A retrospective quasi-qualitative synthesis of the literature to identify and evaluate communication processes in community-campus partnerships to address health disparities

Background: Community-campus partnerships have been a major developing field of study in improving health outcomes to reduce health disparities. However, there is limited literature that evaluates communication strategies used to improve health outcomes among disadvantaged populations during the early stages of implementing community-campus partnerships. Objectives: Based on the Donabedian model, we conducted a retrospective quasi-qualitative synthesis of literature relating to the identification and evaluation of community engaged communication in community-campus partnerships to address health disparities. Data sources: All published peer-reviewed articles from 2001 to 2013 that addressed health disparities in community-campus partnerships were reviewed. Key word searches from PubMed, MEDLINE, CINAHL, Social SciSearch, ProQuest, and Communication and Mass Media Complete databases were performed. Design: Donabedian’s structure, process and outcome model was used to provide a framework for the inclusion and exclusion criteria of studies. Using a quasi-qualitative approach, qualitative and quantitative analysis were used to compare the relationship between studies and inferential statistics respectively. Themes were identified and described. Data were extracted on each study’s characteristic and application of components on the Donabedian model in community-campus partnerships. Results: Forty-two articles met the inclusion criteria. All articles described by using some part of the Donabedian model to improve health outcomes. However, there was great variability in the frequency of communication structures and processes used. We found that communication processes and strategies have an association with improving health outcomes, especially among disadvantaged and vulnerable populations (r = 0.863, p\u3c0.01). Conclusion: Community engaged communication processes and strategies are powerful tools to engage underserved populations. Consequently, under the premise of a community-campus partnership, well-conceived and implemented communication approaches greatly improve health outcomes in disadvantaged populations

Rationale, Design and Methods of Set the Rules : A Tailored Peer-to-Peer Health Information Intervention

Ensuring equitable access to health information is one strategy to promote health equity for underserved communities, especially for low-income African Americans (AAs). Childcare centers are one viable site to deliver health information to address this disparity. This paper describes the methods used in a community-based participatory research project with a childcare facility that aimed to reduce environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure among low-income AA children. Through collaboration and multiple data collection methods, partners identified communication strategies to overcome informational barriers. These initial findings indicated a peer-to-peer health information intervention, entitled “Set the Rules”, as the best strategy to increase awareness. The goal of the intervention was to build knowledge in reducing the harms of ETS exposure. Twelve community members were trained as parent leaders for the “Set the Rules” workshops and conducted workshops with parents. Even though there were barriers interfacing with all centers, parents that attended the workshop (n = 32) found the peer-to-peer intervention novel and quite helpful and will share the information learned with others. This intervention suggests that a childcare setting is a relevant space to increase access to health information to optimize child health outcomes. More research is necessary to determine if this intervention has salience in other childcare settings and across racial/ethnic groups

Early Childhood Special Education in a Refugee Resettlement Community: Challenges and Innovative Practices

There has been a significant increase in the number of children who are culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) who qualify for early childhood special education (ECSE) services (Banerjee & Guiberson, 2012). The current study investigates the challenges and innovative practices in the evaluation and (ECSE) services for preschool aged children who are refugees. Twenty-eight early childhood educators who work in a small refugee resettlement community participated in a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews resulting in themes regarding challenges and innovative practices. Challenges include: lack of validated assessments, wait time for evaluations, different cultural perspectives and family advocacy. Innovative practices include: assessing skills not dependent on language and including caregivers in evaluations. Implications for future research and teacher preparation are discussed

Barriers, control and identity in health information seeking among African American women

Qualitative research methods were used to examine the role of racial, cultural, and socio-economic group (i.e., communal) identities on perceptions of barriers and control related to traditional and internet resources for seeking health information. Eighteen lower income, African American women participated in training workshops on using the internet for health, followed by two focus groups. Transcripts were analyzed using standardized coding methods. Results demonstrated that participants perceived the internet as a tool for seeking health information, which they believed would empower them within formal healthcare settings. Participants invoked racial, cultural, and socio-economic identities when discussing barriers to seeking health information within healthcare systems and the internet. The findings indicate that the internet may be a valuable tool for accessing health information among lower income African American women if barriers are reduced. Recommendations are made that may assist health providers in improving health information seeking outcomes of African American women

