Process Evaluations of Diabetes Self-Management Programs: A Systematic Review of the Literature.

Objective: To conduct a systematic review of process evaluations (PEs) of diabetes self-management programs (DSMPs).

Data Source: An electronic search using Medline (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), CINAHL (Ensco), Academic Search (Ebsco), and APA PsycInfo (Ebsco).

Study Inclusion And Exclusion Criteria: Peer-reviewed, empirical quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-method studies were included if they (1) were a traditional, group-based DSMP, (2) involved adults at least 18 years with T1DM or T2DM, (3) were a stand-alone or embedded PE, and (4) published in English.

Global research on syndemics: a meta-knowledge analysis (2001-2020).

Background: Syndemics or synergies of cooccurring epidemics are widely studied across health and social sciences in recent years.

Methods: We conducted a meta-knowledge analysis of articles published between 2001 to 2020 in this growing field of academic scholarship.

Results: We found a total of 830 articles authored by 3025 authors, mostly from high-income countries.

Body Mass Index and Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening.

Background: Breast and cervical cancer screening are responsible for dramatically reducing cancer deaths. Overweight and obesity are associated with deleterious health outcomes, including increased risk of developing cancer. This study adds to the existing literature examining the association of having overweight and obesity and receipt of breast or cervical cancer screening.

Differences in the attitudes towards the opioid crisis between metropolitan and rural counties in Central Texas: Secondary data analysis using cross-sectional data.

This study examined metropolitan and rural differences regarding concerns about opioid misuse and support for different strategies to reduce opioid use disorder risk in areas not designated as high-risk. This study used cross-sectional data from a regional community health assessment, which was collected in 2019 using a combination of stratified random sampling and clinic-based purposive sampling in Central Texas. The secondary data included 430 and 270 respondents from metropolitan and rural (not metropolitan) counties, respectively.

Navigating healthcare systems before and after resettlement: Exploring experiences and recommendations for improvement from the perspectives of a Bhutanese refugee community.

Background: Though refugees often survive in refugee camps for many years, little is known about the impact of their interactions within the healthcare system during that time and how it may affect current concerns with the healthcare system after resettlement. Guiding our analysis was the Community Health Development model, which emphasizes the importance of understanding the impact of historical experiences on a community's health to identify specific current health needs, and plan solutions alongside the community to address and improve health concerns.

Objective: To better understand the healthcare system related experiences of Bhutanese refugees before and after resettlement, and describe potential solutions based on their perspectives to improve their health status.

Rural-urban differences in estimated life expectancy associated with neighborhood-level cumulative social and environmental determinants.

Diverse neighborhood-level environmental and social impacts on health are well documented. While studies typically examine these impacts individually, examining potential health impacts from multiple sources as a whole can provide a broader context of overall neighborhood-level health impacts compared to examining each component independently. This study examined the association between cumulative neighborhood-level potential health impacts on health and expected life expectancy within neighborhoods (census tracts) across Texas using the Neighborhood Potential Health Impact Score tool.

Anxiety and depressive symptoms and missing breast cancer and cervical screening: results from Brazos valley community health survey.

Breast and cervical cancer screening are associated with dramatically reduced cancer mortality. Mental illnesses have been demonstrated to influence preventative behaviours. This study aims to explore whether anxiety or depressive symptoms is associated with breast and cervical cancer screening.

Factors that influence the intention to use mobile phone caller tunes for patient reporting of adverse drug reactions: a qualitative study.

Background: Patient reporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) is low in low- and middle-income countries, in part because of poor awareness to report. With the increase in mobile subscription, mobile phones can be used as a platform to disseminate information on ADRs. The aim of this study was to qualitatively assess the potential of using mobile phone caller tunes (the message or sound the caller hears before the receiver answers the call) to encourage patient reporting of ADRs.

Immigrant health access in Texas: policy, rhetoric, and fear in the Trump era.

Background: Since the 2016 presidential election, reports have suggested that President Trump's rhetoric and his administration's proposed policies could be exacerbating barriers to accessing health care for undocumented as well as lawfully present immigrants and their families in the United States. However, very little empirical work has analyzed this possibility or detailed how these reports and rhetoric have altered the health seeking behavior of mixed immigration status families.

Methods: Using a series of focus groups throughout Texas in both English and Spanish, this qualitative study analyzes changes to health access for immigrants.

