scholarly journals Defining and Measuring Sustainability in the Food & Fitness Initiative

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 78S-91S ◽  
Author(s):  
Martha Quinn ◽  
Theresa Kowalski-Dobson ◽  
Laurie Lachance
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Organizational Structures ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Community Ownership ◽  
Core Function ◽  
Key Informant ◽  
Community Residents ◽  
Project Sustainability ◽  
Over Time

Several frameworks for defining and measuring sustainability in public health have been documented in the literature. For the Food & Fitness Initiative, sustainability was a central aim at the outset and was defined broadly throughout the project. Sustainability included not only funding and resources necessary to support organizational structures but was a core function of how these partnerships were able to focus their work, build capacity, forge lasting relationships, execute the work, and produce systems and policy changes that would endure over time. In this article, we present findings from an online survey assessing partners’ views on 10 distinct dimensions of sustainability and several key themes from a set of key informant interviews with partnership leaders. Of the 10 dimensions, participants reported having the most success in creating (1) community ownership, where initiatives are led by and reflect the needs of community residents; (2) a vision that is shared across partners and developed collaboratively; and (3) leadership that includes a diverse team of skilled, credible people. A key learning in this project was that sustainability needs to be intentional and clearly defined and that evaluations should include multiple and ongoing methods to capture several dimensions of sustainability.

scholarly journals Trust in science and experts during the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pietro Battiston ◽  
Ridhi Kashyap ◽  
Valentina Rotondi
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
High Impact ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Trust In Institutions ◽  
Containment Measures ◽  
Over Time

Trust in science and experts is extremely important in times of epidemics to ensure compliance with public health measures. Yet little is known about how this trust evolves while an epidemic is underway. In this paper, we examine the dynamics of trust in science and experts in real-time as the high-impact epidemic of Coronavirus (COVID-19) unfolds in Italy, by drawing on digital trace data from Twitter and survey data collected online via Telegram and Facebook. Both Twitter and Telegram data point to initial increases in reliance on and information-seeking from scientists and health authorities with the diffusion of the disease. Consistent with these increases, using a separately fielded online survey we find that knowledge about health information linked to COVID-19 and support for containment measures was fairly widespread. Trust in science, relative to trust in institutions (e.g. local or national government), emerges as a consistent predictor of both knowledge and containment outcomes. However, over time and as the epidemic peaks, we detect a slowdown and turnaround in reliance and information-seeking from scientists and health authorities, which we interpret as signs of an erosion in trust. This is supported by a novel survey experiment, which finds that those holding incorrect beliefs about COVID-19 give no or lower importance to information about the virus when the source of such information is known to be scientific.

scholarly journals Trust in science and experts during the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pietro Battiston ◽  
Ridhi Kashyap ◽  
Valentina Rotondi
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
High Impact ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Trust In Institutions ◽  
Containment Measures ◽  
Over Time

Trust in science and experts is extremely important in times of epidemics to ensure compliance with public health measures. Yet little is known about how this trust evolves while an epidemic is underway. In this paper, we examine the dynamics of trust in science and experts in real-time as the high-impact epidemic of Coronavirus (COVID-19) unfolds in Italy, by drawing on digital trace data from Twitter and survey data collected online via Telegram and Facebook. Both Twitter and Telegram data point to initial increases in reliance on and information-seeking from scientists and health authorities with the diffusion of the disease. Consistent with these increases, using a separately fielded online survey we find that knowledge about health information linked to COVID-19 and support for containment measures was fairly widespread. Trust in science, relative to trust in institutions (e.g. local or national government), emerges as a consistent predictor of both knowledge and containment outcomes. However, over time and as the epidemic peaks, we detect a slowdown and turnaround in reliance and information-seeking from scientists and health authorities, which we interpret as signs of an erosion in trust. This is supported by a novel survey experiment, which finds that those holding incorrect beliefs about COVID-19 give no or lower importance to information about the virus when the source of such information is known to be scientific.

Faith-Based Health Education Project

2003 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 208-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgia N. L. Johnston
Keyword(s):  
Faith Communities ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Community Ownership ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
Program Success ◽  
Project Sustainability ◽  
Critical Components ◽  
Pastoral Support ◽  
Volunteer Commitment

Working with faith communities in health promotion is widely acclaimed and yet not readily practiced. This article describes a study conducted among four faith communities to determine the process required for sustainable faith-based programs. Face-to-face interviews were conducted among 12 community volunteers who participated to identify their perceptions of the project. Two staff members were also interviewed to identify the process from their perspectives. Project-related documents were also analyzed to provide details and triangulate the data from the interviews. The study followed the project for 2 ½ years. Several factors were identified as significant influences on participation and project sustainability. These included value, active pastoral support, program success, and volunteer commitment. The results of this study indicate that pastoral support and faith community ownership are critical components that should be included in faith-based community building efforts.

