Educational Attainment and Educational Contexts as Social Determinants of Health.

Research demonstrates that nearly all health outcomes are patterned by level of education. Specifically, adults with lower educational attainment report more chronic conditions, more functional limitations, and worse overall health. In addition to affecting educational attainment, schools provide an important context in which students spend a substantial portion of their time.

Piloting Safety and Stabilization: A Multi-component Trauma Intervention to Improve HIV Viral Suppression, Retention in Care, and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in a Southern United States HIV Service Organization.

In this observational study, we assessed the extent to which a community-created pilot intervention, providing trauma-informed care for persons with HIV (PWH), affected HIV care retention and viral suppression among PWH attending an HIV Services Organization in the Southern US. PWH with trauma exposure and/or trauma symptoms (N = 166) were offered a screening and referral to treatment (SBIRT) session. Per self-selection, 30 opted-out, 29 received SBIRT-Only, 25 received SBIRT-only but reported receiving other behavioral health care elsewhere, and 82 participated in the Safety and Stabilization (S&S) Intervention.

Network Analysis for Formative Evaluation of Collaborative, Team Science Research Partnerships.

Cancer health disparities persist across the cancer care continuum despite decades of effort to eliminate them. Among the strategies currently used to address these disparities are multi-institution research initiatives that engage multiple stakeholders and change efforts. Endemic to the theory of change of such programs is the idea that collaboration-across institutions, research disciplines, and academic ranks-is necessary to improve outcomes.

Longitudinal Education and Career Outcomes of a Cancer Research Training Program for Underrepresented Students: The Meharry-Vanderbilt-Tennessee State University Cancer Partnership.

This study examined longitudinal education and career outcomes of the Meharry-Vanderbilt-Tennessee State University Cancer Partnership, the longest-running National Cancer Institute (NCI) Comprehensive Partnerships in Advancing Cancer Health Equity (CPACHE) program site in the United States. Degree completion rates were calculated and progression along the entire postsecondary "pipeline" was quantified for 204 participants recruited between 2011 and 2020. For participants who had entered the workforce, career outcomes were also analyzed.

The Meharry-Vanderbilt-Tennessee State University Cancer Partnership (MVTCP): History and Highlights of 20 Years of Accomplishments.

Cancer health disparities among populations are the result of a combination of socioeconomic, environmental, behavioral, and biological factors, which affect cancer incidence, prevalence, mortality, survivorship, financial burden, and screening rates. The long-standing Meharry Medical College (MMC), Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), Tennessee State University (TSU) Cancer Partnership has built an exceptional cancer research and training environment to support the efforts of diverse investigators in addressing disparities. Over the past 20 years, collaborative partnership efforts across multiple disciplines have supported research into the determinants of cancer health disparities at a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center (VICC) along with enhancing research infrastructure and training at MMC and TSU, two institutions that serve predominantly underserved populations and underrepresented students.

Addiction, recovery, and work: Surviving the daily grind.

Background: Employment is a predictor of sobriety for women in recovery from addiction, however, finding and maintaining employment is often a challenge. A number of interventions and a large body of research exist related to improving employment outcomes of women in recovery, but most fail to account for employment as an on-going, uneven process.

Objective: This study applied a longitudinal, qualitative design to explore employment experiences of women in recovery, as well as how those experiences interact with participants' sobriety, health, and well-being.

Individual and household influences on food security and dietary diversity in seven Dominican batey communities.

Background: To identify individual and household characteristics associated with food security and dietary diversity in seven Haitian-Dominican bateyes.

Methods: A cross-sectional sample of 667 households were surveyed. Novel household food security scores were calculated from components of the Household Food Insecurity Assessment Scale, while the Food and Agricultural Organization's Household Dietary Diversity Score was utilized to calculate individual dietary diversity scores.

Navigating Community Development Conflicts: Contested Visions of Poverty & Poverty Alleviation.

This article explores an ethical dilemma that arose from the author's involvement in a project intended to identify and address the needs of seven batey communities in the Dominican Republic. In the summer of 2014, the author conducted a large-scale needs assessment to inform strategic planning for a foundation that was invested in community development work in those communities. Through a collaborative process, the author worked with the foundation, representatives of the migrant communities, and other researchers to develop survey and focus group tools that were administered to 1,360 and 54 people, respectively.

Community health needs assessment and action planning in seven Dominican bateyes.

Haitians and persons of Haitian descent living in the Dominican Republic are often relegated to living in deeply impoverished communities called bateyes. Despite obvious needs and some NGO presence in the bateyes, little assessment has been done to identify specific needs as understood and experienced by community members themselves. This article describes a community health needs assessment and action planning process developed and implemented by university researchers, NGO staff, and community members to identify needed areas for community-based health intervention in seven Dominican bateyes.

A Co-Learning Model for Community-Engaged Program Evaluation.

Objectives: The development, implementation, and assessment of a masters-level program evaluation course designed to train future and current leaders of community-based organizations (CBOs) is described.

Background: In addition to sending students "out" into the community, staff from local community organizations were invited "in" to the classroom to take the course alongside students. Community partners selected a specific evaluation need within their organization that teams could address.

Examining perceptions about mental health care and help-seeking among rural African American families of adolescents.

Rural African American children living in poverty have a higher prevalence rate of mental health disorders than their urban counterparts. While access to mental health services is lacking in resource scarce rural communities, African American rural residents may also be the most likely to confront significant barriers to care and help-seeking. Studies of mental health help-seeking behavior among rural families are rare, even rarer are studies of African Americans living in these areas.