Determinants of Intention to Use Mobile Phone Caller Tunes to Promote Voluntary Blood Donation: Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Voluntary blood donation rates are low in sub-Saharan Africa. Sociobehavioral factors such as a belief that donated blood would be used for performing rituals deter people from donating blood. There is a need for culturally appropriate communication interventions to encourage individuals to donate blood.

Common and Critical Components Among Community Health Assessment and Community Health Improvement Planning Models.

Community health assessment and community health improvement planning are continuous, systematic processes for assessing and addressing health needs in a community. Since there are different models to guide assessment and planning, as well as a variety of organizations and agencies that carry out these activities, there may be confusion in choosing among approaches. By examining the various components of the different assessment and planning models, we are able to identify areas for coordination, ways to maximize collaboration, and strategies to further improve community health.

Using a Community Health Development Framework to Increase Community Capacity: A Multiple Case Study.

The Physical Activity and Community Engagement Project utilized a comparative case study to understand how a theoretical framework called community health development (CHD) influences community capacity. Three rural communities (cases) developed interventions using a CHD framework. Researchers collected qualitative evidence measuring capacity and the CHD process for more than 3 years.

Depression and health-related quality of life among persons with sensory disabilities in a health professional shortage area.

Objective: The authors examined depression and health-related quality of life among individuals with self-reported sensory impairments living in a health professional shortage area.

Research Method: Health surveys of residents were conducted in 2006 and 2010. Responses were analyzed by groups of residents reporting vision loss, hearing loss, dual hearing and vision loss, and no sensory loss.

A Mixed-Methods Approach to Understanding Community Participation in Community Health Needs Assessments.

Context: Nonprofit hospitals are exempt from paying taxes. To maintain this status, they must provide benefit to the community they serve. In an attempt to improve accountability to these communities and the federal government, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 includes a provision that requires all nonprofit hospitals to conduct a community health needs assessment (CHNA) and implement strategies to address identified health priorities every 3 years.

Community Health Needs Assessment: Potential for Population Health Improvement.

Derived from various health care policies and initiatives, the concept of population health has been newly adopted by health care and medicine. In particular, it has been suggested that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act provision that requires nonprofit hospitals to conduct a community health needs assessment (CHNA) and implement strategies to address health priorities has the potential to improve population health. A mixed methods study design was used to examine the potential for population health improvements to occur through the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)-mandated nonprofit hospital CHNA and planning processes.

Nonprofit hospitals' approach to community health needs assessment.

Objectives: We sought a better understanding of how nonprofit hospitals are fulfilling the community health needs assessment (CHNA) provision of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to conduct CHNAs and develop CHNA and implementation strategies reports.

Methods: Through an Internet search of an estimated 179 nonprofit hospitals in Texas conducted between December 1, 2013, and January 5, 2014, we identified and reviewed 95 CHNA and implementation strategies reports. We evaluated and scored reports with specific criteria.

Science reporting in Accra, Ghana: sources, barriers and motivational factors.

In Ghana, as in many other developing countries, most science reporting is done by general reporters. However, few studies have investigated science reporting in such a situation. To understand better the dynamics of science reporting in such context, we surveyed 151 general reporters in Ghana.

Utilization of an interorganizational network analysis to evaluate the development of community capacity among a community-academic partnership.

Background: Following a community health assessment the Brazos Valley Health Partnership (BVHP) organized to address fragmentation of services and local health needs. This regional partnership employs the fundamental principles of community-based participatory research, fostering an equitable partnership with the aim of building community capacity to address local health issues.

Objectives: This article describes changes in relationships as a result of capacity building efforts in a community-academic partnership.

Assessing depression in rural communities.

Objectives: Examined the severity of depressive symptoms and the rates of probable depression assessed by different instruments that were included in two separate surveys of residents in a predominately rural region of the United States.

Method: Surveys of the Brazos Valley region in south central Texas were conducted and responses to the short form of the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale (in the 2006 survey) and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (in the 2010 survey) were analyzed.

Results: Regardless of instrument used, results indicate that women and African Americans are at greater risk for depression in this underserved region, but no unique effects were found for rural residency.

Residential rurality and oral health disparities: influences of contextual and individual factors.

The purposes of the study were (a) to identify disparities between urban and rural adults in oral health and (b) to examine contextual (i.e., external environment and access to dental care) and individual (i.