scholarly journals Predictors of historical change in drug treatment coverage among people who inject drugs in 90 large metropolitan areas in the USA, 1993–2007

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Tempalski ◽  
Leslie D. Williams ◽  
Brooke S. West ◽  
Hannah L. F. Cooper ◽  
Stephanie Beane ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Drug Treatment ◽  
Resource Availability ◽  
People Who Inject Drugs ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Poverty Rate ◽  
Community Action ◽  
Historical Change ◽  
Treatment Coverage ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Background Adequate access to effective treatment and medication assisted therapies for opioid dependence has led to improved antiretroviral therapy adherence and decreases in morbidity among people who inject drugs (PWID), and can also address a broad range of social and public health problems. However, even with the success of syringe service programs and opioid substitution programs in European countries (and others) the US remains historically low in terms of coverage and access with regard to these programs. This manuscript investigates predictors of historical change in drug treatment coverage for PWID in 90 US metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) during 1993–2007, a period in which, overall coverage did not change. Methods Drug treatment coverage was measured as the number of PWID in drug treatment, as calculated by treatment entry and census data, divided by numbers of PWID in each MSA. Variables suggested by the Theory of Community Action (i.e., need, resource availability, institutional opposition, organized support, and service symbiosis) were analyzed using mixed-effects multivariate models within dependent variables lagged in time to study predictors of later change in coverage. Results Mean coverage was low in 1993 (6.7%; SD 3.7), and did not increase by 2007 (6.4%; SD 4.5). Multivariate results indicate that increases in baseline unemployment rate (β = 0.312; pseudo-p < 0.0002) predict significantly higher treatment coverage; baseline poverty rate (β = − 0.486; pseudo-p < 0.0001), and baseline size of public health and social work workforce (β = 0.425; pseudo-p < 0.0001) were predictors of later mean coverage levels, and baseline HIV prevalence among PWID predicted variation in treatment coverage trajectories over time (baseline HIV * Time: β = 0.039; pseudo-p < 0.001). Finally, increases in black/white poverty disparity from baseline predicted significantly higher treatment coverage in MSAs (β = 1.269; pseudo-p < 0.0001). Conclusions While harm reduction programs have historically been contested and difficult to implement in many US communities, and despite efforts to increase treatment coverage for PWID, coverage has not increased. Contrary to our hypothesis, epidemiologic need, seems not to be associated with change in treatment coverage over time. Resource availability and institutional opposition are important predictors of change over time in coverage. These findings suggest that new ways have to be found to increase drug treatment coverage in spite of economic changes and belt-tightening policy changes that will make this difficult.

scholarly journals The case for tracking misinformation the way we track disease

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 205395172110138
Author(s):  
Erika Bonnevie ◽  
Jennifer Sittig ◽  
Joe Smyser
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Supervised Machine Learning ◽  
Disease Spread ◽  
The Public ◽  
Monitoring Tools ◽  
Core Function ◽  
Public Health Organizations ◽  
Front Line Workers ◽  
Media Data

While public health organizations can detect disease spread, few can monitor and respond to real-time misinformation. Misinformation risks the public’s health, the credibility of institutions, and the safety of experts and front-line workers. Big Data, and specifically publicly available media data, can play a significant role in understanding and responding to misinformation. The Public Good Projects uses supervised machine learning to aggregate and code millions of conversations relating to vaccines and the COVID-19 pandemic broadly, in real-time. Public health researchers supervise this process daily, and provide insights to practitioners across a range of disciplines. Through this work, we have gleaned three lessons to address misinformation. (1) Sources of vaccine misinformation are known; there is a need to operationalize learnings and engage the pro-vaccination majority in debunking vaccine-related misinformation. (2) Existing systems can identify and track threats against health experts and institutions, which have been subject to unprecedented harassment. This supports their safety and helps prevent the further erosion of trust in public institutions. (3) Responses to misinformation should draw from cross-sector crisis management best practices and address coordination gaps. Real-time monitoring and addressing misinformation should be a core function of public health, and public health should be a core use case for data scientists developing monitoring tools. The tools to accomplish these tasks are available; it remains up to us to prioritize them.

scholarly journals Are public health measures and individualised care compatible in the face of a pandemic? A national observational study of bereaved relatives’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
pp. 026921632110198
Author(s):  
Catriona R Mayland ◽  
Rosemary Hughes ◽  
Steven Lane ◽  
Tamsin McGlinchey ◽  
Warren Donnellan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Family Support ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Free Text ◽  
Professional Networks ◽  
Dying Patients ◽  
The Face ◽  
Individualised Care ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Informative Communication

