Using Concept Mapping to Identify Community Partners' and Researchers' Perceptions of Social Justice: A Path Toward Eliminating Chronic Disease Disparities.

Background: A social justice framework can be used to inform healthy equity-focused research, and operationalizing social justice can inform strategic planning for research and practice models. This study aimed to develop a working definition of social justice based on input from a diverse group of collaborators to better inform the work conducted within the Center for Research, Health, and Social Justice.

Methods: A concept mapping study was conducted from March to May 2022.

Changes in Capacity Building and Sustained Implementation Among a Statewide Coalition to Address Racial/Ethnic COVID-19 Disparities.

This article describes Arkansas Community Engagement Alliance Against COVID-19 Disparities (CEAL) Coalition initiatives and changes in measures of organizational capacity and sustainability via two waves of surveys. The Arkansas CEAL Coalition used several initiatives to address racial/ethnic COVID-19 disparities by building the capacity of community-based organizations and businesses to increase COVID-19 protective behaviors among their clients. Our study can inform future strategies that use a community-engaged coalition structure to reduce disparities among communities that suffer disproportionately from COVID-19.

Social determinants of health and COVID-19: An evaluation of racial and ethnic disparities in attitudes, practices, and mental health.

Previous evaluations have reported racial minorities feel they are at greater risk of contracting COVID-19, but that on average, they have better preventative practices, such as wearing face masks and avoiding large gatherings. In this study, we explored associations between social determinants of health (SDOH), race and ethnicity, COVID-19 practices and attitudes, and mental health outcomes during the pandemic. We examined associations between SDOHs and practices, attitudes, and mental health symptoms by race and ethnicity using multivariable linear and logistic regressions in 8582 Arkansan pulse poll respondents (September-December, 2020).

Food Insecurity in the Rural United States: An Examination of Struggles and Coping Mechanisms to Feed a Family among Households with a Low-Income.

Households with a low-income in rural places experience disproportionate levels of food insecurity. Further research is needed about the nuances in strategies that households with a low-income in rural areas apply to support food security nationally. This study aimed to understand the barriers and strategies that households with a low-income in rural areas experience to obtain a meal and support food security in the United States.

Real-World Treatment Patterns of Glucose-Lowering Agents Among Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Cardiovascular Disease or At Risk for Cardiovascular Disease: An Observational, Cross-Sectional, Retrospective Study.

Introduction: There is limited published literature on longitudinal utilization of glucose-lowering agents (GLAs) among patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease (CVD or risk of CVD). This retrospective, observational study aimed to provide updated evidence on patient characteristics and utilization of GLAs among patients with T2D and CVD or risk of CVD in the United States.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional evaluation of patients with T2D aged 50-89 years with annual continuous enrolment in a Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug plan, identified from administrative claims data (Humana Research Database).

Cardiovascular risk prediction model and stratification in patients with type 2 diabetes enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan.

Cardiovascular (CV) risk tools have been developed both nationally and internationally to identify patients at risk for developing CV disease or experiencing a CV event. However, these tools vary widely in the definitions of endpoints, the time at which the endpoints are measured, patient populations, and their validity. The primary limitation of some of the most commonly utilized tools is the lack of specificity for a type 2 diabetes (T2D) population and/or among older patients.

Clinical Nutrition Research and the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review of the ASPEN COVID-19 Task Force on Nutrition Research.

The purpose of this scoping review by the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN) Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Nutrition Task Force was to examine nutrition research applicable to the COVID-19 pandemic. The rapid pace of emerging scientific information has prompted this activity to discover research/knowledge gaps. This methodology adhered with recommendations from the Joanna Briggs Institute.

Examining Rural Food-Insecure Families' Perceptions of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: A Qualitative Study.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a critical program that helps reduce the risk of food insecurity, yet little is known about how SNAP addresses the needs of rural, food-insecure residents in the United States (U.S.).

The Curated Food System: A Limiting Aspirational Vision of What Constitutes "Good" Food.

In an effort to elucidate an aspirational vision for the food system and explore whether the characteristics of such a system inadvertently set unattainable standards for low-wealth rural communities, we applied discourse analysis to the following qualitative datasets: (1) interviews with food experts and advocates, (2) scholarly and grey literature, (3) industry websites, and (4) email exchanges between food advocates. The analysis revealed eight aspirational food system discourses: production, distribution, and infrastructure; healthy, organic, local food; behavioral health and education; sustainability; finance and investment; hunger relief; demand-side preferences; romanticized, community led transformations. Study findings reveal that of eight discourses, only three encompass the experiences of low-wealth rural residents.

Health care resource utilization among patients with T2D and cardiovascular-, heart failure-, or renal-related hospitalizations.

Objectives: In patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D), comorbidity-related hospitalizations can have significant impact on longitudinal care. This study aimed to estimate incremental all-cause health care resource utilization (HCRU) and costs between patients with T2D who experienced cardiovascular (CV)-, heart failure (HF)-, or renal-related hospitalizations vs those who did not.

Study Design: This was a retrospective cohort study using data from a large national health plan.

The WORD: Outcomes of a Behavioral Weight Loss Maintenance Effectiveness Trial in Rural Black Adults of Faith.

Objective: Rural black communities bear a disproportionate burden of obesity. To increase reach among underserved groups, community-based weight loss and maintenance interventions are crucial.

Methods: The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) was adapted for rural black adults of faith to create The Wholeness, Oneness, Righteousness, Deliverance (WORD) trial, a group-based, community health worker-delivered weight loss intervention.

Health Care Utilization and Medical Cost Outcomes from a Digital Diabetes Prevention Program in a Medicare Advantage Population.

