Public Health – Page 6 – UROP Spring Symposium 2021

Public Health

Lessons learned from a team-based approach to developing a qualitative manuscript

Title: Lessons learned from a team-based approach to developing a qualitative manuscript Background: In the research world the quantitative analysis team process has been studied for best practices greatly, whereas in qualitative research settings less has been done to create a procedural team-based regime from analyzing and developing qualitative manuscripts. Methods: By assessing a team-based approach to developing a manuscript from a thematic analysis of qualitative data pertaining to police role in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), specific lessons were pulled from the process to replicate in later team settings. A qualitative manuscript was developed by a team of 7 through 4 phases over a period of 1.5 months in a team-based remote setting. These phases were framing, drafting, revising, and polishing. All manuscript development meetings were analyzed for lessons learned in team based environments along with best practices with a hope to better inform qualitative research. A researcher attended all qualitative manuscript meetings and took notes.Three researchers then met to review notes and determine the best practices of team-based work in the realm of qualitative manuscript development.

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Health Equity Management Repository

Health equity is ideal. However, in practice, it can be difficult to pinpoint and implement the most effective solutions. Promoting and working to implement health equity in the workplace, classroom, and communities is one of the chief goals of the University of Michigan Health Equity Leadership Pipeline Collaborative (The Collaborative). Despite the large volume of academic writing regarding public health and health equity, there are few resources that effectively compile existing literature for public use and access. In light of this, The Collaborative began its work on the Health Equity Repository, a resource intended to aggregate and disseminate contemporary academic articles and toolkits pertaining to public health. The Health Equity Leadership Pipeline Collaborative provides innovative, relevant, and scholarly research on health professions and health education training methods to increase the impact of healthcare leadership addressing health equity issues.

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Health Equity Management Repository

Health equity is ideal. However, in practice, it can be difficult to pinpoint and implement the most effective solutions. Promoting and working to implement health equity in the workplace, classroom, and communities is one of the chief goals of the University of Michigan Health Equity Leadership Pipeline Collaborative (The Collaborative). Despite the large volume of academic writing regarding public health and health equity, there are few resources that effectively compile existing literature for public use and access. In light of this, The Collaborative began its work on the Health Equity Repository, a resource intended to aggregate and disseminate contemporary academic articles and toolkits pertaining to public health. The Health Equity Leadership Pipeline Collaborative provides innovative, relevant, and scholarly research on health professions and health education training methods to increase the impact of healthcare leadership addressing health equity issues.

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The Seasonality of Measles Across the Globe

Although the United States has come very close to eliminating measles cases through widespread vaccination, measles outbreaks still occur in many low and middle income (LMIC) countries where vaccine distribution is more complex. The World Health Organization (WHO) has collected historical clinical case report data of measles across the globe for almost a century, but has yet to closely examine these data across time and space to identify the seasonal transmission dynamics of the virus and identify the factors responsible for these patterns. In our study, we analyzed monthly measles cases reported to the WHO from 1948-1977 across the world. This data was found in print documents and scanned into PDF format to be digitized using optical character recognition software. Next, it was assembled and organized into CSV format to be analyzed in R using wavelet analyses and general additive models for visualization purposes. We expect to find seasonal patterns in measles outbreaks for each location studied. Hopefully, we will be able to find correlations between case numbers and risk factors so that action can be taken to reduce further outbreaks. If we know seasonality in each location, we could optimize the timing of vaccination campaigns to maximally reduce potential cases, improving the health of individuals and achieving the goals of health experts.

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Sidewalk Walkability and Physical Activity

Relevance: Sidewalk walkability may affect how one interacts with their community and can have significant impacts on their level of physical activity. Objectives: This study examines the relationship between sidewalk presence, continuity, and condition, and level of physical activity among adults in the REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke study. Methods: Sidewalk characteristics were measured through a Google Earth auditing tool, where auditors viewed a participant’s living location and answered questions relating to sidewalk presence, continuity, and condition on the participant’s side of the street and the side opposite of the participant. Data on level of physical activity was collected from telephone interviews. Chi-square tests of association were estimated for each sidewalk measure and physical activity in a sample of 1,182 participants. Results: Participants reported their frequency of physical activity as none (36%), one to three times per week (35%) or more than three times per week (30%). Fewer than half of the streets had sidewalks (44% participant side; 44% opposite side). Nearly three-quarters of the sidewalks were continuous, and most sidewalks (69%) were well-maintained, on both sides of the street. None of the associations between physical activity and the sidewalk walkability measures were significant. Conclusion: The results of this study have several implications. The types of physical activities participants engaged in, that had them break a sweat, may not have taken place in their neighborhood. Future research should explore how other forms of physical activity are impacted by various aspects of the built and social environment.

