The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Medical-Legal Partnership Services and Cases.

Context: Medical-legal partnerships (MLPs) are innovative, promising models that integrate legal service providers and medical professionals to prevent, detect, and address legal, social, and economic needs arising from social inequities that may negatively impact health. The COVID-19 pandemic impacted health care systems across the United States. MLP workflows and legal services were also interrupted by COVID-19 infection prevention and control measures such as no-visitor policies, social distancing, and the cancellation of non-emergent or routine health care services.

Association between in situ ventilation and human-generated aerosol exposure in meatpacking plants during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, meatpacking workers were disproportionately affected by disease. Large outbreaks at meatpacking facilities resulted in loss of life and threatened the well-being of workers across the globe. Much work was done throughout the pandemic to understand and prevent these outbreaks.

Integrating an Ethics Advisory Committee Into Public Health Response: A Case Study of COVID-19, Infection Prevention and Control, and Essential Work in the United States.

A lack of infection prevention and control protections for essential industries in the United States led to increased risk and incidence of COVID-19 among essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. When the nation deems an industry essential during a disease outbreak, an ethical obligation exists to safeguard the health of workers who are at increased risk of being exposed to disease. The Global Center for Health Security at the University of Nebraska Medical Center began work to rapidly develop and disseminate infection prevention and control guidance for essential industries, such as meat processing.

Investigate-Design-Practice-Reflect: An Iterative Community-Engaged Action Process to Improve Population Health.

Background: Community-based coalitions are a common strategy for community engagement efforts targeting the improvement of a variety of population health outcomes. The typical processes that coalitions follow to organize efforts include steps that are sequential, slow, and time intensive. These processes also limit local decision-making to the selection of evidence-based policies or programs.

Seasonal Patterns of Injury Characteristics Among Farmers and Ranchers in the U.S. Central States.

Objective: In high-risk agricultural environments, tasks, weather, and work conditions vary throughout the year. Also, injuries peak during certain periods. The primary objective of this study was to examine operator- and farm-level characteristics as risk factors for injuries within each of the four seasons.

Workplace health culture and trust in the occupational health office: A descriptive study of meatpacking workers.

Introduction: Worker trust in employer-provided occupational health services has not been explored in essential industries, such as meatpacking. The purpose of this study was to describe workplace health culture and trust in the occupational health office and highlight meatpacking workers' experiences with the occupational health office.

Methods: Meatpacking workers were surveyed between February 2021 and October 2022.

African American and Hispanic Cancer Survivors' and Caregivers' Experiences in Nebraska.

Racial and ethnic minority populations experience poorer cancer outcomes compared to non-Hispanic White populations, but qualitative studies have typically focused on single subpopulations. We explored experiences, perceptions, and attitudes toward cancer care services across the care continuum from screening through treatment among African American and Hispanic residents of Nebraska to identify unique needs for education, community outreach, and quality improvement. We conducted four focus groups (N = 19), April-August 2021 with people who were aged 30 or older and who self-identified as African American or Hispanic and as cancer survivors or caregivers.

Immigrant-focused Medical Legal Partnerships: A Practical Innovation to Improve Immigrant Health and Social Well-being.

The Problem: Immigration status is an important social determinant of health that can limit access to health care and related services. Few medical legal partnerships (MLPs) address immigration-related legal needs of patients.

Purpose Of Article: An immigrant-focused MLP (IMLP) addresses immigration legal needs and provides advice to vulnerable patient-clients and their families regarding potential legal consequences of accessing health care and other public benefits.

Strengthening Tobacco 21 implementation and enforcement to reduce tobacco-related health disparities: A stakeholder engagement project.

Introduction: As a part of a priority-setting stakeholder engagement project to strengthen the impact of the federal Tobacco 21 (T21) law, we conducted a qualitative study to solicit input from a nationwide sample of tobacco control stakeholders regarding the implementation, enforcement, and equity implications of the T21 law.

Methods: Following the T21 policy evaluation guidance developed by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), we identified T21 experts in four domains: policy, evaluation, subject matter, and implementation from a national search of stakeholders (invitations, n=1279) to account for geographical variation. This study presents results from five focus groups conducted in December 2021 among stakeholders (n=31) with experience in T21 policy, evaluation, subject matter, and implementation.

Health Status, Health Care Access, and Health Information Sources Among Latino Immigrant Cattle Feedyard Workers in the Midwest.

Background: Cattle production in the United States is heavily supported by Latino/a workers. Beyond injury rates, our understanding of the health status of cattle feedyard workers is limited. The purpose of this study was to describe the health status and health care access among Latino immigrant cattle feedyard workers in the Midwest.

Acceptability of Intergenerational Physical Activity Programming: A Mixed Methods Study of Latino Aging Adults in Nebraska.

