Efforts to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in healthcare have increased, targeting healthcare worker biases with the goal of increasing inclusion of employees from racial and ethnic minoritized groups and improving care for patients from these groups. Virtual reality (VR) remains an underutilized mechanism for effecting behavior and attitude change. VR educational interventions work through two primary pathways, behavior rehearsal and embodiment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Santa Maria and Guadalupe are neighboring cities in northern Santa Barbara County that have a lower socioeconomic profile than the county overall, are >75% Latino, and have up to 32,000 residents who identify as Indigenous, primarily Mixtec-speaking people from southern Mexico. We conducted a mixed-methods community needs assessment to identify unique health challenges and barriers that Latinx and Mixtec individuals faced. From January to April 2021, targeted and general recruitment approaches were used to recruit a convenience sample of 159 participants (74% Latinx, 72% female, mean age 41.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground/aim: The pomegranate fruit has been associated with a variety of human health benefits based on its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Punicic acid (PA) is an omega-5 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acid that constitutes approximately 65-80% of the oil from pomegranate seeds and has been found to possesses anti-cancer activity in various cancer types. To better understand its cell specificity, we investigated the effects of punicic acid on both the MCF-7 human breast cancer cell line as well as the non-cancerous MCF-10A breast epithelial line.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNurse leaders are foundational to the success of creating an inclusive culture and climate and responding to situations of discrimination, racism, microaggressions, and bias in healthcare settings. This article describes a leadership education initiative using virtual reality to provide diversity, equity, and inclusion training for nurse leaders. Immersion in a lived experience provides a safe and effective learning environment to promote, improve, and exemplify diversity, equity, and inclusion principles and should be explored for other educational applications.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Community Health
October 2024