COVID-19: An opportunity to engage African Americans and women in research on cardiovascular disease.

Introduction: African Americans (AA) have been disproportionately affected with the COVID-19 disease experiencing 30%-60% of the deaths, while only making up 13% of the US population. Early data suggest that pregnant women and those with cardiovascular disease (CVD) may experience worse outcomes with severe coronavirus infection. There is an urgent need to incorporate AA and female perspectives into the design of research on the CVD complications related to COVID-19.

Collective Efficacy as a Key Context in Neighborhood Support for Urban Youth.

Neighborhood context, including the physical and social environment, has been implicated as important contributors to positive youth development. A transactional approach to neighborhood asserts that place and people are mutually constitutive; negative perceptions of place are intrinsically bound with negative portrayals of stigmatized groups, including youth. Adult perceptions of neighborhood youth may contribute to an increased sense of alienation and youth antisocial behavior.

Social cognitions, distress, and leadership self-efficacy: associations with aggression for high-risk minority youth.

Urban ethnic minority youth are often exposed to high levels of aggression and violence. As such, many aggression intervention programs that have been designed with suburban nonethnic minority youth have been used or slightly adapted in order to try and meet the needs of high-risk urban youth. The current study contributes to the literature base by examining how well a range of social-cognitive, emotional distress and victimization, and prosocial factors are related to youth aggression in a sample of urban youth.

Developing measures of community-relevant outcomes for violence prevention programs: a community-based participatory research approach to measurement.

Community-Based Participatory Research is a research paradigm that encourages community participation in designing and implementing evaluation research, though the actual outcome measures usually reflect the "external" academic researchers' view of program effect and the policy-makers' needs for decision-making. This paper describes a replicable process by which existing standardized psychometric scales commonly used in youth-related intervention programs were modified to measure indicators of program success defined by community partners. This study utilizes a secondary analysis of data gathered in the context of a community-based youth violence prevention program.

Methods for linking community views to measureable outcomes in a youth violence prevention program.

Background: All parties in community-academic partnerships have a vested interest prevention program success. Markers of success that reflect community's experiences of programmatic prevention success are not always measurable, but critically speak to community-defined needs.

Objective: The purpose of this manuscript was to (1) describe our systematic process for linking locally relevant community views (community-defined indicators) to measurable outcomes in the context of a youth violence prevention program and (2) discuss lessons learned, next steps, and recommendations for others trying to replicate a similar process.

Locating and communicating with at-risk populations about emergency preparedness: the vulnerable populations outreach model.

Vulnerable populations tend to have the worst health outcomes during and after disasters; however, these populations are rarely included in the emergency planning process. In Philadelphia, the Department of Public Health and the Office of Emergency Management have reached out to community-based organizations that serve vulnerable populations to include these key stakeholders in emergency planning. In this article, we outline strategies for locating, engaging, and communicating with vulnerable populations about both organizational and personal emergency preparedness.

If you ask them, will they come? Predictors of quarantine compliance during a hypothetical avian influenza pandemic: results from a statewide survey.

Background: An influenza pandemic, such as that of the H1N1 virus, raises questions about how to respond effectively to a lethal outbreak. Most plans have focused on minimizing impact by containing the virus through quarantine, but quarantine has not been used widely in the United States and little is known about what would be the public's response. The purpose of this study was to investigate factors that influence an individual's decision to comply with a hypothetical avian influenza quarantine order.

Translating community-specified indicators of program success into measurable outcomes.

Background: Community participatory research encourages community involvement in early stages of program development and implementation, but sustainability is dependent on continued community interest and participation. While locally measured outcomes may not be generalizable, evaluations that demonstrate progress on community-specified markers of success can demonstrate a community's return on investment. The purpose of this study was to outline a process whereby community-identified indicators of successful violence prevention were translated into measurable variables.