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Whole Health Educational Resource Development and Evaluation for Veterans and VA Staff

Whole Health is a new system of care that focuses on holistic, integrative, and personalized medicine for Veterans. Current research in areas such as yoga, meditation, and other supplemental services has found some benefit in both mental health and overall well being for those who utilize these integrative health services. There may be further benefit from additional analysis of particular areas such as those noted above in the Veteran population. To examine this, an electronic survey through Qualtrics that focused on participants’ perception and utilization of various Whole Health services was distributed to Veteran patients, physicians, and other individuals associated with the VA. Once the results from survey participants were collected, they were analyzed in order to gain more of an understanding of the different experiences behind this approach to care. Obtaining this information could corroborate the effectiveness of this approach to care and lead to improvements in the Whole Health System for all individuals involved. At the time of publication of this abstract, the data has been collected and preliminary analysis is in process. Specific, detailed, and final results will be available at the time of the Symposium presentation.

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Whole Health Educational Resource Development and Evaluation for Veterans and VA Staff

Whole Health is a personalized health system run by the Veteran’s Healthcare System that focuses on care for the individual as a whole. Whole Health incorporates the individual in his or her care through a process of mindful awareness, self-care development, and connections to professional and preventive care and the community. So far, various studies have shown that modalities such as acupuncture, light therapy, yoga, mindfulness meditation, and diet are beneficial in improving a number of health problems. However, there will be a need to be further research studies as some studies are limited by sample size and lack of replication. For this reason, our research group has created a survey to assess the perceptions and effectiveness of Whole Health initiatives. The survey has been distributed to a diverse group of Veterans and staff. At the time of publication of this abstract, the data has been collected and preliminary analysis is in process. Specific, detailed, and final results will be available at the time of the Symposium presentation.

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Black Youth Understanding of Racial Inequality: The Ins and Outs of Scale Development and Validation

When most people think of racism, the first thing that comes to mind is interpersonal racism, which is a type of racism that occurs when an individual’s own racially biased thoughts are forced upon others around them in ways such as unfair treatment. What most people fail to see is that racism is much larger than that. Racism is a multifaceted system that assigns value, structures opportunities, and unfairly disadvantaged individuals based on their perceived race. Since racism is so prevalent, it’s often inescapable for people of color, and since it’s multifaceted, it has multiple implications for people of color. These implications range from the school to prison pipeline to health disparities. The purpose of our research is to develop a scale that specifically measures Black youth’s understanding of racism, inclusive of its multiple forms. In the past, certain scales have had a tendency of not being generalizable to the population in question. In order to create a scale that can accurately capture all aspects of racism, our team has to create multiple questionnaires and then schedule interviews with Black youth to see if any of our questions are capable of accurately capturing what these youth have experienced. After generating an appropriate questionnaire, the next step of our research would be to determine the validity of our scale in hopes that it could be used by others. Our main goal is to develop a scale that’s able to have multiple implications in the real world, but we are also hoping that the findings of this scale would be generalizable to all Black youth. We hope our scale can be used by schools to help their students unpack racial inequality, we also hope that it can be used by mental health professionals to help guide their communication and treatment plans. In other words, we want this scale to be used by others to tackle racism’s multiple dimensions.

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Awareness of Racial Inequality: The Process of Scale Development

Racism and race-based discrimination are clearly present in today’s society, but to what extent? To what extent do Black people experience discrimination and understand racism? This can be answered through the process of scale development. This study will outline the process to develop a scale, and will further describe how that scale can be used to measure the psychological phenomenon of racism awareness. In the past, there has been a great deal of scales that have been made for related topics that could be used as an object of comparison. This study will analyze the use of other scales, their effectiveness, and how they can be used to develop a new scale. To develop this scale, 2 middle schools and 2 high schools will be randomly selected. 40 students, balanced relatively evenly across grades 6 through 12, will also be invited to complete a one-on-one interview. These students will have to self-identify as African American or Black, must receive parental consent, and must self consent to participate in the study. Interviews will be conducted with the students, and they will be asked questions about their race-related experiences and understanding of racial inequality. Common themes that students mentioned will be gathered. These themes, along with other scales developed in the past, will be used to develop a scale that thoroughly measures adolescents’ awareness of racial inequality, based on their experiences, education, and knowledge.

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Black Youth Understanding of Racial Inequality: Scale Development and Validation

Although there is an abundance of research done on the topic of racism, a specific tool has yet to be developed that assesses how adolescents view and understand racism. Most of the current scales on racism focus on experiences, rather than understanding of racism. The goal of this study is to develop a more distinct scale that captures Black youth’s understanding of racism. This will allow professionals to learn more about racial stress in youth and the effects this can have on education. After analyzing the scale responses, professionals can use the results to help Black youth in more appropriate ways, such as designing treatment plans or effective ways to discuss race in the classroom. The scale development process includes multiple phases in order to create the most concise, effective product. Some of the specific phases for this project include one-on-one interviews with school-age children, expert panels, and item analysis. Once that scale is developed and put into use, there will be a better understanding of how youth view racism. This insight will provide valuable information that can be utilized to promote healthy development.

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