The Mental Health Impact of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico and Florida

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolina Scaramutti ◽  
Christopher P. Salas-Wright ◽  
Saskia R. Vos ◽  
Seth J. Schwartz
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Puerto Ricans ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Stress Disorders ◽  
Suburban Areas ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas

ABSTRACTObjectivesThe aim of this study was to compare the effect of Hurricane Maria on internalizing and posttraumatic stress disorders (PTSD) among Puerto Ricans who moved to Florida after the storm versus those who stayed on the island.MethodsIn March through April 2018 (6 months after Hurricane Maria), an online survey was used to assess the effects of the storm on mental health. A sample of 213 displaced Puerto Ricans living in urban and rural/suburban areas in Florida, as well as urban and rural areas of Puerto Rico, participated in the study.ResultsRates of PTSD were high in both sites (Florida, 65.7%; Puerto Rico, 43.6%); however, participants in Florida were far more likely than those in Puerto Rico to meet diagnostic criteria for PTSD (OR, 2.94; 95% CI, 1.67-5.26). Among participants in both Florida and Puerto Rico, those living in urban areas were more likely than those in rural/suburban areas to meet criteria for PTSD and generalized anxiety disorder.ConclusionsResults suggest that post-Hurricane Maria adjustment and adaptation may have been more psychologically taxing for Puerto Ricans who moved to Florida than it was for those who remained on the island, and more difficult for those in urban areas than it was for those in suburban or rural areas. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2019;13:24–27)

scholarly journals They’re Dying in the Suburbs: COVID-19 Cases and Deaths by Geography in Louisiana (USA)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alina Schnake-Mahl ◽  
Usama Bilal
Keyword(s):  
New Orleans ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Temporal Trends ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Suburban Areas ◽  
Incidence And Mortality ◽  
The Us ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas ◽  
Second Peak

AbstractThe national COVID-19 conversation in the US has mostly focused on urban areas, without sufficient examination of another geography with large vulnerable populations: the suburbs. While suburbs are often thought of as areas of uniform affluence and racial homogeneity, over the past 20 years, poverty and diversity have increased substantially in the suburbs. In this study, we compare geographic and temporal trends in COVID-19 cases and deaths in Louisiana, one of the few states with high rates of COVID-19 during both the spring and summer. We find that incidence and mortality rates were initially highest in New Orleans. By the second peak, trends reversed: suburban areas experienced higher rates than New Orleans and similar rates to other urban and rural areas. We also find that increased social vulnerability was associated with increased positivity and incidence during the first peak. During the second peak, these associations reversed in New Orleans while persisting in other urban, suburban, and rural areas. The work draws attention to the high rates of COVID-19 cases and deaths in suburban areas and the importance of metropolitan-wide actions to address COVID-19.RegistrationN/AFunding sourceNIH (DP5OD26429) and RWJF (77644)Code and data availabilityCode for replication along with data is available here: https://github.com/alinasmahl1/COVID_Louisiana_Suburban/.

scholarly journals INVESTIGATING URBAN GROWTH BOUNDARY AS MECHANISM TO PLAN FOR SUSTAINABLE URBAN DEVELOPMENT

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Narimah Samat ◽  
Mohd Amirul Mahamud ◽  
Mohammad Javad Maghsoodi Tilaki ◽  
Mohd Azmeer Abu Bakar ◽  
Leong Tan Mou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Urban Development ◽  
Urban Growth ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Sustainable Urban Development ◽  
Urban Growth Boundary ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas

Urban encroachment into the peri-urban areas has blurred the borders between urban and rural areas. Thus, the urban growth boundary (UGB) has been used to encourage the sustainable development of cities and improve long-term planning efficiency. Studying the understanding of the UGB concept in ensuring sustainable development in Malaysia would be beneficial. This study aimed to investigate the perception and understanding of the UGB concept and function to achieve sustainable urban development. An online survey was conducted involving 82 experts, which comprised planners from PLANMalaysia and academicians in the field of urban planning. Results indicated that the perception of the UGB score was significantly greater by 1.16 than the normal score of 3, which indicated that the experts agreed that UGB could improve the urban development. The findings also indicated that the existing planning policy and inclusion of UGB had protected agricultural and natural land; however, stricter and tighter borderless development should be conducted.

scholarly journals Brief Report: A Cross-Sectional Study of Anxiety Levels and Concerns of Chinese Families of Children With Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Post-first-wave of COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xueyun Su ◽  
Ru Ying Cai ◽  
Mirko Uljarević ◽  
Jo Van Herwegen ◽  
Daniel Dukes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Child Anxiety ◽  
Educational Needs ◽  
Parental Anxiety ◽  
Special Educational Needs ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Anxiety Levels

