Rural Native Veterans' Perceptions of Care in the Context of Navigator Program Development.

Introduction: American Indian and Alaska Natives serve in the military at one of the highest rates of all racial and ethnic groups. For Veterans, the already significant healthcare disparities Natives experience are aggravated by barriers to accessing care, care navigation, and coordination of health care within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) between the VHA and tribal health systems. To mitigate these barriers, the VHA is developing a patient navigation program designed specifically for rural Native Veterans.

Tribal Perspectives on Patient Navigation for Rural Native Veterans Using Veteran Health Administration Services.

American Indian and Alaska Native (Native) Veterans enrolled in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits program are far less likely to access health care compared to other racial/ethnic groups, in part driven by challenges posed by often distant, complex, and culturally unresponsive health care that does not easily interface with the Indian Health Service (IHS) and local Tribal Health Care.

Obesity in Adults: A 2022 Adapted Clinical Practice Guideline for Ireland.

Background: This Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) for the management of obesity in adults in Ireland, adapted from the Canadian CPG, defines obesity as a complex chronic disease characterised by excess or dysfunctional adiposity that impairs health. The guideline reflects substantial advances in the understanding of the determinants, pathophysiology, assessment, and treatment of obesity.

Summary: It shifts the focus of obesity management toward improving patient-centred health outcomes, functional outcomes, and social and economic participation, rather than weight loss alone.

Collective health behavior and face mask utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic in Oklahoma, USA.

Background: Face mask use offers an important public health tool for reducing the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), yet the politicization of COVID-19 has resulted in uneven adherence. This study assesses the effects of setting characteristics and the sociodemographic composition of crowds on group-level masking rates.

Methods: We conducted 123 site observations of masking behavior at public locations across Oklahoma (USA) between June and September 2020.