Appalachian adolescents in an Out-of-School-Time program: Examining the role of social support from family and friends for coping skills and intellectual risk-taking outcomes

Research on young adults has emphasized the importance of social support for generating positive physical, mental, and academic outcomes. This study aims to understand the impact of social support from family and friends on coping skills and intellectual risk-taking among high school seniors participating in an Out-of-School-Time (OST) program in Appalachia. Data from the program’s annual evaluation (2014-2018) was analyzed to measure associations between perceived social support from family and friends and students’ coping skills and intellectual risk-taking. Moreover, potential differences in these associations across genders were considered. Analyses found a significant association between family-based social support and coping skills, while friend-based social support was not significantly associated with coping skills. Being female, minority, or first-generation also had positive significant associations with coping skills. In addition, results showed an independent significant association between family and friends’ social support and intellectual risk-taking. The analysis did not find support for a moderating effect of gender. Interestingly, students with a first-generation status displayed significantly greater intellectual risk-taking relative to their non-first-generation peers. Coping skills and intellectual risk-taking are important skills for high school students who are interested in attending college/university. Understanding trends and associations for coping skills and intellectual risk-taking can provide new program activities as well as policies for OST programs. In addition, information can be shared with local communities of the program to implement social support interventions as well as other collegiate programs to increase college persistence and success

The Health Sciences and Technology Academy: Re-Imagining Programmatic Delivery During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Out-of-school time academic/STEM programs provide educational enrichment to a myriad of student populations with some designed to assist those underrepresented and at-risk who desire to purse post-secondary studies. One such program in West Virginia (WV) is the Health Sciences and Technology Academy (HSTA), which provides hands-on, in person and engaging educational enrichment with the intent to increase the college going rates of Appalachia’s most vulnerable youth. In March 2020, HSTA key personnel encountered the task of redesigning program delivery due to the immediate shutdown of all in person operations resulting from the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-19 (COVID-19) pandemic. This paper discusses the programmatic changes of program delivery during HSTA’s key program components—the Summer Institute and the Community Based Programming. This paper also utilizes repeated measures one-way multivariate analysis (MANOVA) and paired t-test analysis to examine participants’ perspectives on learning, enjoyment and satisfaction of the aforementioned components prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Diabetes Knowledge, Behaviors, and Perceptions of Risk in Rural West Virginia Counties

Introduction: A little less than half of American adults have diabetes or pre-diabetes. In 2016, West Virginia (WV) had the highest percentage (15.2%) of adults with diagnosed diabetes in the U.S. Purpose: In partnership with the Health Sciences and Technology Academy (HSTA), a cross-sectional study was preformed to assess knowledge, behaviors, and perceptions of diabetes risk. Methods: Data was collected by trained HSTA students and teachers who lived in rural counties in WV. Information was assessed using validated surveys, and HbA1c was obtained by utilizing professional point-of-care (Bayer) kits. Results: Mean age and Body Mass Index (BMI) was 36.11±17.86 years and 27.80±6.09 kg/m2, respectively. More than half of the participants had a family history of diabetes (58.8%) and hypertension (60.2%), and a majority had elevated BMI (65.9%). However, only 29.2% rated their future risk for diabetes as moderate to high. Eighty percent (80%) had an inadequate amount of weekly exercise, and 36% had lower quality of diet. Overall, dietary quality and diabetes knowledge was associated with a low to moderate diabetes risk score; risk score positively correlated with higher HbA1c (r=0.439, P\u3c.001). Participants’ HbA1c, perceived future risk of diabetes and family history of diabetes emerged as significant predictors of diabetes risk in the regression model, controlling for health behavior and diabetes knowledge. Implications: HbA1c, perceived future risk of diabetes and family history of diabetes may be the best predictors of developing diabetes in the future and, therefore, are important to assess during community screening. Perception of diabetes risk is lower than actual diabetes risk in WV

High School Students’ Learning During the COVID Pandemic: Perspectives from Health Sciences and Technology Academy Participants

This paper examines the perspectives of Health Sciences and Technology Academy (HSTA) participants as they navigate through their West Virginia (WV) high school learning environments (i.e., in-person, blended/hybrid, complete virtual) during the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-19 (COVID-19) pandemic. In March of 2020, the participants in this out-of-school-time (OST) academic enrichment program for exceptionally driven, yet underprivileged, at-risk students, with over 70% living in rural areas, started receiving remote learning instruction through learning management systems or via paper packets. In August of 2020, school systems provided parents and caregivers alternative learning environments for their student(s). In order to understand the learning experiences of HSTA students during these unprecedented times, HSTA released the 2020 Learning Outcomes Survey to participants in December of 2020. We performed chi-square test of independence to test the relationship between participants’ learning environments, their satisfaction with the education they were receiving, their ability to keep up with their school-work, teacher availability to help when needed and teacher feedback supporting them in their learning environment. The results show significant differences between the learning environments and keeping up with school-work as well as teacher feedback supporting them in their learning; however, Phi and Cramer’s V tests for effect size show weak correlations. This study provides a small glimpse into HSTA students’ learning experiences as they attempted to continue to learn in their regular school environment during the COVID-19 pandemic while in HSTA

