The Nature of Employment in a High Socioeconomic Hardship Community: Data From the Greater Lawndale Healthy Work Survey.

Objectives: This cross-sectional survey aimed to examine employment characteristics and their associations with employment precarity in two high socioeconomic hardship Chicago neighborhoods.

Methods: We used a community-based participatory approach to develop and administer a survey to residents who perceived their work situations to be precarious.

Results: A total of 489 residents were surveyed.

Systemic Occupational Health Needs of Gender-Based Violence Advocates: Findings From the Early Months of the Pandemic.

Objective: This study explores occupational health burdens faced by domestic and sexual violence advocates, many of which intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic. It identifies key stressors and offers advocate-driven recommendations to improve their wellbeing, addressing the lack of system-level interventions in the occupational health literature.

Methods: Semistructured interviews were conducted with 22 advocacy professionals.

Employment Precarity and Increased Risk of Hazardous Occupational Exposures Among Residents of High Socioeconomic Hardship Neighborhoods.

Background: While there is evidence that workers in nonstandard employment arrangements are disproportionately exposed to recognized occupational hazards, existing studies have not comprehensively examined associations between employment precarity and exposure to occupational hazards for these workers in the USA. The aim of this study was to examine relationships between employment precarity and occupational hazards in two contiguous high socio-economic hardship neighborhoods in Chicago.

Methods: Using a community-based participatory research approach, community researchers administered a community-developed survey to 489 residents of Greater Lawndale who reported current or recent employment in a job that met at least one characteristic of precarious employment (e.

Community Resident Perceptions of and Experiences with Precarious Work at the Neighborhood Level: The Greater Lawndale Healthy Work Project.

Work is a key social determinant of health. Community health and well-being may be impacted in neighborhoods with high proportions of people engaged in precarious work situations compounded by health inequities produced by other social determinants associated with their residential geography. However, little is known about how community residents experience work at the neighborhood level nor how work impacts health at the community-level, particularly in communities with a high proportion of residents engaged in precarious work.

Community daytime noise pollution and socioeconomic differences in Chicago, IL.

Environmental noise may affect hearing and a variety of non-auditory disease processes. There is some evidence that, like other environmental hazards, noise may be differentially distributed across communities based on socioeconomic status. We aimed to a) predict daytime noise pollution levels and b) assess disparities in daytime noise exposure in Chicago, Illinois.

Role of technical assistance in U.S. labor and health sector collaboration to address precarious work.

Precarious work has recognized adverse impacts on the health of workers; however, there are few policy, systems and environmental (PSE) change public health interventions that target the causes and consequences of precarious work. To build the capacity of health organizations to develop and implement such interventions, researchers engaged representatives from health organizations in a six-session learning process, entitled the healthy work collaborative. Representatives of labor organizations were engaged as technical assistance (TA) providers, which involved sharing content and skill knowledge with health participants.

Attitudes and behaviors of chiropractic interns toward occupational history taking.

Objective: This study uses a pre- and post-training program evaluation of chiropractic interns to (1) describe changes in their frequency of occupational history taking before and after a 1-hour training and (2) to document the attitudes and beliefs regarding occupational health and history taking.

Methods: All chiropractic interns at 1 clinic location completed questionnaires assessing their attitudes and perceptions regarding documenting the occupational history of their patients each trimester they were enrolled in the study. Each intern enrolled in the study for 2 or more trimesters participated in a 1-hour-long training session on taking an occupational history.

Needs Assessment for a Comprehensive Reemployment Program Among Residents of a Work Rehabilitation Program for Individuals With Unstable or Lack of Housing.

Objective: Individuals in transitional housing programs often have a goal of reaching stable employment, but the unique needs and barriers for achieving this warrants further study.

Methods: A structured interview guide was administered orally and descriptive data analysis was done for this exploratory mixed-methods study.

Results: Commonly reported reemployment challenges included legal barriers and unmet transportation, housing, and financial needs.

Understanding the Role of Academic Partners as Technical Assistance Providers: Results from an Exploratory Study to Address Precarious Work.

Universities may be well poised to support knowledge, skill, and capacity-building efforts to foster the development of multi-level interventions to address complex problems. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) engaged organizations interested in developing policy- and systems-level initiatives to address the drivers of precarious work in a six-meeting Action Learning (AL) process, in which the researchers served as technical assistance (TA) providers focused on facilitating learning and promoting critical thinking among participants. This exploratory qualitative study examined the role, facilitators, challenges, and impacts of university facilitation in this context.

Impact of precarious work on neighborhood health: Concept mapping by a community/academic partnership.

Objective: As part of community-based participatory research (CBPR) examining precarious employment and community health, academic, and community researchers used concept mapping to explore how residents in two high hardship neighborhoods perceive the impact of work on health.

Methods: Between January and May 2017, 292 individuals who lived or worked in two contiguous Chicago neighborhoods were engaged in brainstorming, sorting, and rating activities. Multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis were applied, and findings were interpreted by a community-academic partnership.

