\u3cb\u3ePersonal Reflection:\u3c/b\u3e Reflections on a Family Health History Assignment for Undergraduate Public Health and Nursing Students

This personal reflection describes our experiences with incorporating the scholarship of teaching and learning and problem-based techniques to facilitate undergraduate student learning and their professional development in the health sciences. We created a family health history assignment to discuss key concepts in our courses, such as health disparities, culture, and cultural competency in patient, provider, and health care team interactions. In this essay we share how we were able to listen to students’ needs regarding the assignment and make improvements based on their feedback. This was an iterative process where we learned as much as our students by remaining flexible and receptive to students’ unique circumstances

Facilitating Undergraduate Learning through Community-Engaged Problem-Based Learning

We used problem-based or experiential learning in our undergraduate Health Policy course to examine food deserts via a health impact assessment (HIA) assignment. A HIA evaluates potential effects on population health before a policy/program is implemented, to improve health and reduce adverse outcomes. We investigated if the HIA assignment facilitated student learning using mixed-methods to descriptively analyze students’ pre-/post-test and peer group assessment surveys, guest lecture reflections, mid-semester evaluations, and HIA research paper reflections. Quantitatively, students’ pre-/post-test ratings of their learning decreased from positive to neutral Likert scale scores, but they rated their group work positively over time. Qualitatively, students learned from community speakers and their research about the challenges of health policy as a pluralistic process and solutions to reducing food insecurity. But, they needed more detailed instructions for their HIA assignment earlier in the semester

Co-teaching Two Interdisciplinary Courses in Higher Education

Academics are challenged to shift from traditional lecture models to accommodate rising student expectations, digital delivery platforms, and inclusive evidence-based classroom practices. As a solution, co-teaching can add value to undergraduate students’ and faculty’s learning and problem-solving skills. We investigated effective co-teaching practices in higher education and its impact on students’ learning outcomes. We analyzed co-teachers’, teaching assistants’, and students’ interview and focus group data and an external evaluator’s assessment of co-teaching classroom dynamics using thematic analysis; surveys on what co-teachers learned from teaching together; and students’ self-reported learning assessments with co-teaching using descriptive analysis in two undergraduate Introduction to Public Health and Health Policy courses. Co-teachers learned from one another in teaching styles, troubleshooting, collegiality, and shared goals to improve students’ learning outcomes. Given our limited student sample, students appreciated different co-teacher’s perspectives, more resources and instructor help, despite not always receiving a balanced biomedical perspective

Who Works Among Older Black and White, Well-Functioning Adults in the Health, Aging, and Body Composition Study?

Objective: The aim of this study is to examine social, economic, and health factors related to paid work in well-functioning older adults and if and how these factors vary by race. Method: We used sex-stratified logistic and multinomial logistic regression to examine cross-sectional data in the Health, Aging, and Body Composition cohort study. The sample included 3,075 community-dwelling Black (42%) and White adults aged 70 to 79 at baseline. Results: Multinomial logistic regression analyses show Black men were more likely to work full-time, and Black women were more likely to work part-time. Men with ≥US$50,000 family income were more likely to work full-time. Men with better physical functioning were more likely to work full- and part-time. Women with ≥US$50,000 family income and fewer chronic diseases were more likely to work full-time. Women who were overweight and had fewer chronic diseases were more likely to work part-time. Discussion: Results suggest that well-functioning, older Black adults were more likely to work than their White counterparts, and working relates to better health and higher income, providing support for a productive or successful aging perspective

Supplemental Material - Cognition and Wealth Changes in Mid-to-later Life: A Latent Class Trajectories Approach Using the Health and Retirement Study

Supplemental Material for Cognition and Wealth Changes in Mid-to-later Life: A Latent Class Trajectories Approach Using the Health and Retirement Study by Ashly C. Westrick, Darlingtina K. Esiaka, Helen C.S. Meier, Ronica N. Rooks, Mark Manning, and Wassim Tarraf in Journal of Aging and Health</p

Accelerated Health Declines among African Americans in the USA.

The weathering hypothesis, an explanation for race disparities in the USA, asserts that the health of African Americans begin to deteriorate prematurely compared to whites as a consequence of long-term exposure to social and environmental risk factors. Using data from 2000–2009 National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS), we sought to describe differences in age-related health outcomes in 619,130 African Americans and whites. Outcome measures included hypertension, diabetes, stroke, and cardiovascular disease. Using a mixed models approach to age-period-cohort analysis, we calculated age- and race-specific prevalence rates that accounted for the complex sampling design of NHIS. African Americans exhibited higher prevalence rates of hypertension, diabetes, and stroke than whites across all age groups. Consistent with the weathering hypothesis, African Americans exhibited equivalent prevalence rates for these three conditions 10 years earlier than whites. This suggests that African Americans are acquiring age-related conditions prematurely compared to whites

Race, Socioeconomic Resources, and Late-Life Mobility and Decline: Findings From the Health, Aging, and Body Composition Study

BACKGROUND. This study examines the relationship between race and mobility over 5 years in initially well-functioning older adults and evaluates how a broad set of socioeconomic status indicators affect this relationship. METHODS. Data were from 2,969 black and white participants aged 70–79 from the Health, Aging, and Body Composition study. Mobility parameters included self-reported capacity to walk a quarter mile and climb 10 steps and usual gait speed. Incident mobility limitation was defined as reported difficulty walking a quarter mile or climbing 10 steps at two consecutive semiannual assessments. Gait speed decline was defined as a 4% reduction in speed per year. RESULTS. At baseline, even though all participants were free of mobility limitation, blacks had slower walking speed than their white counterparts, which was not explained by poverty, education, reading level, or income adequacy. After 5 years, accounting for age, site, and baseline mobility, blacks were more likely to develop mobility limitation than whites. Adjusting for prevalent conditions at baseline eliminated this difference in women; controlling for education eliminated this difference in men. No differences in gait speed decline were identified. CONCLUSIONS. Higher rates of mobility loss observed in older blacks relative to older whites appear to be a function of both poorer initial mobility status and existing health conditions particularly for women. Education may also play a role especially for men