This study explored Hispanic/Latino aging adults' interest in and preferences for intergenerational physical activity programming. We used an exploratory sequential (Qual-QUAN) mixed methods design consisting of three focus groups ( = 13 participants; age = 62.5 years old) and a quantitative survey ( = 105 participants; age = 57.

Associations of Work-Related Injuries and Stress to Family and Youth Wellbeing among U.S. Latino/a Immigrant Cattle Feedyard Workers.

Based on the Ecological Stress-Based Model of Immigrant Worker Safety and Health, we hypothesized that occupational stress and physical safety would be negatively linked to workers' depression, which in turn, would increase family conflict and decrease youth prosocial behaviors. A total of 242 Latino immigrant cattle feedyard workers from Nebraska and Kansas (90.9% male; age = 37.

A Concurrent Mixed-Methods Study of Midwestern Latino Parents Participation and Preferences for Parenting Education Programs.

Parenting programs are an important tool that can provide support for parents and families and improve family functioning. This concurrent nested QUANT + qual mixed methods study sought to better understand parenting education program participation and examine format, delivery, and content preferences for parenting programs among Latino parents in Nebraska. Results from a statewide survey ( = 173) indicated that 31.

Feasibility, Usability and Acceptability of a mHealth Intervention to Reduce Cardiovascular Risk in Rural Hispanic Adults: Descriptive Study.

Background: Mobile health (mHealth) technology using apps or devices to self-manage health behaviors is an effective strategy to improve lifestyle-related health problems such as hypertension, obesity, and diabetes. However, few studies have tested an mHealth intervention with Hispanic/Latino adults, and no studies were found testing mHealth with rural Hispanic/Latino adults, the fastest-growing population in rural areas.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility, usability, and acceptability of an mHealth cardiovascular risk self-management intervention with rural Hispanic/Latino adults.

Hierarchical Modeling of Psychosocial, Parental, and Environmental Factors for Susceptibility to Tobacco Product Use in 9-10-Year-Old Children.

Purpose: Tobacco use during early adolescence can harm brain development and cause adverse health outcomes. Identifying susceptibility in early adolescence before initiation presents an opportunity for tobacco use prevention.

Methods: Data were drawn from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development study that enrolled 9-10-year-old children in 21 US cities between 2016 and 2018 at baseline.

Structural Competency and Agricultural Health and Safety: An Opportunity to Foster Equity within Agriculture.

The future of agricultural work in the United States (U.S.) must account for at least two important trends: 1) the persistence of the industry being riddled with high rates of injury and illness and 2) the growing proportion of hired farmworkers compared to family farmworkers working in these dangerous environments.

The TN Visa: The Future of Foreign Workers in Livestock Production.

Agricultural employers have faced extreme challenges in recruiting and retaining an adequate workforce. Various societal changes have made hiring local workers into agricultural jobs difficult. Therefore, there is a growing reliance on foreign workers and visa programs to meet labor demands.

Racism Experience Among American Adults During COVID-19: A Mixed-Methods Study.

Purpose: Despite escalating racism in the United States during COVID-19, few studies have identified correlates of racism experience among Americans using nationally representative data. This study seeks to quantitatively identify correlates of racism experience and qualitatively categorize racism experience and its coping using nationally representative survey data.

Methods: Based on data from the "Health, Ethnicity and Pandemic Survey" (=2,506), a nationally representative survey conducted in October 2020, multivariable logistic regression was estimated to examine the association between self-reported racism experience and selected correlates.

Working hours, sleep, and fatigue in the agriculture, forestry, and fishing sector: A scoping review.

Introduction: Agriculture, forestry, and fishing industry (AgFF) workers often work extremely long hours during peak production seasons, resulting in sleep deprivation and fatigue. The National Occupational Research Agenda has classified fatigue as a "significant safety issue" and area of concern for many industry sectors, including AgFF. This review explores current research and practice in AgFF and proposes next steps.

Mobile Health (mHealth) Interventions to Increase Cancer Screening Rates in Hispanic/Latinx Populations: A Scoping Review.

Hispanic/Latinx persons have disproportionately lower breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening rates than non-Hispanic White (NHW) persons. This low participation in cancer screening results in late-stage cancer diagnosis among Hispanic persons compared to NHW persons. Mobile health (mHealth) interventions effectively improve cancer screening rates in the general population; however, few reviews about mHealth interventions are tailored to Hispanic populations.

Refining the Migrant Farmworker Stress Inventory among Latino Migrant Farmworkers in Rural Nebraska.

The Migrant Farmworker Stress Inventory (MFWSI) was developed to measure the distinct stressors faced by migrant farmworkers. The most appropriate measurement and factor structure, however, has been primarily examined with exploratory methods with no studies of confirmatory factor analyses to date. The current study built on prior exploratory factor analytic approaches using the MFWSI by applying confirmatory factor analyses and other tests of validity to better delineate the component parts of migrant farmworker stress that contribute to anxiety and depression.