Atomic spectrometry update : a review of advances in environmental analysis

This is the 31st annual review of the application of atomic spectrometry to the chemical analysis of environmental samples. This update refers to papers published approximately between August 2014 and July 2015 and continues the series of Atomic Spectrometry Updates (ASUs) in Environmental Analysis that should be read in conjunction with other related ASUs in the series, namely: clinical and biological materials, foods and beverages; advances in atomic spectrometry and related techniques; elemental speciation; X-ray spectrometry; and metals, chemicals and functional materials. In the field of air analysis, highlights within this review period included: the development of a new laser fluorescence instrument for the ultratrace determination of mercury vapour; single particle ICP-MS studies and the coupling of elemental analysers to mass spectrometers for the improved characterisation of carbonaceous aerosols. In the arena of water analysis, methods continue to be developed: for the extraction and preconcentration of elements, As, Cr, Hg and Sb species and determination of elemental constituents in colloidal and NP fractions. Emerging elements of interest include Gd derived from MRI agents discharged at low level from medical facilities in water courses. Instrumental developments reported included the use of MC-ICP-MS for isotopic tracer studies and a review of TXRF techniques and associated preconcentration procedures for trace element analysis. In the period covered by this update several articles have explored the analysis of soil extracts for geochemical prospecting. There has been widening interest in the use of CS-AAS and in the application of techniques capable of direct sample analysis such as slurry sampling ETAAS and ETV-ICP-AES. Portable XRF instrumentation is now being used in many disciplines to quantify trace elements in soils – bringing a need for better transfer of analytical knowledge to non-specialist users – and the growing use of portable XRF in proximal sensing is also noteworthy. Recent research indicates that geological applications still drive many of the instrumental and methodological advances in LA-ICP-MS. Fundamental studies continued to shed light on the processes involved and hence ways of improving the analysis of laser-produced aerosols and to minimise matrix and fractionation effects. A new technique LA-DOF-MS (distance of flight) was described. The utility of LIBS and portable XRF for in situ survey work continues to show promise but issues such as appropriate calibration regimes and data processing protocols will still need to be addressed

African American Ethnic and Class-Based Identities on the World Wide Web: Moderating the Effects of Self-Perceived Information Seeking/Finding and Web Self-Efficacy

The web is a potentially powerful tool for communicating information to diverse audiences. Unfortunately, all groups are not equally represented on the web, and this may have implications for online information seeking. This study investigated the role of class- and ethnic-based identity in self-perceived web-based information seeking/finding and self-efficacy. A questionnaire is administered, asking African Americans about their class and ethnic identities and web use to test a conceptual model predicting that these identities are positively related to web-based information seeking and web self-efficacy, which are then positively related to web-based information finding. Gender and previous web experience are expected to moderate the relationships. Structural equations modeling of these data support most of the predictions and indicate that these identities influence perceptions of online information seeking

Intimate Relationship Dynamics and Changing Desire for Pregnancy Among Young Women

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/151900/1/psrh12119_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/151900/2/psrh12119.pd

Hydrogels containing the ferri/ferrocyanide redox couple and ionic liquids for thermocells

Thermoelectrochemical cells are a promising new technology for harvesting low-grade waste heat. The operation of these cells relies on a redox couple within an electrolyte, which is most commonly water-based, and improvement of these materials is a key aspect of the advancement of this technology. Here, we report the gelation of aqueous electrolytes containing the K3Fe(CN)6/K4Fe(CN)6 redox couple using a range of different polymers, including polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (Cmc), polyacrylamide (PAAm), and two commercial polyurethane-based polymers: HydroMed D640 and HydroSlip C. These polymers produce quasi-solid-state electrolytes with sufficient mechanical properties to prevent leakage, and allow improved device flexibility and safety. Furthermore, the incorporation of various ionic liquids within the optimized hydrogel network is investigated as a route to enhance the electrochemical and mechanical properties and thermal energy harvesting performance of the hydrogels

Worth a Glance: Using Eye Movements to Investigate the Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory

Results of several investigations indicate that eye movements can reveal memory for elements of previous experience. These effects of memory on eye movement behavior can emerge very rapidly, changing the efficiency and even the nature of visual processing without appealing to verbal reports and without requiring conscious recollection. This aspect of eye movement based memory investigations is particularly useful when eye movement methods are used with special populations (e.g., young children, elderly individuals, and patients with severe amnesia), and also permits use of comparable paradigms in animals and humans, helping to bridge different memory literatures and permitting cross-species generalizations. Unique characteristics of eye movement methods have produced findings that challenge long-held views about the nature of memory, its organization in the brain, and its failures in special populations. Recently, eye movement methods have been successfully combined with neuroimaging techniques such as fMRI, single-unit recording, and magnetoencephalography, permitting more sophisticated investigations of memory. Ultimately, combined use of eye-tracking with neuropsychological and neuroimaging methods promises to provide a more comprehensive account of brain–behavior relationships and adheres to the “converging evidence” approach to cognitive neuroscience

Black-White Differences in Pregnancy Desire During the Transition to Adulthood

This article explores race differences in the desire to avoid pregnancy or become pregnant using survey data from a random sample of 914 young women (ages 18-22) living in a Michigan county and semi-structured interviews with a subsample of 60 of the women. In the survey data, desire for pregnancy, indifference, and ambivalence are very rare but are more prevalent among Black women than White women. In the semi-structured interviews, although few women described fatalistic beliefs or lack of planning for future pregnancies, Black and White women did so equally often. Women more often described fatalistic beliefs and lack of planning when retrospectively describing their past than when prospectively describing their future. Using the survey data to compare prospective desires for a future pregnancy with women\u27s recollections of those desires after they conceived, more Black women shifted positive than shifted negative, and Black women were more likely to shift positive than White women-that is, Black women do not differentially retrospectively overreport prospectively desired pregnancies as having been undesired before conception. Young women\u27s consistent (over repeated interviews) prospective expression of strong desire to avoid pregnancy and correspondingly weak desire for pregnancy, along with the similarity of Black and White women\u27s pregnancy plans, lead us to conclude that a planning paradigm -in which young women are encouraged and supported in implementing their pregnancy desires-is probably appropriate for the vast majority of young women and, most importantly, is similarly appropriate for Black and White young women