Neighborhood environments underpin screen time intervention success in children: Evidence from a study of greenspace and community programming across 130 US communities.

The goal of this study was to understand how neighborhood greenspace access may support or hinder the effectiveness of community programs and policies (CPPs) aimed at reducing racial and ethnic inequities in screen time among 4598 US children. We found higher CPP intensity was significantly associated with fewer screen time behaviors in high greenspace neighborhoods, but not neighborhoods with low or moderate greenspace. Moreover, there were significant differences in greenspace access by neighborhood-level race and ethnicity.

Local Health Equity Action Teams (LHEATS) as a Novel and Emerging Practice of the Communities Organizing to Promote Equity (COPE) Project in Kansas.

The Communities Organizing to Promote Equity (COPE) Project was implemented in 20 counties across Kansas to build capacity to address health equity by forming local health equity action teams (LHEATS), hiring and training community health workers, facilitating state-wide learning collaboratives, and tailoring communication strategies. We conducted interviews and focus groups with project stakeholders who identified pragmatic recommendations related to LHEAT formation and leadership, establishing trust, nurturing autonomy, and optimizing impact. Insights can improve future community-based health equity efforts.

Community Organizations, Local Health Equity Action Teams, and a Learning Collaborative to Address COVID-19 Disparities in Urban and Rural Communities.

Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics-Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) Kansas worked with 10 Kansas counties from November 2020 through June 2022 to form local health equity action teams (LHEATs), develop COVID-19 testing strategies, foster communication about COVID-19, and share best practices through a learning collaborative. Participating counties documented 693 distinct COVID-19 testing and 178 communication activities. Although the intervention was not associated with changes in the proportion of positive COVID-19 tests, LHEATs in the learning collaborative implemented new testing strategies and responded to emerging COVID-19 challenges.

Communities organizing to promote equity: engaging local communities in public health responses to health inequities exacerbated by COVID-19-protocol paper.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted rural and under-resourced urban communities in Kansas. The state's response to COVID-19 has relied on a highly decentralized and underfunded public health system, with 100 local health departments in the state, few of which had prior experience engaging local community coalitions in a coordinated response to a public health crisis.

Methods: To improve the capacity for local community-driven responses to COVID-19 and other public health needs, the University of Kansas Medical Center, in partnership with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, will launch Communities Organizing to Promote Equity (COPE) in 20 counties across Kansas.

Community Health Improvement Plans and Physical Activity Implementation Strategies: Findings From a Cross-Sectional Survey of US Local Health Departments.

Objective: Community Health Improvement Plans (CHIPs) are a foundational public health practice conducted by every accredited health department in the United States. Community Health Improvement Plans may impact community-wide physical activity (PA) by implementing large-scale interventions. However, no studies have evaluated whether, or how, CHIP goals focusing on increasing PA are implemented.

Community health improvement plan: Study protocol for Kansas City's intervention and implementation evaluation.

Objectives: Community health improvement plans (CHIPs) are foundational public health practice, yet no studies have been conducted to understand implementation of these plans. This evaluation study of the Kansas City CHIP aims to 1) identify implementation strategies used in the CHIP, 2) assess changes in implementation, service, and client outcomes, 3) assess contextual factors associated with implementation, and 4) understand social networks of coalitions who implement the Kansas City CHIP.

Study Design: This study protocol uses a unique, mixed methods approach to evaluating process and outcomes of the Kansas City CHIP.

Reasons for Turnover of Kansas Public Health Officials during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Public health officials played a critical role in COVID-19 mitigation and response efforts. In Kansas, 51 local health department (LHD) administrators and/or local health officers left their positions due to the pandemic between 15 March 2020 and 31 August 2021. The purpose of this study was to identify factors that led to turnover of Kansas local public health officials during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Enhancing the Capacity of Local Health Departments to Address Birth Equity: The Institute for Equity in Birth Outcomes.

