scholarly journals Aggression, Escalation, and Other Latent Themes in Legal Intervention Deaths of Non-Hispanic Black and White Men: Results From the 2003‒2017 National Violent Death Reporting System

2021 ◽  
pp. e1-e9
Author(s):  
Alina Arseniev-Koehler ◽  
Jacob Gates Foster ◽  
Vickie M. Mays ◽  
Kai-Wei Chang ◽  
Susan D. Cochran
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Ethnic Differences ◽  
Topic Modeling ◽  
Reporting System ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Violent Death ◽  
Legal Intervention ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Public Health Workers ◽  
Racial Ethnic

Objectives. To investigate racial/ethnic differences in legal intervention‒related deaths using state-of-the-art topic modeling of law enforcement and coroner text summaries drawn from the 2003–2017 US National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). Methods. Employing advanced topic modeling, we identified 8 topics consistent with dangerousness in death incidents in the NVDRS death narratives written by public health workers (PHWs). Using logistic regression, we then evaluated racial/ethnic differences in PHW-coded variables and narrative topics among 4981 males killed by legal intervention, while adjusting for age, county-level characteristics, and year. Results. Black, as compared with White, decedents were younger and their deaths were less likely to include PHW-coded mental health or substance use histories, weapon use, or positive toxicology for alcohol or psychoactive drugs, but more likely to include “gangs-as-an-incident-precipitant” coding. Topic modeling revealed less frequent thematic representation of “physical aggression” or “escalation” but more of “gangs or criminal networks” among Black versus White decedents. Conclusions. While Black males were more likely to be victims of legal intervention deaths, PHW-coded variables in the NVDRS and death narratives suggest lower threat profiles among Black versus similar White decedents. The source of this greater risk remains undetermined. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print May 13, 2021: e1–e9. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306312 )

scholarly journals Working conditions and health status of 6,317 front line public health workers across five provinces in China during the COVID-19 epidemic: a cross-sectional study

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinghua Li ◽  
Jingdong Xu ◽  
Huan Zhou ◽  
Hua You ◽  
Xiaohui Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Status ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Front Line ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Self Rated Health ◽  
Public Health Workers

ABSTRACT Background Public health workers at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) and primary health care institutes (PHIs) were among the main workers who implemented prevention, control, and containment measures. However, their efforts and health status have not been well documented. We aimed to investigate the working conditions and health status of front line public health workers in China during the COVID-19 epidemic. Methods Between 18 February and 1 March 2020, we conducted an online cross-sectional survey of 2,313 CDC workers and 4,004 PHI workers in five provinces across China experiencing different scales of COVID-19 epidemic. We surveyed all participants about their work conditions, roles, burdens, perceptions, mental health, and self-rated health using a self-constructed questionnaire and standardised measurements (i.e., Patient Health Questionnaire and General Anxiety Disorder scale). To examine the independent associations between working conditions and health outcomes, we used multivariate regression models controlling for potential confounders. Results The prevalence of depression, anxiety, and poor self-rated health was 21.3, 19.0, and 9.8%, respectively, among public health workers (27.1, 20.6, and 15.0% among CDC workers and 17.5, 17.9, and 6.8% among PHI workers). The majority (71.6%) made immense efforts in both field and non-field work. Nearly 20.0% have worked all night for more than 3 days, and 45.3% had worked throughout the Chinese New Year holiday. Three risk factors and two protective factors were found to be independently associated with all three health outcomes in our final multivariate models: working all night for >3 days (multivariate odds ratio [ORm]=1.67~1.75, p<0.001), concerns about infection at work (ORm=1.46~1.89, p<0.001), perceived troubles at work (ORm=1.10~1.28, p<0.001), initiating COVID-19 prevention work after January 23 (ORm=0.78~0.82, p=0.002~0.008), and ability to persist for > 1 month at the current work intensity (ORm=0.44~0.55, p<0.001). Conclusions Chinese public health workers made immense efforts and personal sacrifices to control the COVID-19 epidemic and faced the risk of mental health problems. Efforts are needed to improve the working conditions and health status of public health workers and thus maintain their morale and effectiveness during the fight against COVID-19.

E‐learning cultural competence for public health workers: A feasibility and pilot study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duckhee Chae ◽  
Yunekyong Kim ◽  
Jeeheon Ryu ◽  
Keiko Asami ◽  
Jaseon Kim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Cultural Competence ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Public Health Workers

A Qualitative Study of the COVID-19 Response Experiences of Public Health Workers in the United States

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah E. Scales ◽  
Elizabeth Patrick ◽  
Kahler W. Stone ◽  
Kristina W. Kintziger ◽  
Meredith A. Jagger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Health Workers

Apathy and Ignorance: False Prophets of Autism and the Anti-Vaccine Movement

2020 ◽  
pp. 389-398
Author(s):  
Michael B. A. Oldstone
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Vaccination Rate ◽  
Personal Beliefs ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
False Reporting ◽  
The Face ◽  
Public Health Workers ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Brain

This chapter highlights the story of autism, the widespread acceptance of its incorrect cause, and the impact on use of vaccines, all stemming directly from deliberate, false reporting. The basic conflict is twofold. First, involvement of a scientific method that must be reproducible, be reliable, and possess substantial proof is in conflict with common/personal beliefs. Second, doctors, scientists, and public health workers, despite their mandate to listen to parents and patients concerning their opinions, must base medical conclusions on evidence that validates the outcome of each patient’s health issue. It is in this milieu that autism and the anti-vaccine groups still do battle. In 1998, Lancet, a usually respectable and reputable English journal, published Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s opinion that the measles, mumps, rubella (German measles) vaccine injected into the arms of children caused inflammation, leading to harmful chemicals entering the bloodstream through the gut (intestine). These factors, he said, traveled to the brain, where the harmful chemicals/toxins caused autism. In the face of this “fake news” about the source of autism and measles, the vaccination rate for measles dropped in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

scholarly journals Balancing geo-privacy and spatial patterns in epidemiological studies

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chien-Chou Chen ◽  
Jen-Hsiang Chuang ◽  
Da-Wei Wang ◽  
Chien-Min Wang ◽  
Bo-Cheng Lin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Information System ◽  
Geographic Information System ◽  
Spatial Patterns ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Epidemiological Studies ◽  
Processing Data ◽  
Public Health Workers ◽  
Dengue Epidemic

To balance the protection of geo-privacy and the accuracy of spatial patterns, we developed a geo-spatial tool (GeoMasker) intended to mask the residential locations of patients or cases in a geographic information system (GIS). To elucidate the effects of geo-masking parameters, we applied 2010 dengue epidemic data from Taiwan testing the tool’s performance in an empirical situation. The similarity of pre- and post-spatial patterns was measured by D statistics under a 95% confidence interval. In the empirical study, different magnitudes of anonymisation (estimated Kanonymity ≥10 and 100) were achieved and different degrees of agreement on the pre- and post-patterns were evaluated. The application is beneficial for public health workers and researchers when processing data with individuals’ spatial information.

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