The COVID-19 pandemic has a multifaceted impact on mental health due to ill health, restrictions and lockdowns, and loss of employment and institutional support. COVID-19 may disproportionally impact families with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) due to the already higher prevalence of mental health conditions in children with SEND and their parents. Therefore, it is essential to determine the short-term impact of the pandemic on the mental health of families with SEND in order to identify their ongoing health support needs. The current study aims to examine the anxiety level and concerns of children with SEND and their parents living in China. The sample consisted of 271 parents of children with SEND aged between 6 and 17 years (Mage = 8.37; SDage = 2.76). Parents completed an online survey between 10 April to 8 June 2020. Both child and parental anxiety levels and various concerns increased after the initial wave of COVID-19 when compared with retrospective pre-COVID-19 levels. Parental anxiety and concern levels were significantly higher for those living in rural areas compared to urban areas. In addition, parental and child anxiety and concern levels were significantly correlated with each other. Parental anxiety at the lowest level made a unique and significant statistical contribution to children's anxiety levels. The implications of the study findings are discussed.

scholarly journals Comparative Study of E-Learning Readiness and Socio-Economic Factors during Covid-19 Pandemic: Evidence from High School Students in Urban and Rural Areas of Indonesia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moch. Bambang Sulistio ◽  
Keyword(s):  
High School Students ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
School Students ◽  
Learning Readiness ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas ◽  
Socio Economic Factors

As the global pandemic of COVID-19 spreads enormously, educational institutions were forced to close down in most countries, affecting 91% of pupils and causing massive disruption to the education sector. In Indonesia, 62, 5 million students from pre-primary to higher education are forced to shift from conventional learning to a complete move into e-Learning. This study sought to explore students' readiness to cope with online learning both in urban and rural areas of Indonesia and to find the relation whether socio-economic factors during pandemic affect their e-learning readiness. The theory underpinning the study was the e-Learning Readiness theory which measures eight dimensions: human resource, financial, technological, equipment, content, psychological, sociological, and environmental readiness. An online survey was conducted, and a total of 1.260 million students in urban and 846 students in rural areas participated in the study. The data were analyzed using multiple regression and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). This study reveals that students in urban areas are categorized as ready, but they need improvements in several aspects with the readiness index 3, 47. In contrast, students are not ready in rural areas and need several improvements with index 3,01. The study also highlights that basic IT skills competencies are critical for the preparedness of e-learning and should be taught to students. Future studies could analyze whether ICT training will significantly impact their perceives and acceptance of students' e-learning readiness, especially in rural areas, after training has been conducted.

scholarly journals Mental health in rural areas: experience in south Cambridgeshire

1998 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 280-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Smith ◽  
R. Ramana
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Rural Health ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Day Care ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Social Indicators ◽  
Care Provision ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Deprivation

Mental health morbidity is perceived as being predominantly urban based. Little is known about the health of the UK's rural residents. This paper summarises existing knowledge of rural health and social indicators. There is a relative dearth of information in this area making the application of urban-based (and biased) factors perhaps unreliable. Some rural areas have levels of deprivation similar to urban areas, even using urban-biased factors, though they encounter specific problems of service provision and accessibility. Currently, there seems to be no valid method of measuring rural deprivation and comparing it with urban deprivation. We highlight this inequality by describing discrepancies in day care provision between urban and rural areas.

Urbanization and Mental Health

1979 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerzy Krupinski
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Psychiatric Morbidity ◽  
Rural Society ◽  
Psychosocial Disorders ◽  
Psychiatric Institutions ◽  
The World ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas

Australia is one of the most urbanized countries in the world with over 85% of the population living in metropolitan and other urban areas. More important, the change from a predominantly rural society to an urbanized society has occurred within the last 100 years. To assess the effects of urbanization on mental health, rates of admissions to psychiatric institutions, suicides and violent crime in Victoria have been analysed for the last hundred years. Data on admissions to psychiatric facilities in Victoria from metropolitan, other urban and rural areas, as well as results of community health surveys carried out in metropolitan and rural areas were compared to examine for evidence of urban-rural differences in psychiatric morbidity. The findings do not support the notion that the level of psychiatric and psychosocial disorders in Victoria are related to urbanization or to urban living.

Utility of a Low-Cost, Dense Sensor Network for the Study of Air Quality Impact Upon Human Health in Urban and Rural Areas

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Susan Alexander ◽  
Aaron Kaulfus ◽  
C. E. Phillips ◽  
Bob Baron ◽  
John N. McHenry ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Monitoring Networks ◽  
Rural And Urban Areas ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Recent Emergence ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas

The chemical composition of air changes from moment to moment. While the atmosphere may appear clear and cloudless to the human eye, gases, aerosols, and particulates are in constant interaction with Earth's surface under the influence of meteorological conditions. The recent emergence of low-cost, dense environmental air quality monitoring networks suggests growing interest in highly granular temporospatial exposure assessments by scientists and citizens. This chapter describes the utility of leveraging partnerships and resources to collocate a dense network of low-cost air quality sensors with meteorological sensors across a predominantly rural state located in the southeastern U.S. Construction of the network will improve knowledge on the daily, diurnal, and seasonal variations of pollutant exposures in rural and urban areas, the public health impact of extreme climatological and atmospheric events, and socioeconomic factors that heighten risk of exposures and health outcomes.