Introduction: Significant and persistent racial and ethnic disparities exist related to infant mortality and other birth outcomes. Few models exist that aim to prepare organizations to implement essential features, such as community engagement or intervening on social determinants of health.

Methods: Between 2013 and 2015, teams from seven local health departments participated in the Institute for Equity in Birth Outcomes (EI) with the goals of building capacity and implementing changes to address equity in birth outcomes.

Understanding the Impact of an Integrated Crisis Team: A Qualitative Study of Emergency Department Staff.

Approximately one in eight visits to the Emergency Department (ED) in the United States are due to a behavioral health crisis. A Midwest community created an Integrated Crisis Team (ICT) as part of its county-wide effort to improve quality of care for people with mental health and/or substance use disorders. This ICT, which is embedded in the ED, ensured trained crisis clinicians were available in the ED, among other strategies.

Association of Multisetting Community Programs and Policies With Child Body Mass Index: The Healthy Communities Study.

Introduction: Expert opinion suggests that efforts to address childhood obesity should seek to transform the environments in which children operate. The objective of this study was to describe the extent to which multisetting programs and policies interact with community and child predictors and are associated with child body mass index (BMI) in the 130 US communities participating in the Healthy Communities Study.

Methods: For 2 years beginning in fall 2013, we collected data through key informant interviews on community programs and policies related to healthy weight among children that occurred in the 10 years before the interview.

Assessing the Development of Collective Impact Initiatives Addressing Maternal and Child Health.

Purpose: To examine the extent to which communities participating in the Collective Impact Learning Collaborative (CILC) increased capacity to create conditions for collective impact (CI) to address racial disparities in maternal and child health (MCH) and align local efforts with state MCH priorities over a 12-month period.

Description: Eight communities participated in a learning collaborative that involved the provision of technical assistance via webinars, monthly team calls, and site visits to facilitate the development of a collective impact initiative. A Ready-Set-Go approach to technical assistance was used to guide the communities through each phase of development while also providing individual assistance to teams based on their capacity at the start of participation.

The prevalence of community programmes and policies to prevent childhood obesity in a diverse sample of US communities: the Healthy Communities Study.

Introduction: This manuscript describes the prevalence and attributes of community programmes and policies (CPPs) to address childhood obesity documented as occurring in 130 diverse US communities.

Methods: Key informant interviews (N = 1420) and document abstraction were used to identify and characterize CPPs to promote physical activity and healthy nutrition occurring during a 10-year retrospective study period. Data were collected in 2013-2015 and analysed in 2016.

Recruitment outcomes, challenges and lessons learned: the Healthy Communities Study.

Background: The Healthy Communities Study (HCS) was a national study of community programs and policies that aimed to address childhood obesity; it necessitated recruitment of a large sample of children from communities throughout the United States.

Objective: The HCS aimed to complete visits with an average of 45 children and 12 key informants from at least 120 communities, diverse with respect to region of the country, urbanicity, socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity and intensity of community programs and policies that aim to address childhood obesity.

Methods: Purchased address lists were utilized to select households for recruitment during Wave 1 of the study, and recruitment of families through schools was employed for Wave 2.

Associations of community programs and policies with children's dietary intakes: the Healthy Communities Study.

Background: The impact of community-based obesity prevention efforts on child nutrition has not been adequately studied.

Objective: Examine relationships between number, type and intensity of community programs and policies (CPPs) and child nutrition.

Methods: An observational study of 5138 children (grades K-8) in 130 U.

Assuring Health Access and Culturally Competent Health Services Through the Latino Health for All Coalition.

Although the importance of health care access is widely acknowledged, less is known about how partnerships can help assure access to quality health services for those experiencing health inequities. This report describes implementation of collaborative efforts through the Health Access Committee of the Latino Health for All Coalition (Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas) to address its three goal areas (1) improving cultural competence through organizational change, (2) improving access to quality health services through access to diabetes prevention services, and (3) improving access and linkage to care via enrollment in health insurance. Using community-based participatory approaches, we documented and reflected on the pattern of activities facilitated by the coalition and its partners for each goal area over a 1-year period.