This study examined the effects of a digital diabetes prevention program (DPP) on health care costs and utilization among Medicare Advantage participants. Patients (n = 501) received access to a plan-sponsored, digitally-delivered DPP accessible through computer, tablet, or smartphone. Prior research demonstrated a 7.

A Tailored Dietary Sodium Intervention Using Technology and Psychosocial Support: A Pilot Study.

Background: In patients with heart failure (HF), high dietary sodium intake is common and associated with HF symptoms, poor health-related quality of life (HRQOL), and high hospitalization rates.

Purpose: The aims of this study were to examine the feasibility of a tailored dietary intervention with a practical tool (MyFitnessPal) and to obtain preliminary data about the effects on sodium intake, factors affecting sodium intake (knowledge, skills, experiences, confidence, perceived benefits and barriers, and depressive symptoms), HF symptoms, and HRQOL.

Methods: A 6-session intervention was delivered to 11 participants.

Reach and Adoption of a Randomized Weight Loss Maintenance Trial in Rural African Americans of Faith: The WORD (Wholeness, Oneness, Righteousness, Deliverance).

Purpose: There is minimal information regarding the Reach and Adoption of evidence-based weight loss maintenance interventions for African Americans of faith.

Design: The WORD (Wholeness, Oneness, Righteousness, Deliverance) was an 18-month, cluster randomized trial designed to reduce and maintain weight loss in African American adults of faith. Participants received the Diabetes Prevention Program adapted core weight loss program for 6 months, and churches were subsequently randomized to 12-month maintenance treatment or control.

Understanding Prediabetes in a Medicare Advantage Population Using Data Adaptive Techniques.

The objective was to identify individuals with undiagnosed prediabetes from administrative data using adaptive techniques. The data source was a national Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug (MAPD) plan administrative data set. A retrospective, cross-sectional study developed and evaluated data adaptive logistic regression, decision tree, neural network, and ensemble predictive models for metabolic syndrome and prediabetes using 3 mutually exclusive cohorts (N = 279,903).

Comorbid Arthritis Is Associated With Lower Health-Related Quality of Life in Older Adults With Other Chronic Conditions, United States, 2013-2014.

Introduction: Arthritis is related to poor health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in adults aged 18 years or older. We sought to determine whether this relationship persisted in an older population using claims-based arthritis diagnoses and whether people who also had arthritis and at least 1 of 5 other chronic conditions had lower HRQoL.

Methods: We identified adults aged 65 years or older with Medicare Advantage coverage in November or December 2014 who responded to an HRQoL survey (Healthy Days).

Outcomes of a Digital Health Program With Human Coaching for Diabetes Risk Reduction in a Medicare Population.

Objective: To examine the outcomes of a Medicare population who participated in a program combining digital health with human coaching for diabetes risk reduction.

Method: People at risk for diabetes enrolled in a program combining digital health with human coaching. Participation and health outcomes were examined at 16 weeks and 6 and 12 months.

Predictors of all-cause 30 day readmission among Medicare patients with type 2 diabetes.

Objective: Readmission is costly among patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug Plans; identifying high-risk patients is necessary for targeting reduction programs. The objective of this study was to develop a claims-based algorithm to predict all-cause 30 day readmission among patients with T2DM.

Methods: This study used administrative data from 1 January 2012 through 31 January 2014.

Do individual, online motivational interviewing chat sessions enhance weight loss in a group-based, online weight control program?

Objective: To examine whether the addition of online motivational interviewing (MI) chats to a Web-based, group behavioral obesity treatment program augments weight loss outcomes relative to the Web-based weight control program alone.

Methods: Healthy individuals (N = 398, 24% minority) with overweight/obesity were randomized to a 36-session group Internet behavioral weight control treatment (BT) or the same group Internet treatment plus six individual MI chat sessions (BT + MI). Both conditions received weekly synchronous online chat group sessions for 6 months followed by 12 monthly group chats.

Leveraging Health-Related Quality of Life in Population Health Management: The Case for Healthy Days.

Measuring population health with morbidity and mortality data, often collected at the site of care, fails to capture the individual's perspective on health and well-being. Because health happens outside the walls of medical facilities, a holistic and singular measure of health that can easily be captured for an entire population could aid in understanding the well-being of communities. This paper postulates that Healthy Days, a health-related quality of life measure developed and validated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is an ideal survey instrument to advance population health.

The legendary Smiths and their Paris hospital.

The Paris Hospital in Paris, Arkansas, provided high quality care during its existence from 1910 to 1971, offering a prepaid health care plan from 1920 to 1971. Three generations of Smith doctors were its nucleus, subsidizing the annual losses of the hospital and providing care to all, regardless of ability to pay. The hospital was a community unto itself for the nurses who lived, trained, and worked there.

Barriers and facilitators to senior centers participating in translational research.

Senior centers are ideal locations to deliver evidence-based health promotion programs to the rapidly growing population of older Americans to help them remain healthy and independent in the community. However, little reported research is conducted in partnership with senior centers; thus, not much is known about barriers and facilitators for senior centers serving as research sites. To fill this gap and potentially accelerate research within senior centers to enhance translation of evidence-based interventions into practice, the present study examined barriers and facilitators of senior centers invited to participate in a cluster-randomized controlled trial.

Medicine in old Fort Smith: struggles with mud and quacks.

Dr. J. G.

Kitchen surgery and house calls in old Fort Smith.

Medical practice in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries consisted largely of kitchen surgery and house calls. The practices of Dr. St.

Examination of costs for a lay health educator-delivered translation of the Diabetes Prevention Program in senior centers.

Objective: Older adults in the U.S. have high rates of obesity.