Key correlates of exclusive breastfeeding at three timepoints: Evidence from Ethiopia.

Aim: To compare factors associated with exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) within 1 h of birth, within 3 days, and within the first 6 months post-birth.

Methods: We used multivariate logistic regression models and data from "The Alive and Thrive Phase 2 Amhara Baseline Survey 2015" from Ethiopia ( = 3113).

Results: Giving colostrum was strongly associated with EBF at all three time points, controlling for multiple confounders.

"Collaboration Toward One Collective Goal": A Mixed-Methods Study of Short-Term Learning Outcomes and Long-Term Impacts Among Students Participating in an Undergraduate Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) Course.

Research shows positive learning outcomes for students participating in service learning. However, the impacts of undergraduate student participation in Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) courses are minimally studied. We used a triangulation mixed-methods design approach to analyze short- and long-term (1-5 years post-course) data collected from 59 undergraduate students across 5 cohorts of a CBPR course (2014-19).

Establishing Teams: How Does It Change Practice Configuration, Size, and Composition?

Little is known about how practices reorganize when transitioning from traditional practice organization to team-based care. We compared practice-level (1) configuration as well as practice- and team-level (2) size and (3) composition, before and after establishing teams. We employed a pre-/poststudy using personnel lists of 1571 to 1711 staff (eg, job licenses, titles, and team assignment) and practice manager surveys.

Strategies to Build Readiness in Community Mobilization Efforts for Implementation in a Multi-Year Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative.

Purpose: This paper describes an assessment of community readiness to implement a community-wide teen pregnancy prevention initiative, Youth First, and presents strategies used to enhance this readiness as informed by the assessment.

Methods: Twenty-five community stakeholder interviews were conducted to assess four domains of readiness: (1) attitudes, perception, and knowledge of teen pregnancy; (2) perceived level of readiness; (3) resources, existing and current efforts; and (4) leadership. Interview transcripts were coded and analyzed to identify key themes.

Enhancing Adolescent Reproductive Health Services: Assessment of Health Care Practices in Holyoke and Springfield, MA Engaged in the Youth First Initiative.

Health care practices can play a key role in reducing teen pregnancies, though current health care systems do not adequately meet adolescents' reproductive health needs. To address this gap, Youth First, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funded, community-wide initiative in Holyoke and Springfield (Massachusetts) established partnerships with nine local health care practices to increase adolescent access to health services. However, we had limited knowledge about their reproductive health services and policies.

A mixed-methods approach to understanding water use and water infrastructure in a schistosomiasis-endemic community: case study of Asamama, Ghana.

Background: Surface water contaminated with human waste may transmit urogenital schistosomiasis (UGS). Water-related activities that allow skin exposure place people at risk, but public health practitioners know little about why some communities with access to improved water infrastructure have substantial surface water contact with infectious water bodies. Community-based mixed-methods research can provide critical information about water use and water infrastructure improvements.

Assessing research interest and capacity in community health centers.

Objective: Community health centers (CHCs) have great potential to participate in the development of evidence-based primary care but face obstacles to engagement in clinical translational research.

Methods: To understand factors associated with CHC interest in building research infrastructure, Harvard Catalyst and the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers conducted an online survey of medical directors in all 50 Massachusetts CHC networks.

Results: Thirty-two (64%) medical directors completed the survey representing 126 clinical sites.

Community capacity building and sustainability: outcomes of community-based participatory research.

Background: For communities, the value of community-based participatory research (CBPR) is often manifested in the outcomes of increased capacity and sustainable adoption of evidence-based practices for social change. Educational opportunities that promote discourse between community and academic partners can help to advance CBPR and better define these outcomes.

Objectives: This paper describes a community-academic conference to develop shared definitions of community capacity building and sustainability related to CBPR and to identify obstacles and facilitators to both.

Community-based participatory research skills and training needs in a sample of academic researchers from a clinical and translational science center in the Northeast.

Purpose: To determine the community-based participatory research (CBPR) training interests and needs of researchers interested in CBPR to inform efforts to build infrastructure for conducting community-engaged research.

Method: A 20-item survey was completed by 127 academic health researchers at Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health, and Harvard affiliated hospitals.

Results: Slightly more than half of the participants reported current or prior experience with CBPR (58 %).

Neighborhood influences on perceived social support among parents: findings from the project on human development in Chicago neighborhoods.

Background: Social support is frequently linked to positive parenting behavior. Similarly, studies increasingly show a link between neighborhood residential environment and positive parenting behavior. However, less is known about how the residential environment influences parental social support.

Investigating the myth of the "model minority": a participatory community health assessment of Chinese and Vietnamese adults.

Despite the persistent belief that Asians are the "model minority" there is accumulating evidence of health concerns within Asian subgroups. In this study, we implemented a cross-sectional participatory community health assessment in an urban city in Massachusetts, to understand differences and similarities in demographics, health and healthcare access in Chinese and Vietnamese adults. We gathered qualitative data from community stakeholders to inform the development of a community health assessment tool.

A funding initiative for community-based participatory research: lessons from the Harvard Catalyst Seed Grants.

Background: The National Institutes of Health-funded Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) have increasingly focused on community-engaged research and funded investigators for community-based participatory research (CBPR). However, because CBPR is a collaborative process focused on community-identified research topics, the Harvard CTSA and its Community Advisory Board (CERAB) funded community partners through a CBPR initiative.

Objectives: We describe lessons learned from this seed grants initiative designed to stimulate community-academic CBPR partnerships.

Mental health care services for children with special health care needs and their family members: prevalence and correlates of unmet needs.

Objectives: To estimate the prevalence and correlates of unmet needs for mental health care services for children with special health care needs and their families.

Methods: We use the National Survey of Children With Special Health Care Needs to estimate the prevalence of unmet mental health care needs among children with special health care needs (1-17 years old) and their families. Using logistic-regression models, we also assess the independent impact of child and family factors on unmet needs.