Objectives of community policies and programs associated with more healthful dietary intakes among children: findings from the Healthy Communities Study.

Background: Rational planning of community policies and programs (CPPs) to prevent obesity requires an understanding of CPP objectives associated with dietary behaviours.

Objective: The objective of the study is to identify objectives of CPPs associated with healthful dietary behaviours.

Methods: An observational study identified 4026 nutrition CPPs occurring in 130 communities in the prior 6 years.

Association between community characteristics and implementation of community programmes and policies addressing childhood obesity: the Healthy Communities Study.

Background: Little is known about whether characteristics of communities are associated with differential implementation of community programmes and policies to promote physical activity and healthy eating. This study examines associations between community characteristics (e.g.

Associations between community programmes and policies and children's physical activity: the Healthy Communities Study.

Background: Community initiatives to promote physical activity in children are common, but evidence supporting their effectiveness is limited.

Objectives: The objective of this study is to examine the relationships between community programmes and policies and children's physical activity in a large and diverse sample of US communities.

Methods: Programmes and policies to promote children's physical activity were assessed in 130 communities by key informant interviews, and physical activity behaviours were measured by self-report and parental report in samples of children in each community (total n = 5138).

Measuring the intensity of community programs and policies for preventing childhood obesity in a diverse sample of US communities: the Healthy Communities Study.

Introduction: Efforts to address the critical public health problem of childhood obesity are occurring across the USA; however, little is known about how to characterize the intensity of these efforts.

Objectives: The purposes of this study are to describe the intensity of community programs and policies (CPPs) to address childhood obesity in 130 US communities and to examine the extent to which observed CPPs targeted multiple behaviours and employed a comprehensive array of strategies.

Methods: To document CPPs occurring over a 10-year period, key informants were interviewed using a semi-structured interview protocol.

The longitudinal relationship between community programmes and policies to prevent childhood obesity and BMI in children: the Healthy Communities Study.

Background: Although a national epidemic of childhood obesity is apparent, how community-based programmes and policies (CPPs) affect this outcome is not well understood.

Objectives: This study examined the longitudinal relationship between the intensity of CPPs in 130 communities over 10 years and body mass index (BMI) of resident children. We also examined whether these relationships differ by key family or community characteristics.

Community Policies and Programs to Prevent Obesity and Child Adiposity.

Introduction: Evidence regarding impact of community policies and programs (CPPs) to prevent child obesity is limited, and which combinations of strategies and components are most important is not understood. The Healthy Communities Study was an observational study to assess relationships of characteristics and intensity of CPPs with adiposity, diet, and physical activity in children, taking advantage of variation across the U.S.

Caregiver Opinion of In-Hospital Screening for Unmet Social Needs by Pediatric Residents.

Objective: Child health is strongly influenced by social determinants. Little is known about the opinions of primary caregivers regarding the physicians' role in addressing social needs. Our objective was to examine caregivers' opinions about that role and any associations between those opinions, previous exposure to screening for needs by pediatric residents, and socioeconomic status (SES).

Measuring Community Programs and Policies in the Healthy Communities Study.

Childhood obesity is a challenging public health issue facing communities throughout the U.S. Local efforts are believed to be essential to assuring environments that support physical activity and healthy food/beverage consumption among children and their families.

Multiple Behavior Change Intervention to Improve Detection of Unmet Social Needs and Resulting Resource Referrals.

Objective: It is critical that pediatric residents learn to effectively screen families for active and addressable social needs (ie, negative social determinants of health). We sought to determine 1) whether a brief intervention teaching residents about IHELP, a social needs screening tool, could improve resident screening, and 2) how accurately IHELP could detect needs in the inpatient setting.

Methods: During an 18-month period, interns rotating on 1 of 2 otherwise identical inpatient general pediatrics teams were trained in IHELP.