School Safety and Connectedness Matter for More than Educational Outcomes

2016 ◽  
pp. 39-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Saewyc ◽  
Yuko Homma
Keyword(s):  
Health Disparities ◽  
School Safety ◽  
School Connectedness ◽  
Health Inequities ◽  
The United States ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Lgbtq Youth ◽  
Perceived Safety ◽  
School Based ◽  
Significant Health

LGBTQ youth face significant health disparities compared to heterosexual peers. School-based victimization of LGBTQ youth, as well as lower levels of school connectedness and perceived safety at school, have been implicated in those health disparities. Drawing on multivariate and population-based studies throughout the United States and Canada, this chapter explores the evidence that school connectedness can lower the odds of health-compromising behaviors and disparities among different subpopulations of LGBTQ youth. The authors review strategies for fostering school connectedness among the general population and consider how these strategies might fit or might need to be adapted for LGBTQ populations. The authors highlight evidence for programs and policies that improve school connectedness among LGBTQ students that is already available, especially evidence that these programs actually work to reduce health inequities. Schools, as key environments for young people, are important contributors to health for LGBTQ youth.

Tobacco-Related Disparities Viewed Through the Lens of Intersectionality

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine E Sheffer ◽  
Jill M Williams ◽  
Deborah O Erwin ◽  
Phillip H Smith ◽  
Ellen Carl ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Disparities ◽  
Tobacco Control ◽  
Health Inequities ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Analytic Framework ◽  
Safe Environment ◽  
Critical Elements ◽  
Marginalized Groups ◽  
Significant Health ◽  
Remarkable Progress

Abstract Despite remarkable progress, tobacco control efforts are not equitably distributed, and tobacco-related disparities continue to contribute to significant health disparities. Our premise in this commentary is that Intersectionality can serve as a productive analytical framework for examining tobacco-related disparities across and within multiple marginalized populations. Intersectionality is a theoretical framework for understanding the multiple interlocking societal systems that bestow privilege and oppression and is increasingly being to the study of health inequities. We present a model and describe how tobacco-related disparities can be understood via critical elements of Intersectionality. We conclude that the application of Intersectionality to understanding tobacco-related disparities has potential to stimulate meaningful discussion and lead to new and innovative multilevel and cross-cutting interventions to eliminate tobacco-related disparities and foster culturally safe environment in which all people can thrive. Implications This commentary describes how Intersectionality can serve as a productive analytic framework for examining the development and maintenance of tobacco-related disparities across and within many marginalized groups.

Promoting School Connectedness Among Minority Youth Through Experience-Based Urban Farming

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Fifolt ◽  
Amy Ferguson Morgan ◽  
Zoe Ripple Burgess
Keyword(s):  
Role Models ◽  
School Connectedness ◽  
The United States ◽  
Positive Interactions ◽  
Urban Farming ◽  
Urban Centers ◽  
Underserved Students ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
School Activities ◽  
School Based

Background: The public education system in the United States faces significant challenges in understanding and addressing issues of student disengagement among high-poverty youth in urban centers. Academic and community leaders are encouraged to seek new and innovative strategies to engage students in meaningful learning experiences that promote positive affective relationships and involvement in school activities. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore student and parent experiences with Jones Valley Teaching Farm (JVTF), a Birmingham-based 501 (c)(3) nonprofit that sponsors evidence-based activities through school-based urban farming. Methodology/Approach: The research team used a descriptive case study method to conduct semistructured focus group interviews with 33 students and 25 parents. Findings/Conclusions: Findings revealed multiple ways in which school-based urban farms fostered school connectedness by promoting positive relationships, enhancing students’ social-emotional growth, and providing students with opportunities to engage in hands-on, experience-based learning. Implications: This study provides important lessons about the value of offering highly interactive and engaging activities to underserved students and families. Students benefited greatly from positive interactions with their peers as well as JVTF staff members who served as mentors and role models. Furthermore, experiences with JVTF encouraged students to become change agents in their own community.

