Interventions to Support Teen Mothers in California and Reduce the Disparities related to the effects of Teen Pregnancy

The US teen birth rate has slowly been declining; however, teenage pregnancy is still prevalent. In 2018 the US teen birth rate was 17.4 births per 1,000 girls aged 15-19 years, totaling 179,871 births (National Vital Statistic Report). California’s most recent birth rate was 13.6 births per 1,000 girls aged 15-19 years in 2020 (CDC, 2020). Few studies focus on teen mothers’ health, life needs, and outcomes as a result of adolescent pregnancy and subsequently, adolescent parenting. Additionally, few studies have looked at the cultural differences and views of adolescent pregnancy and parenting within the Hispanic population, which are greatly impacted by the teen births. This paper includes a literature review of the scholarly published articles, national data, organizational webpages and other publicly available resources to identify existing resources and interventions related to adolescent parenting services and to identify effective evidence-based strategies that can inform practical interventions. The Socio-Ecological Model, a behavior change model which states that an individual influences and is influenced by the people, places, relationships, and experiences within their environment, and therefore, interventions need multi-level action planning to achieve substantial health behavior change, was applied to review existing interventions and resources identified at each level of the Model. Familial attitudes, financial and emotional support, and other social and structural assistance can affect the adolescent mother’s ability to improve their own life outcomes related to education, health, and self-efficacy. Recommendations at each level are provided with emphasis on individual feedback for informing quality services, relationship building and understanding cultural differences, community partnerships to improve efficiency of local services, and policies that include adolescents in creating improved sexual health education

Social Workers\u27 Perspectives on Chronic Pain and Mental Health

This study explored social workers’ perceived level of competency in addressing chronic pain and mental health. Chronic pain is a prevalent issue and individuals with chronic pain are more likely to experience a mental health concern (Dahlhamer et al., 2016; Gureje et al., 2008). The research design of this study was a quantitative cross-sectional survey distributed through social networks such as Facebook and Reddit. There were a total of 278 respondents, however, 79 were omitted due to not fully completing the survey leaving 199 respondents. The results indicate social workers have a moderate level of competency when working with this specialized population and years of experience, age, having a LCSW and personal experience with chronic pain were found to be associated with higher levels of perceived competency. Factors not found to be associated with perceived competency were gender, ethnicity, and religiosity. Recommendations include incorporating more chronic pain training into the social work degree curriculum, and further research such as on social workers in medical settings and samples with more diverse participants

Housing Subsidies: A Closer Look at the Issues

To improve poor household’s access to housing, the government has provided subsidies to lower production costs and make housing units more affordable to low-income groups. However, mechanisms should be implemented to ensure that the intended targets are the ones who receive it. This issue reviews the beneficiaries of subsidies, its transfer mechanisms and its budgetary implications. This hopes to eliminate the mismatch between what the government should provide and the estimated housing targets.housing finance, housing subsidy, subsidy

Social, Organizational, and Technological Factors Impacting Clinicians’ Adoption of Mobile Health Tools: A Systematic Literature Review

Background: There is a growing body of evidence highlighting the potential of mobile health (mHealth) in reducing health care costs, enhancing access, and improving the quality of patient care. However, user acceptance and adoption are key prerequisites to harness this potential; hence, a deeper understanding of the factors impacting this adoption is crucial for its success. Objective: The aim of this review was to systematically explore relevant published literature to synthesize the current understanding of the factors impacting clinicians’ adoption of mHealth tools, not only from a technological perspective but also from social and organizational perspectives. Methods: A structured search was carried out of MEDLINE, PubMed, the Cochrane Library, and the SAGE database for studies published between January 2008 and July 2018 in the English language, yielding 4993 results, of which 171 met the inclusion criteria. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis guidelines and the Cochrane handbook were followed to ensure a systematic process. Results: The technological factors impacting clinicians’ adoption of mHealth tools were categorized into eight key themes: usefulness, ease of use, design, compatibility, technical issues, content, personalization, and convenience, which were in turn divided into 14 subthemes altogether. Social and organizational factors were much more prevalent and were categorized into eight key themes: workflow related, patient related, policy and regulations, culture or attitude or social influence, monetary factors, evidence base, awareness, and user engagement. These were divided into 41 subthemes, highlighting the importance of considering these factors when addressing potential barriers to mHealth adoption and how to overcome them. Conclusions: The study results can help inform mHealth providers and policymakers regarding the key factors impacting mHealth adoption, guiding them into making educated decisions to foster this adoption and harness the potential benefits