Disaster preparedness of households with special needs in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Background: Individuals with disabilities are disproportionately vulnerable in evacuation emergencies, and they face numerous challenges accessing resources for response and recovery.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the preparedness behaviors of households with and without special-needs members.

Methods: A random-digit-dial telephone survey was conducted of 501 adults in southeastern Pennsylvania in 2008.

Access impediments to health care and social services between Anglophone and Francophone African immigrants living in Philadelphia with respect to HIV/AIDS.

Objectives: To describe the social and cultural differences between Anglophone and Francophone African immigrants which define the impediments that Francophone African immigrants face trying to access health and human services in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Methods: Surveys and personal interviews were administered to participants in social events, community meetings, and health centers. A Chi-squared analysis was used to contrast the communities.

Factors associated with zidovudine receipt and prenatal care among HIV-infected pregnant women in New Jersey.

Despite reductions in perinatal HIV transmission, cases continue to occur. To determine factors associated with zidovudine (ZDV) receipt among HIV-infected pregnant women we merged three data sets for women in New Jersey in 1995-1997, identifying 395 HIV-infected pregnant women. Half received two arms of ZDV prophylaxis.

Mapping perceptions related to acceptance of smallpox vaccination by hospital emergency room personnel.

Emergency department personnel would be first responders in the event of a bioterror smallpox outbreak, yet few were willing to be vaccinated during the 2002 federal campaign. To better understand vaccination concerns, perceptual mapping methods were used to create multidimensional models of how emergency department personnel (N= 73) in the Philadelphia area perceive the risks and benefits of smallpox vaccination under 4 levels of threat: (1) today; (2) if another terrorist attack happened anywhere in the U.S.

Breast cancer early detection among Chinese women in the Philadelphia area.

Background: Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death among Chinese American women. Previous studies identified disparities in breast cancer screening between Asian and Caucasian women. This study describes breast cancer awareness, attitudes, and knowledge, as well as barriers and facilitators of early detection among Chinese women in Philadelphia.

The value template process: a participatory evaluation method for community health partnerships.

This article presents the results of a pilot implementation of an evaluation process designed to help community health collaboratives obtain relevant information for planning and evaluation. The Value Template Process assists collaboratives to identify performance and impact indicators that are meaningful and measurable with accessible data. The process also encourages communication and engagement in assessment among collaborative members.

Knowledge, attitudes, and predictors of advance directive discussions of registered nurses.

The purpose of this study was to describe nurses' knowledge, attitudes, and experiences regarding advance directives. A secondary purpose was to examine predictors of advance directive discussions between nurses and patients. Seven-hundred and nineteen respondents, randomly selected from a list of registered nurses in the state of Ohio, completed mailed questionnaires.

Pneumococcal vaccination in pennsylvania nursing homes: factors associated with vaccination level.

Objectives: To determine the levels of knowledge and beliefs about pneumococcal disease and the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV), the level of PPV use, PPV-related practices, and factors associated with PPV use in Pennsylvania's nursing homes.

Design/setting: A 68-item, cross-sectional survey of Nursing Directors at a random sample of PA nursing homes (291) was conducted between April and June 1999. Survey results and facility characteristics were used to describe vaccination practices, estimate the vaccination level and determine through bivariate analysis, associations between vaccination level and facility characteristics and practices.

Correlates of clinical preventive practices among internal medicine residents.

Background: Healthy People: 2010 calls for improvement in the delivery of clinical preventive services. Physicians value preventive services, yet their rates of prevention consistently fall below recommendations. This study examines the relationship between personal characteristics of internal medicine residents and their clinical prevention practices in an outpatient setting.

Implications of evidence-based practice for community health.

Evidence-based practice, developed in clinical medicine, is being applied to community health programs. Barriers to implementation of evidence-based practice noted in clinical medicine are likely to exist in community health settings and may be complicated by the nature of community health programs. These barriers include accessibility and availability of relevant data, social and political considerations of program decision-making, and conflicting expectations for evaluation research.