Characterization of size-specific particulate matter emission rates for a simulated medical laser procedure--a pilot study.

Prior investigation on medical laser interaction with tissue has suggested device operational parameter settings influence laser generated air contaminant emission, but this has not been systematically explored. A laboratory-based simulated medical laser procedure was designed and pilot tested to determine the effect of laser operational parameters on the size-specific mass emission rate of laser generated particulate matter. Porcine tissue was lased in an emission chamber using two medical laser systems (CO2, λ = 10,600 nm; Ho:YAG, λ = 2100 nm) in a fractional factorial study design by varying three operational parameters (beam diameter, pulse repetition frequency, and power) between two levels (high and low) and the resultant plume was measured using two real-time size-selective particle counters.

Comparing written programs and self-reported respiratory protection practices in acute care hospitals.

Airborne biological hazards in hospitals require the use of respiratory protection. A well-implemented respiratory protection program can protect health care workers from these exposures. This study examines the relationship between written respiratory programs and reported practices in health care settings.

Occupational stress and subclinical atherosclerosis: a systematic review.

Background: Stress is a common hazard in the work environment and is associated with multiple adverse health effects. The association between work-related stress (WRS) and cardiovascular disease has been established in a number of epidemiological studies.

Methods: A systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA statement of the English literature involving WRS and carotid artery intima media thickness (CIMT).

Evaluation of Minnesota and Illinois hospital respiratory protection programs and health care worker respirator use.

The objective of this study was to assess respiratory protection programs for aerosol-transmissible diseases in acute care hospitals for conformance with regulatory requirements and public health guidelines. Twenty-eight representative hospitals were selected by size, location, and ownership in Minnesota and Illinois. Interviews were conducted with 363 health care workers and 171 managers from high-risk departments.

A pilot study to determine medical laser generated air contaminant emission rates for a simulated surgical procedure.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) estimates that half a million health-care workers are exposed to laser surgical smoke each year.

Moving into green healthy housing.

Background: Green building systems have proliferated but health outcomes and associated costs and benefits remain poorly understood.

Objective: To compare health before and after families moved into new green healthy housing with a control group in traditionally repaired housing.

Design And Setting: Mixed methods study in 3 Chicago housing developments.

Respiratory disease mortality among US coal miners; results after 37 years of follow-up.

Objectives: To evaluate respiratory related mortality among underground coal miners after 37 years of follow-up.

Methods: Underlying cause of death for 9033 underground coal miners from 31 US mines enrolled between 1969 and 1971 was evaluated with life table analysis. Cox proportional hazards models were fitted to evaluate the exposure-response relationships between cumulative exposure to coal mine dust and respirable silica and mortality from pneumoconiosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer.

Associations between obesity and asthma in a low-income, urban, minority population.

Background: Community-based studies of obesity, asthma, biomarkers of oxidative stress, and adipokines among low-income, urban, minority populations are lacking. Oxidative stress, perhaps modulated by adipokines, may increase airway inflammation in obese individuals.

Objectives: To characterize associations between obesity and asthma in a low-income, urban, minority community and evaluate adipokines, biomarkers of inflammation, and oxidant-antioxidant balance in association with asthma and obesity.

Evaluating the association of workplace psychosocial stressors with occupational injury, illness, and assault.

This research project characterizes occupational injuries, illnesses, and assaults (OIIAs) as a negative outcome associated with worker exposure to generalized workplace abuse/harassment, sexual harassment, and job threat and pressure. Data were collected in a nationwide random-digit-dial telephone survey conducted during 2003-2004. There were 2151 study interviews conducted in English and Spanish.

Personal exposure to metal fume, NO2, and O3 among production welders and non-welders.

The objective of this study was to characterize personal exposures to welding-related metals and gases for production welders and non-welders in a large manufacturing facility. Welding fume metals and irritant gases nitrogen dioxide (NO(2)) and ozone (O(3)) were sampled for thirty-eight workers. Personal exposure air samples for welding fume metals were collected on 37 mm open face cassettes and nitrogen dioxide and ozone exposure samples were collected with diffusive passive samplers.

Concentration and emission of airborne contaminants in a laboratory animal facility housing rabbits.

Characterization of animal housing conditions can determine the frequency of bedding and cage changes, which are not standardized from facility to facility. Rabbits produce noticeable odors, and their excreta can scald and stain cages. Our facility wanted to document measurable airborne contaminants in a laboratory rabbit room in which excreta pans were changed weekly and cages changed biweekly.

Dust emission rates from food processing.

A field study was performed to develop emission rates for dust exposure at a food processing facility. Eight 2-hour periods were monitored over 2 days. Area total suspended particulate samples were collected on 37 mm polyvinyl chloride filters with 5 mum pore size according to NIOSH Method 0500.

Personal dust exposures at a food processing facility.

A field study was performed to quantify personal dust exposures at a food processing facility. A review of the literature shows very little exposure information in the food processing industry. The processing area consisted of a series of four rooms, connected by a closed-loop ventilation system, housed within a larger warehouse-type facility.