The Health Sciences and Technology Academy (HSTA): Providing 26 Years of Academic and Social Support to Appalachian Youth in West Virginia

The Health Sciences and Technology Academy’s, (HSTA) goals are to increase college attendance of African American, financially disadvantaged, first generation college and rural Appalachian youth and increase health-care providers and STEM professionals in underserved communities. Students enter in the 9th grade and remain in HSTA four years. They engage in a rigorous academic program within the nurturing environment of small after-school clubs punctuated by yearly summer camps on multiple college campuses. A distinctive piece of HSTA is its students’ development of research projects under the mentorship of teachers and researchers that examine and address health issues faced by their communities. The projects help HSTA students to understand the health dynamics in their local community, transforming them into community advocates who address health and social issues at home as they prepare to move on to college and beyond. Substantial in-state tuition waivers inspire 99% of the 3,021 HSTA graduates to attend college versus 56% of WV high school graduates. Approximately 85% of matriculating HSTA students graduate with a four-year degree or higher versus less than 50% of all college entrants. To date, 57% of HSTA students go into health and other STEM majors, much higher than the state and national figures

SNAPSHOT USA 2019 : a coordinated national camera trap survey of the United States

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.With the accelerating pace of global change, it is imperative that we obtain rapid inventories of the status and distribution of wildlife for ecological inferences and conservation planning. To address this challenge, we launched the SNAPSHOT USA project, a collaborative survey of terrestrial wildlife populations using camera traps across the United States. For our first annual survey, we compiled data across all 50 states during a 14-week period (17 August - 24 November of 2019). We sampled wildlife at 1509 camera trap sites from 110 camera trap arrays covering 12 different ecoregions across four development zones. This effort resulted in 166,036 unique detections of 83 species of mammals and 17 species of birds. All images were processed through the Smithsonian's eMammal camera trap data repository and included an expert review phase to ensure taxonomic accuracy of data, resulting in each picture being reviewed at least twice. The results represent a timely and standardized camera trap survey of the USA. All of the 2019 survey data are made available herein. We are currently repeating surveys in fall 2020, opening up the opportunity to other institutions and cooperators to expand coverage of all the urban-wild gradients and ecophysiographic regions of the country. Future data will be available as the database is updated at eMammal.si.edu/snapshot-usa, as well as future data paper submissions. These data will be useful for local and macroecological research including the examination of community assembly, effects of environmental and anthropogenic landscape variables, effects of fragmentation and extinction debt dynamics, as well as species-specific population dynamics and conservation action plans. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite this paper when using the data for publication.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Mammal responses to global changes in human activity vary by trophic group and landscape

Wildlife must adapt to human presence to survive in the Anthropocene, so it is critical to understand species responses to humans in different contexts. We used camera trapping as a lens to view mammal responses to changes in human activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Across 163 species sampled in 102 projects around the world, changes in the amount and timing of animal activity varied widely. Under higher human activity, mammals were less active in undeveloped areas but unexpectedly more active in developed areas while exhibiting greater nocturnality. Carnivores were most sensitive, showing the strongest decreases in activity and greatest increases in nocturnality. Wildlife managers must consider how habituation and uneven sensitivity across species may cause fundamental differences in human–wildlife interactions along gradients of human influence.Peer reviewe

A review of zoonotic infection risks associated with the wild meat trade in Malaysia.

The overhunting of wildlife for food and commercial gain presents a major threat to biodiversity in tropical forests and poses health risks to humans from contact with wild animals. Using a recent survey of wildlife offered at wild meat markets in Malaysia as a basis, we review the literature to determine the potential zoonotic infection risks from hunting, butchering and consuming the species offered. We also determine which taxa potentially host the highest number of pathogens and discuss the significant disease risks from traded wildlife, considering how cultural practices influence zoonotic transmission. We identify 51 zoonotic pathogens (16 viruses, 19 bacteria and 16 parasites) potentially hosted by wildlife and describe the human health risks. The Suidae and the Cervidae families potentially host the highest number of pathogens. We conclude that there are substantial gaps in our knowledge of zoonotic pathogens and recommend performing microbial food safety risk assessments to assess the hazards of wild meat consumption. Overall, there may be considerable zoonotic risks to people involved in the hunting, butchering or consumption of wild meat in Southeast Asia, and these should be considered in public health strategies