Background: COVID-19 public health restrictions have affected end-of-life care experiences for dying patients and their families. Aim: To explore bereaved relatives’ experiences of quality of care and family support provided during the last days of life; to identify the impact of factors associated with perceived support. Design: A national, observational, open online survey was developed and disseminated via social media, public fora and professional networks (June–September 2020). Validated instruments and purposively designed questions assessed experiences. Analysis used descriptive statistics, logistic regression and thematic analysis of free-text responses. Participants: Individuals (⩾18 years) who had experienced the death of a relative/friend (all care settings) within the United Kingdome during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: Respondents ( n = 278, mean 53.4 years) tended to be female ( n = 216, 78%); over half were ‘son/daughter’ (174, 62.6%) to the deceased. Deceased individuals (mean 81.6 years) most frequently died in their ‘usual place of care’ ( n = 192, 69.3%). Analysis established five conceptual themes affecting individualised care: (1) public health restrictions compounding the distress of ‘not knowing’; (2) disparate views about support from doctors and nurses; (3) challenges in communication and level of preparedness for the death; (4) delivery of compassionate care; (5) emotional needs and potential impact on grief. Male respondents (OR 2.9, p = 0.03) and those able to visit (OR 2.2, p = 0.04) were independently associated with good perceptions of family support. Conclusion: Despite public health restrictions, individualised care can be enabled by proactive, informative communication; recognising dying in a timely manner and facilitating the ability to be present before death.

scholarly journals Precautionary Behavior Practices and Psychological Characteristics of COVID-19 Patients and Quarantined Persons

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 6070
Author(s):  
Yubin Lee ◽  
Byung-Woo Kim ◽  
Shin-Woo Kim ◽  
Hyunjin Son ◽  
Boyoung Park ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Emergency Preparedness ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Psychological Characteristics ◽  
Social Solidarity ◽  
Psychological States ◽  
Precautionary Behavior ◽  
Public Health Emergency Preparedness

Background: since the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was first reported in 2019, South Korea has enforced isolation of patients with confirmed cases of COVID-19, as well as quarantine for close contacts of individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 and persons traveling from abroad, in order to contain its spread. Precautionary behavior practices and psychological characteristics of confirmed and quarantined persons were investigated for planning pandemic recovery and preparedness. Methods: this study was conducted with 1716 confirmed patients and quarantined persons in Daegu and Busan, regions where a high number of cases were confirmed during the early stage of the COVID-19 outbreak in South Korea. We collected online survey data from 23 April to 20 May 2020, in Daegu, and 28 April to 27 May 2020, in Busan, in cooperation with Daegu and Busan Infectious Disease Control Centers and public health centers in the regions. COVID-19 symptoms, pre-cautionary behavior practices, psychological states, and the need for improvement in isolation/quarantine environments were examined using an online survey. Results: compared to patients infected with coronavirus, quarantined persons engaged in more hygiene-related behaviors (e.g., hand washing, cough etiquette, and proper mask-wearing) and social distancing. COVID-19 patients had a strong fear of stigma, while quarantined persons had a strong fear of contracting COVID-19. Study participants responded that it was necessary to provide financial support and adequate information during isolation/quarantine. Conclusions: the study highlights the importance of precautionary behavior to prevent COVID-19 infection and the need to provide support (both psychological and financial) to patients and quarantined persons, to reinforce effective communication, social solidarity, and public health emergency preparedness (PHEP) in a pandemic situation.

scholarly journals Increasing Voluntary Public Health Reporting to the NHSN Antimicrobial Use Option

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. s296-s297
Author(s):  
Heather Dubendris ◽  
Amy Webb ◽  
Melinda Neuhauser ◽  
Arjun Srinivasan ◽  
Wendy Wise ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Antimicrobial Stewardship ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Antimicrobial Use ◽  
Health Departments ◽  
Public Health Reporting ◽  
Use Stage ◽  
Education And Development ◽  
Health Registry ◽  
Over Time

