Integrated Community Collaborative Care for Seniors with Depression/Anxiety and any Physical Illness

Background We report on the feasibility and effectiveness of an integrated community collaborative care model in improving the health of seniors with depression/anxiety symptoms and chronic physical illness. Methods This community collaborative care model integrates geriatric medicine and geriatric psychiatry with care managers (CM) providing holistic initial and follow-up assessments, who use standardized rating scales to monitor treatment and provide psychotherapy (ENGAGE). The CM presents cases in a structured case review to a geriatrician and geriatric psychia­trist. Recommendations are communicated by the CM to the patient’s primary care provider. Results 187 patients were evaluated. The average age was 80 years old. Two-thirds were experiencing moderate-to-severe depres­sion upon entry and this proportion decreased significantly to one-third at completion. Qualitative interviews with patients, family caregivers, team members, and referring physicians indicated that the program was well-received. Patients had on average six visits with the CM without the need to have a face-to-face meeting with a specialist. Conclusion The evaluation shows that the program is feasible and effect­ive as it was well received by patients and patient outcomes improved. Implementation in fee-for-service publicly funded health-care environments may be limited by the need for dedicated funding.

COVID-19 Stay-at-home Orders Result in a Decrease in the Number of Missing Daily Precipitation Observations

The number of missing daily climate data observations reported by U.S. stations in the Global Historical Climate Network (GHCN) is assessed since mid-March 2020 when most states implemented lock-down requirements in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Compared to the same period March15-April 30 in previous years, an interesting pattern of missing data emerges. For stations in the citizen-science Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) the percentage of missing data declined by approximately 5%, with the largest declines typically in states most affected by the pandemic. Conversely, at NWS Observer Network stations, missing data observations did not show a systematic increase or decrease. Presumably the as a result of stay-at-home orders CoCoRaHS observers were away from home less frequently and thus were able to maintain a series of uninterrupted observations. At CoCoRaHs stations, a reduction in the number of missing weekend observations was noted during the stay-at-home period.

Translation in the Twenty-First Century: Who Needs Scripture?

Addressing the question “Who needs Scripture?” begins with a reevaluation of assumptions about the function of Bible translation. The differing interactions of several generations with mother-tongue Scriptures and the reality of multilingualism mandate a reconsideration of translation needs, assessment, strategies, products, and media in response to the context, realities, and needs of each language community. Collaborative mechanisms are required to provide appropriate responses to the new assumptions. Participation in the missio Dei compels us in faith to acknowledge new realities and seek God’s guidance toward more effective contributions in Bible translation in the twenty-first century.

Sexual Health Services in Schools: A Successful Community Collaborative

School-based health centers (SBHCs) are an essential part of a comprehensive approach to address the health needs of youth. SBHCs that provide sexual health services (SHS) show promising results in improving reproductive health outcomes among youth. Despite the positive impact SBHCs can have, few school districts have SBHCs, and even fewer provide SHS. This article describes a successful 5-year project to provide SHS through SBHCs in a large county in the southeast United States. A community collaborative, including the schools, health department, community agencies and a local university, was created to address the project goals and objectives. Various steps were taken to plan for the SBHCs, including documenting community support for SHS offered through SBHCs, identifying school sites for SBHCs, and the process for offering pregnancy, STD (sexually transmitted disease), and HIV testing, treatment, and referrals. Protocols for clinic flow, testing, staffing, training, and student recruitment were developed. The staff at the SBHCs were successful in recruiting students to attend educational sessions and to receive testing and treatment. Student feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Lessons learned about the importance of the partnership’s collaboration, using recommended clinic protocol, ensuring clear communication with school staff, and employing youth friendly recruitment and clinic practices are shared.

Highlighting the potential of peer-led workshops in training early-career researchers for conducting research with Indigenous communities

For decades, Indigenous voices have called for more collaborative and inclusive research practices. Interest in community-collaborative research is consequently growing among university-based researchers in Canada. However, many researchers receive little formal training on how to collaboratively conduct research with Indigenous communities. This is particularly problematic for early-career researchers (ECRs) whose fieldwork often involves interacting with communities. To address this lack of training, two peer-led workshops for Canadian ECRs were organized in 2016 and 2017 with the following objectives: ( i) to cultivate awareness about Indigenous cultures, histories, and languages; ( ii) to promote sharing of Indigenous and non-Indigenous ways of knowing; and ( iii) to foster approaches and explore tools for conducting community-collaborative research. Here we present these peer-led Intercultural Indigenous Workshops and discuss workshop outcomes according to five themes: scope and interdisciplinarity, Indigenous representation, workshop environment, skillful moderation, and workshop outcomes. Although workshops cannot replace the invaluable experience gained through working directly with Indigenous communities, we show that peer-led workshops can be an effective way for ECRs to develop key skills for conducting meaningful collaborative research. Peer-led workshops are therefore an important but insufficient step toward more inclusive research paradigms in Canada.