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed thematically. Information needs ranged from breaking news (e.g. epidemiology of emerging disease outbreaks) and untested programmatic ideas (e.g. how to handle prevention and treatment of West Nile Virus and SARS) to the …

Evidence-Based Public Health: Findings From A Research Project And Resources For Practice, E. Hatheway Simpson

E. Hatheway Simpson

This presentation to the University of Massachusetts Medical School Preventive Medicine Residency Program presents an introduction to evidence-based public health (EBPH), and overview of the Lamar Soutter Library’s Evidence-Based Practice for Public Health (EBPPH) project and research findings, and selected examples of EBPH information resources available from the project’s website, http://library.umassmed.edu/ebpph.

Providing Evidence-Based Public Health Resources: The Librarian’S Role, E. Hatheway Simpson

E. Hatheway Simpson

This presentation introduces the concepts of evidence-based public health (EBPH) and provides examples of EBPH information resources available online from the Evidence-Based Practice for Public Health website, http://library.umassmed.edu/ebpph and the Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce website, http://PHPartners.org. Health science librarians, as information specialists and knowledge managers, have the ability to search and find the best evidence to help public health practitioners make informed practice decisions. Presented at the North Atlantic Health Science Libraries Annual Meeting, Providence, RI, September 27, 2005.

Public Health Information Access -- Research And Services, E. Hatheway Simpson

E. Hatheway Simpson

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine, New England Region, at the University of Massachusetts Medical School Library, is taking part in ongoing research on public health practitioners’ access and use of information resources with an emphasis on evidence-based public health. Ms. Simpson will report on the Public Health Information Access Project and also provide examples of library outreach projects relating to public health in the New England Region (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont) and how collaborations between libraries and their public health communities, including the research community, can help expand the work and reach of …

Healthy People 2020 Structured Evidence Queries For Pubmed: Practice Informed By Research, E. Hatheway Simpson, Lisa A. Sedlar, Lisa A. Lang

E. Hatheway Simpson

Objective: Healthy People 2020 is a set of objectives with 10-year targets to guide national health promotion and disease prevention efforts. Public health professionals may have limited time to identify relevant research articles on public health strategies. NLM recognized the need to reduce the time and increase the precision of finding research to support evidence-based actions to achieve HP2020 objectives. Methods: NLM collaborated with the HHS Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion to develop pre-formulated search strategies ─ structured evidence queries (SEQs) ─ of PubMed to make research evidence related to HP2020 objectives easier to find. The queries were …

Enhancing Evidence-Based Information Access To Inform Public Health Practice, Nancy R. Lapelle, E. Hatheway Simpson, Roger S. Luckmann, Elaine Russo Martin

E. Hatheway Simpson

It is clear from the trend towards evidence-based practices in many fields that public health (PH) practice can be better informed if credible information about effective practices is accessible. Comparing sources of evidence-based information in clinical medicine to what is available for PH, we found fewer examples of readily accessible sources in PH. This project was conceived to identify enhancements to evidence-based information accessing needs of PH professionals. A qualitative study identified how PH professionals currently access information and what enhancements they need. Nineteen individual interviews were conducted across two state health department bureaus – communicable disease control and community …

Health Care Reform: Colorectal Cancer Screening Expansion, Before And After The Affordable Care Act (Aca), Michael Preston

Michael Preston

Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer found in men and women in the United States. In 2012, the American Cancer Society estimated as many as 143,460 new cases of colorectal cancer and approximately 51,690 deaths. Health care reform was introduced in 2010 and became the cornerstone for Americans seeking change in the health care system. Health care reform is a critical factor in increasing CRC screenings by increasing coverage rates for all Americans.

Navigating Community Institutions: Black Transgender Women's Experiences In Schools, The Criminal Justice System, And Churches, Louis Graham, Halley Crissman, Jack Tocco, William Lopez, Rachel Snow, Mark Padilla

Louis F Graham

Financial Security Scorecard: A State-By-State Analysis Of Economic Pressures Facing Future Retirees, Christian Weller, Nari Rhee, Carolyn Arcand

Christian Weller

As Americans increasingly worry about their retirement prospects, states play an important and growing role in retirement security policy. States already manage long-term care programs for the elderly through Medicaid. Concerned about the impact of future elder poverty on state and local budgets and their local economies, a number of states are exploring the creation of low-cost and low-risk retirement savings plans for private sector workers who lack access to pensions or 401(k)s on the job. Some states have developed programs to help older workers find work.