scholarly journals Malocclusion, Dental Caries and Oral Health-Related Quality of Life: A Comparison between Adolescent School Children in Urban and Rural Regions in Peru

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 2038 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Cadenas de Llano-Pérula ◽  
Estela Ricse ◽  
Steffen Fieuws ◽  
Guy Willems ◽  
Maria Fernanda Orellana-Valvekens
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Oral Health ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Short Form ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Access To Treatment ◽  
Related Quality ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas

Rural, isolated areas benefit less from caries prevention programs and access to treatment than urban areas, and, hence, differences in oral health can be expected. This study aims to assess the prevalence of caries and malocclusion in urban and rural areas of Peru and to compare them with patients’ oral health perception. A total of 1062 adolescents were examined in five schools of rural (Titicaca) and urban (Lima and Cuzco) areas in Peru. Decay Missing Filled Teeth’s Surfaces, the Index of Complexity, Outcome and Need and the Child Oral Health Impact Profile short form-19 (COHIP-SF 19) were used to assess caries, severity of malocclusion and Oral Health Quality of Life, respectively. Significant differences in the prevalence (p = 0.001) and degree of caries (p = 0.001) were found between regions. The prevalence of caries was the highest in Cuzco (97.65%), followed by Titicaca (88.81%) and Lima (76.42%). The severity of malocclusion was the lowest in Titicaca. There was a negative relation between malocclusion, caries and COHIP-SF 19, with no evidence of a difference between the regions. This suggests that the higher the prevalence of caries and the more severe the malocclusion, the poorer the perception of oral health. In our study, rural areas presented a lower severity of malocclusion than urban areas.

scholarly journals Patterns of Alcohol Consumption in the PURE Poland Cohort Study and Their Relationship with Health Problems

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (8) ◽  
pp. 4185
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Zatońska ◽  
Piotr Psikus ◽  
Alicja Basiak-Rasała ◽  
Zuzanna Stępnicka ◽  
Maria Wołyniec ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cohort Study ◽  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Level Of Education ◽  
Adult Participants ◽  
Frequent Consumption ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas ◽  
Socio Demographic Factors ◽  
High Level

(1) Background: Alcohol is a leading risk factor of premature morbidity and mortality. The objective of this study was to investigate the patterns of alcohol consumption in the PURE Poland cohort study baseline. (2) Methods: A Polish cohort was enrolled in the baseline study in 2007–2010. The study group consisted of 2021 adult participants of urban and rural areas from the Lower Silesia voivodeship in Poland (747 men and 1274 women). (3) Results: In the overall study population, 67.3% were current drinkers, 10.3% were former drinkers, and 22.4% were abstainers. Current use of alcohol products was more prevalent in men (77.2%), people living in urban areas (73.0%), and people with a higher level of education (78.0%). The percentage of current drinkers decreased with increasing age (from 73.4% in 30- to 44-year-olds to 48.8% in participants aged 64 and more). The majority of participants (89.2%) declared a low level of alcohol intake. The chance of high level of intake of alcohol was four times higher in men than in women (OR 4.17; CI 1.64–10.6). The majority of participants (54.6%) declared most frequent consumption of low-alcohol drinks (beer, wine) and 21% declared most frequent consumption of spirits. Current drinkers had almost 1.5-fold higher odds of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) than never drinkers (OR 1.49, CI 1.03–2.17; OR 1.66, CI 1.27–2.18, respectively). Former drinkers had higher odds for hypertension and CVD than never drinkers (1.73, CI 1.05–2.85; OR 1.76, CI 1.22–2.53, respectively). (4) Conclusions: In our cohort study, we observed several socio-demographic factors differentiating the patterns of alcohol consumption. The preventive programs should focus predominantly on men, people aged <45 years, and those with a higher level of education.

The Rural-Urban Continuum of Polarization: Understanding the Geography of the 2018 Midterms

The Forum ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth M. Johnson ◽  
Dante J. Scala
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Metropolitan Areas ◽  
Political Attitudes ◽  
The United States ◽  
Rural America ◽  
Rural Regions ◽  
Urban America ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas ◽  
The Continuum

Abstract This study of the 2018 congressional midterms demonstrates how voting patterns and political attitudes vary across a spectrum of urban and rural areas in the United States. Rural America is no more a monolith than is urban America. The rural-urban gradient is better represented by a continuum than a dichotomy. This is evident in the voting results in 2018, just as it was in 2016. We found that the political tipping point lies beyond major metropolitan areas, in the suburban counties of smaller metropolitan areas. Democrats enjoyed even greater success in densely populated urban areas in 2018 than in 2016. Residents of these urban areas display distinctive and consistent social and political attitudes across a range of scales. At the other end of the continuum in remote rural areas, Republican candidates continued to command voter support despite the challenging national political environment. Voters in these rural regions expressed social and political attitudes diametrically opposed to their counterparts in large urban cores.

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