Publications by authors named "Genevive R Meredith"

Background: Time in nature supports cognitive, psychological, academic, and health benefits. Outdoor time during school can provide young people with equitable access to these benefits, however, there are within-school constraints. Understanding if and how teachers can frequently and consistently incorporate outdoor time in the schoolyard into their classroom activities can inform broader implementation.

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Article Synopsis
  • There is a critical need to enhance the skills and confidence of public health workers through programs like Public Health Essentials, which focuses on building strategic capabilities for community-based health work.
  • A study using mixed methods evaluated the longer-term outcomes of this program, examining skill retention and application among graduates to see its effects on workforce retention and community health improvements.
  • Results showed significant skill gains among participants, indicating that the program not only boosts self-perceived abilities and practical skills but also improves motivation to continue careers in public health and engage in community projects.
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Community surveillance surveys offer an opportunity to obtain important and timely public health information that may help local municipalities guide their response to public health threats. The objective of this paper is to present approaches, challenges, and solutions from SARS-CoV-2 surveillance surveys conducted in different settings by 2 research teams. For rapid assessment of a representative sample, a 2-stage cluster sampling design was developed by an interdisciplinary team of researchers at Oregon State University between April 2020 and June 2021 across 6 Oregon communities.

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Context: The COVID-19 pandemic spurred significant government investments for hiring public health workers. There are clear opportunities to help build capacities among both current and incoming public health workers, closing well-elucidated skill gaps.

Objective: To report on the development process, methods used, and outcomes seen from a point-in-time public health workforce capacity-building initiative, Public Health Essentials (PHE) .

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Context: Research and policy studies alike have enumerated population and community health benefits of system integration between medical, public health, and social entities. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic revealed the necessity of a well-trained and adequately staffed public health and medical workforce in order to process SARS-CoV-2 cases and prevent subsequent transmission. Higher education systems, in particular, represented defined populations of exposure and transmission.

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Background: While booster vaccinations clearly reduce the risk of severe Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and death, the impact of boosters on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections has not been fully characterized: Doing so requires understanding their impact on asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic infections that often go unreported but nevertheless play an important role in spreading SARS-CoV-2. We sought to estimate the impact of COVID-19 booster doses on SARS-CoV-2 infections in a vaccinated population of young adults during an Omicron BA.1-predominant period.

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Objectives: For decades, there have been calls to action to change the status quo of public health education in the United States to respond to workforce needs and help reinforce capacity. During the last 10 years, schools and programs of public health have planned and implemented programmatic and curricular changes. This study explored the focus of master of public health (MPH) education in the United States today.

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Context: Public health leaders are working to rebuild the US public health workforce. Master of Public Health (MPH) programs have a stake in this, given their role in educating and training public health practitioners. Over the last 10 years, MPH programs have implemented changes to program structure, content, and approach, but workforce gaps persist.

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Context: Schools and programs of public health have been preparing graduates to join the workforce for a century, but significant gaps in numbers and abilities exit. Many have called for a change to the status quo, to transform public health education to create a competent workforce able to address current and emergent needs.

Objective: This study explored if Master of Public Health (MPH) programs have shifted their program design, curriculum, and/or instructional methods (instructional design), and if so, how and why.

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To minimize the impacts of COVID-19 and to keep campus open, Cornell University's Ithaca, NY, campus implemented a comprehensive process to monitor COVID-19 spread, support prevention practices, and assess early warning indicators linked to knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes of campus community members. The integrated surveillance approach informed leadership and allowed for prompt adjustments to university policies and practices through evidence-based decisions. This approach enhanced healthy behaviors and promoted the well-being and safety of all community members.

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Curbing the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic requires a thorough understanding of risk factors for transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the etiologic agent. Institutions of higher education present unique challenges for controlling disease spread because of features inherent to these settings. Our objective was to determine risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection among a university student population in the northeastern USA during the spring and fall 2021 semesters, using the case-control study design.

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This case series study of COVID-19 data from a US university examines the effectiveness of various vaccination, testing, and surveillance measures to mitigate spread of the Omicron variant.

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