Overdose deaths before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in a US county.

Introduction: Globally, overdose deaths increased near the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, which created availability and access barriers to addiction and social services. Especially in times of a crisis like a pandemic, local exposures, service availability and access, and system responses have major influence on people who use drugs. For policy makers to be effective, an understanding at the local level is needed.

Model-driven decision support: A community-based meta-implementation strategy to predict population impact.

Purpose: Standard tools for public health decision making such as data dashboards, trial repositories, and intervention briefs may be necessary but insufficient for guiding community leaders in optimizing local public health strategy. Predictive modeling decision support tools may be the missing link that allows community level decision makers to confidently direct funding and other resources to interventions and implementation strategies that will improve upon the status quo.

Methods: We describe a community-based model-driven decision support (MDDS) approach that requires community engagement, local data, and predictive modeling tools (agent-based modeling in our case studies) to improve decision-making on implementing strategies to address complex public health problems such as overdose deaths.

Transgender Veterans and the Veterans Health Administration: Exploring the Experiences of Transgender Veterans in the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System.

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has provided transgender transition-related care to veterans since 2011. However, little is known about the experiences of transgender veteran patients accessing transgender transition-related healthcare at Veterans Affairs (VA) clinics since the establishment of this care. The purpose of this study was to explore transgender veterans' experiences accessing and utilizing transition-related healthcare through the VA healthcare system.

Fit to Serve? Exploring Mental and Physical Health and Well-Being Among Transgender Active-Duty Service Members and Veterans in the U.S. Military.

Although transgender people are currently excluded from enlistment and discharged from service based on medical and psychological fitness policies, the current mental and physical health of transgender active-duty U.S. military personnel and veterans is poorly understood.

Linguistic Stereotyping in Older Adults' Perceptions of Health Care Aides.

The cultural and linguistic diversity of the U.S. health care provider workforce is expanding.