Health Inequities in Aging Adults from a Public Health Perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
News Media ◽  
Informed Choice ◽  
Health Inequities ◽  
The United States ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Extreme Sports ◽  
Public Health Perspective ◽  
Political Processes

Inequities in the United States have gained renewed attention as a result of social movements such as Black Lives Matter (racism), Me Too (sexual abuse and gender), and immigrant rights. Yet despite the growing awareness of inequality across major social categories, there has been little or no public attention paid to the persistent inequities facing older adults. The news media in the 2020 presidential elections uncritically reported charges that one, or both, candidates were “too old” for the job or had some other liability tied primarily to their age. There is a whole field of “anti-aging” medicine that claims to slow the biological process of senescence (distinct from fighting specific diseases), even as the greatest challenges of growing older are rooted in social and political processes. This reflects the ageism in society that results in undervaluing older adults’ lives and often marginalizes them. In addition, there are serious inequities within the older population based on class, race, gender, and citizenship status. Health inequities involve conditions that are avoidable, are not the result of informed choice (e.g., injuries among extreme sports participants), and which differ by membership in groups that hold different levels of power and resources. As such, inequities also include an element of “unfairness” such that the disadvantage is in groups with less power and resources than others.

LGBTQ Student Victimization and Its Relationship to School Discipline and Justice System Involvement

2017 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neal A. Palmer ◽  
Emily A. Greytak
Keyword(s):  
High School Students ◽  
Justice System ◽  
School Discipline ◽  
The United States ◽  
School Staff ◽  
School Students ◽  
Lgbtq Youth ◽  
System Involvement ◽  
School Based ◽  
Lgbtq Students

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) students experience higher rates of school-based victimization than their peers, and this victimization contributes to higher risk of suicide, substance misuse, mental disorder, and unsafe sexual experiences. In addition, these experiences may increase LGBTQ students’ interactions with school authorities and, subsequently, increase their risk of school discipline and involvement in the justice system. Using a sample of 8,215 LGBTQ middle and high school students in the United States surveyed online in 2015, this article explores the relationships between peer victimization and higher school disciplinary and justice system involvement among LGBTQ youth. Results indicate that LGBTQ youth who are victimized at school experience greater school discipline, including disciplinary referrals to school administration, school detention, suspension, and expulsion; and greater involvement in the justice system as a result of school discipline, including arrest, adjudication, and detention in a juvenile or adult facility. Moreover, school staff responses to victimization partially explain this relationship: Students reporting that staff responded to victimization in a discriminatory or unhelpful fashion experienced higher rates of school discipline and justice system involvement than those reporting that staff responded more effectively. Schools must confront pervasive anti-LGBTQ victimization and ineffective or biased responses from school staff to reduce unnecessary disciplinary involvement.

scholarly journals Coronavirus Health Inequities in the United States Highlight Need for Continued Community Development Efforts*

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-233
Author(s):  
Heather A. Walter-McCabe
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Health Disparities ◽  
Community Development ◽  
Health Inequities ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
Development Models ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Health Justice

The coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic of 2020 has shown a spotlight on inequity in the USA. Although these inequities have long existed, the coronavirus and its disparate impact on health in different communities have raised the visibility of these deeply ingrained inequities to a level that has created a new awareness across the US population and an opportunity to use this heightened awareness of the existing conditions for change. ‘Community and social development’ efforts in the post-pandemic USA can be informed by a health justice framework, across economic, societal and cultural, environmental and social dimensions. Dimensions which have all been implicated in the coronavirus response and complement other social and community development models. Although health disparities and inequities did not begin with coronavirus and will not end in the post-pandemic USA, social and community development efforts which value health justice and concentrate on social determinants of health can provide needed policies and programmes for a more equitable US health system.

Reading, Writing, Responding: Educators’ Perceptions of Safety, Preparedness, and Lockdown Drills

2021 ◽  
pp. 089590482110156
Author(s):  
Jaclyn Schildkraut ◽  
Amanda B. Nickerson ◽  
Kirsten R. Klingaman
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Preparedness ◽  
School Safety ◽  
Urban School District ◽  
Perceived Safety ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
School Based ◽  
Student Safety ◽  
The Impact ◽  
And Training ◽  
Made In

Lockdown drills are routinely conducted in schools across the U.S., yet little is known about the impact of such practices on participants—particularly for the faculty, staff, and administrators charged with student safety. The present study considers the effects of lockdown drills and associated emergency response training on perceived safety and preparedness at school for a sample of 3,000 school-based personnel in a large urban school district. After participating in drills and training, significant gains were made in perceived emergency preparedness, particularly among faculty and staff members, while perceived school safety—which already was particularly high—remained unaffected compared to ratings at baseline. Additionally, significant differences were found based upon respondent demographics, highlighting the importance in assessing subgroups’ needs during planning and implementation. Implications for school administration and relevant policymakers related to lockdown drills and training are considered within the context of creating a culture of preparedness.

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