Contested Boundaries: Evaluating Institutional and Government Authority in Academia and Public Health

This dissertation explores tensions between individual freedom and institutional authority. Chapter one examines public perceptions of the legitimacy of "new frontier" public health measures. I present results from a national survey of 1,817 adults concerning the acceptability of public health interventions for noncommunicable diseases. We found that support for these interventions is high overall; strongly associated with race and political orientation; and tied to perceptions of democratic representation in policy making. There was much support for strategies that enable people to exercise healthful choices, but considerably less for more coercive measures. These findings suggest that the least coercive path will be the smoothest. Additionally, the findings underscore the need for policy makers to involve the public in decision making, understand the public's values, and communicate how policy decisions reflect this understanding

Paid Leave for Fathers: Policy, Practice, and Reform

Policy Points Government policies that secure paid leave for all parents, regardless of gender, can reduce structural inequalities, while promoting fathers\u27 engagement in parenting. Such policies are likely to be most effective when they secure full, or almost full wage replacement, and when they provide incentives for fathers to take leave. Organizations must also participate in the culture shift, providing workplaces that encourage paternity leave rather than reinforcing the male breadwinner stigma

Parental Leave, Lactation, and Childcare Policies at Top US Schools of Public Health.

OBJECTIVES:To describe policies related to parental leave, breastfeeding, and childcare for faculty and staff at top schools of public health in the United States. METHODS:We identified the top 25 schools of public health from the US News and World Report rankings. We reviewed each institutional Web site to identify publicly available policies as of July 2018. RESULTS:For birth mothers, 80% (20/25) of the schools provided paid childbearing leave to faculty (mean = 8.2 weeks), and 48% (12/25) provided paid childbearing leave for staff (mean = 5.0 weeks). For nonbirth parents, 68% (17/25) provided paid parental leave for faculty and 52% (13/25) for staff (range = 1-15 weeks). We found that 64% (16/25) of the schools had publicly available lactation policies, and 72% (18/25) of the schools had at least 1 university-run on-campus childcare center. CONCLUSIONS:The majority of top US schools of public health provide paid leave to faculty birth mothers. However, most schools fall short of the 14 weeks recommended by the American Public Health Association