This report presents the Financial Security Scorecard, designed to inform state-level stakeholders and …

Effects Of Medicare Payment Reform: Evidence From The Home Health Interim And Prospective Payment Systems, Peter Huckfeldt, Neeraj Sood, Jose Escarce, David Grabowski, Joseph Newhouse

Peter J. Huckfeldt

Medicare continues to implement payment reforms that shift reimbursement from fee-for-service towards episode-based payment, affecting average and marginal reimbursement. We contrast the effects of two reforms for home health agencies. The Home Health Interim Payment System in 1997 lowered both types of reimbursement; our conceptual model predicts a decline in the likelihood of use and costs, both of which we find. The Home Health Prospective Payment System in 2000 raised average but lowered marginal reimbursement with theoretically ambiguous effects; we find a modest increase in use and costs. We find little substantive effect of either policy on readmissions or mortality.

Evaluating Quality Improvement To Improve Hiv Reporting, Nandi A. Marshall, William C. Livingood, Angela Peden, Gulzar H. Shah, Russ Toal, Dayna Alexander, Alesha Wright, Sandra Jump, Shelby Freeman, Kay Davis, Lynn Woodhouse, Kellie Penix

Russell B. Toal

The incorporation and evaluation of Quality Improvement into Georgia’s public health systems continues to be a focus of the Georgia Public Health Practice Based Research Network. This report describes the process, preliminary results and lessons learned from incorporating Quality Improvement into one of Georgia’s public health districts.

Evaluation Of Lift Up Your Voice! Advocacy Training For Older Adults And Their Caregivers: Executive Summary, Alison Gottlieb, Nina M. Silverstein, Kelli Barton

Nina Silverstein

The Lift Up Your Voice! (LUYV) training, a component of Community Catalyst’s effort to support the Campaign for Better Care (CBC), is designed to mobilize grassroots advocacy structures of vulnerable older adults by directly engaging and empowering older adults and their caregivers. The goal of the evaluation is to assess the effectiveness LUYV in recruiting potential advocates, educating them about the health care reform, empowering them via advocacy skills training, and engaging them in state-based CBC activities.

Lift Up Your Voice! Health Care Advocacy Training Program: Empowering Older Adults, Nina M. Silverstein, Alison Gottlieb, Kelli Barton

Nina Silverstein

Lift Up Your Voice! (LUYV) is a health care advocacy training program developed by Community Catalyst and funded through Atlantic Philanthropies. LUYV directly engages older adults with chronic disease in state-based Campaign for Better Care initiatives to achieve changes in the health care delivery system.

Attitudes Toward Sexuality And Sexual Behaviors Of Asian-American Adolescents: Implications For Risk Of Hiv Infection, Connie S. Chan

Connie Chan

Until 1990, Asian Americans represented an ethnic minority group that was perceived to be at lower risk than African Americans or Hispanics/Latinos for HIV infection, the presumed causal agent for AIDS. Reasons cited for this perception include behavioral differences in intravenous drug use, sexual behavioral habits, and underidentification of AIDS cases. However, in urban areas such as San Francisco, Toronto, New York, Boston, Los Angeles, and Seattle, where Asians have immigrated and settled in large numbers, cases of HIV infection and AIDS have begun to increase dramatically, perhaps reflecting the rise in the number of AIDS cases in Asia. In …

Imagining Possibilities For Healthy Appalachian Communities In An Emerging Postindustrial Landscape, Brian Hoey

Brian A. Hoey, Ph.D.

This paper explores how community might be re-imagined to promote incipient social and economic agendas born increasingly of broad-minded citizen initiatives within the Appalachian region aimed at what is generally understood as “development,” but of a form distinct from the prevailing models of a more industrial age. I would like to ask whether a city like Huntington, West Virginia can emerge as a progressive example of what we might term postindustrial, urban regeneration and perhaps what we might call community healing—specifically through grassroots movement now finding local governmental support in collective attempts to transform this place from one defined primarily …

Factor Structure Of The Chinese Service Quality Assessment Scale, Siu-Yin Cheung, Eddie Lam, Jia-Wen Shao, Jennifer Mak

Jennifer Y Mak

The quality of service has been the major subject of interest for business and academia. The aims of this study were to investigate the service quality of fitness clubs in Hong Kong and Guangzhou and to examine the underlying factor structure of the Service Quality Assessment Scale (SQAS; Lam, Zhang, & Jensen, 2005) in the Chinese context.