Isolating The Key Variables For Regression Models In Enterprise Software Acquisition Decisions: A Blocking Technique

Often researchers in the field of information systems face problems related to the variable selection for model building; as well as difficulties associated to their data (small sample and/or non normality). The goal of this article is to present an original statistical blocking-technique based on relative variability for screening of variables in multivariate regression models. We applied the blocking-technique and a nonparametric bootstrapping method to the data collected on the USA-South border for a research concerning enterprise software (ES) acquisition contracts. Three mutually exclusive blocks of relative variability for the response variables were formed and their corresponding regression models were built and explained. A conclusion was drawn about the decreasing tendency on the adjusted coefficient of determination (R2adj) magnitudes when the blocks change from low (L) to high (H) condition of relative variability. The obtained models (via stepwise regression) exhibited significant p-values (0.0001)

“Living in Trauma 24/7”: A qualitative exploration of factors contributing to secondary traumatic stress and burnout among student services professionals working with marginalized student populations

Higher education professionals are at risk of secondary traumatic stress (STS) as a result of supporting students experiencing trauma, while overwhelming workload, inadequate resources, and unclear role responsibilities may lead to burnout. This study explored contributing factors to STS and burnout and coping efforts among faculty, students, and staff working in a capacity in which they provide non-instructional support to programs or centers focusing on marginalized student populations. Participants (N=56) represented twenty-two U.S. regional universities, and were a subset of respondents to a larger mixed-methods study (n=559). Qualitative responses to three open-ended questions on challenges and coping efforts were analyzed using the Sort and Sift, Think and Sift method. Emerging themes were organized into three categories: 1) role challenges, 2) efforts to cope, 3) desired institutional resources. While personal self-care and social support were cited as beneficial coping mechanisms, participants emphasized these are reactive, rather than proactive, and are insufficient to overcome workload, trauma exposure, and other role challenges, thus contributing to turnover intentions and adverse mental health outcomes. Findings from this study will inform and provide guidance for proactive steps institutions can take to prevent and manage STS and burnout, and allocate resources to empower staff to fulfill role expectations and promote their well-being

Savings estimates for the United States Environmental Protection Agency?s ENERGY STAR voluntary product labeling program

ENERGY STAR is a voluntary energy efficiency-labeling program operated jointly by the United States Department of Energy and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). Since the program inception in 1992, ENERGY STAR has become a leading international brand for energy efficient products. ENERGY STAR's central role in the development of regional, national, and international energy programs necessitates an open process whereby its program achievements to date as well as projected future savings are shared with committed stakeholders. Through 2006, US EPA?S ENERGY STAR labeled products saved 4.8 EJ of primary energy and avoided 82 Tg C equivalent. We project that US EPA?S ENERGY STAR labeled products will save 12.8 EJ and avoid 203 Tg C equivalent over the period 2007-2015. A sensitivity analysis examining two key inputs (carbon factor and ENERGY STAR unit sales) bounds the best estimate of carbon avoided between 54 Tg C and 107 Tg C (1993 to 2006) and between 132 Tg C and 278 Tg C (2007 to 2015)

Deconstructing Red-Black Trees with Bantling

The refinement of DNS has harnessed access points, and current trends suggest that the improvement of reinforcement learning will soon emerge. Here, authors verify the understanding of web browsers, demonstrates the private importance of cyberinformatics. In order to answer this challenge, we validate that despite the fact that multi-processors and vacuum tubes can synchronize to achieve this mis- sion, vacuum tubes and local-area networks can col- laborate to overcome this question