Background: The CDC NHSN launched the Antimicrobial Use Option in 2011. The Antimicrobial Use Option allows users to implement risk-adjusted antimicrobial use benchmarking within- and between- facilities using the standardized antimicrobial administration ratio (SAAR) and to evaluate use over time. The SAAR can be used for public health surveillance and to guide an organization’s stewardship or quality improvement efforts. Methods: Antimicrobial Use Option enrollment grew through partner engagement, targeted education, and development of data benchmarking. We analyze enrollment over time and discuss key drivers of participation. Results: Initial 2011 Antimicrobial Use Option enrollment efforts awarded grant Funding: to 4 health departments. These health departments partnered with hospitals, which encouraged vendors to build infrastructure for electronic antimicrobial use reporting. CDC supported vendors through outreach and education. In 2012, with CDC support, Veterans’ Affairs (VA) Informatics, Decision-Enhancement, and Analytic Sciences Center and partners began implementation of Antimicrobial Use Option reporting and validation of submitted data. These early efforts led to enrollment of 64 facilities by 2014 (Fig. 1). As awareness of the antimicrobial use option grew, we focused on facility engagement and development of benchmark metrics. A second round of grant Funding: in 2015 supported submission to the Antimicrobial Use Option from additional facilities by Funding: a vendor, a healthcare system, and an antimicrobial stewardship network. In 2015, CMS recognized the Antimicrobial Use Option as a choice for public health registry reporting under Meaningful Use Stage 3, resulting in an increase in participating hospitals. Antimicrobial Use Option enrollment increased in 2015 (n = 120), coinciding with national prioritization of antimicrobial stewardship. In 2016, the SAAR, was released in NHSN. We leveraged the SAAR to encourage participation from additional facilities and began quarterly calls to encourage continued participation from existing users. In 2016, the Department of Defense began submitting data to the Antimicrobial Use Option, resulting in 207 facilities enrolled in 2016, which grew to 616 in 2017. As of November 2019, 12 vendors self-report submission capabilities and 1,470 facilities, of ~6,800 active NHSN participants, are enrolled in the Antimicrobial Use Option. Two states have passed requirements regulating Antimicrobial Use Option reporting with Tennessee’s requirement going into effect in 2021. Conclusions: The Antimicrobial Use Option offers evidence that collaboration with partners, and leveraging of benchmarking metrics available to a national surveillance system can lead to increased voluntary participation in surveillance of high-priority public health data. Moving forward, we will continue expanding analytic capabilities and partner engagement.Funding: NoneDisclosures: None

The Use of Twitter as an Interactive Learning Tool Within a Postgraduate Public Health Course: A Pilot Study

2020 ◽  
pp. 237337992097842
Author(s):  
Rimante Ronto ◽  
Alexandra Bhatti ◽  
Josephine Chau
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Learning Tool ◽  
Interactive Approach ◽  
Master Of Public Health ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
The Impact

Twitter has gained attention in recent years as a tool to use in higher education to enhance students’ learning, engagement, and reflective writing. This study explored public health students’ perceptions on the usefulness of Twitter as a learning tool, engagement with their peers, staff, and the broader public health community. Participants were Master of Public Health students from a public university based in Sydney, Australia. A mixed methods approach was used combining content analysis of tweets, an online survey and two focus groups. Students were asked to engage with Twitter by reflecting on each week’s teaching content and by liking and replying to their peers’ tweets. Participation and engagement in this task were high initially and declined toward the end of semester. Most student tweets aligned with topics taught during the semester. Survey and focus group data indicated most students had positive views on using Twitter and reported finding engagement with Twitter beneficial in obtaining current information on health promotion news and trends, increasing their professional networks and allowing them to connect with their peers and teaching staff. Results indicate Twitter is a promising interactive approach to enhance public health students’ engagement and overall learning experience, as well as being useful for professional networking. Larger scale empirical studies are needed to investigate the impact of the use of social media platforms such as Twitter to various learning outcomes longitudinally and beyond this course.

scholarly journals Delivery of the National Child Measurement Programme in England

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Martin Čadek ◽  
Stuart W. Flint ◽  
Ralph Tench
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
The Other ◽  
Service Availability ◽  
Healthy Weight ◽  
Weight Category ◽  
Convenience Sampling

Abstract Objective: The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) is a mandatory initiative delivered in England to children in reception and year 6. To date, no research has explored the methods used to deliver the NCMP by Local Government Authorities (LGA) across England. Design: An online survey was administered between February 2018 and May 2018 to explore the delivery of the NCMP across the 152 LGAs in England and disseminated using non-probability convenience sampling. Setting: LGAs received an anonymous link to the survey. Participants: A total of 92 LGAs participated in the survey. Results: Most LGAs who responded provide result feedback (86%), a proactive follow-up (71%) and referrals to services (80%). Additionally, 65% of the authorities tailor Public Health England specimen result letters to suit their needs, and 84% provide attachments alongside. Out of 71% of LGAs who provide proactive follow-up, 19 (29%) provide the proactive follow-up only to upper weight categories, and only 4 (6 %) include Healthy Weight category with other categories in proactive follow-up. Regarding the service availability for children, out of 80% of LGAs who indicated that services are available, 32 (43%) targeted solely upper weight categories while the other 42 (57%) offered services across all weight categories. Finally, most LGAs (88%) commission providers to manage various parts of the NCMP. Conclusions: The results show that LGAs in England localise the NCMP. Further guidance regarding standards of best practice would help LGAs to find the most suitable localisation out of various options that exist across other LGAs.

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