Nurses as Human Capital, Not Human Resources.

Determining the economic value of nursing is a pivotal paradigm shift that needs to take place to transform healthcare. It is essential to recognize that nurses' interventions are fundamental to improving patient outcomes and enhancing the efficiency of the entire healthcare system. Nursing services should be seen as human capital worthy of investment versus human resources that are expendable.

Nurses' Voices in Media: Strategies for Chief Nursing Officers.

Nurses comprise the largest group of health professionals yet are underrepresented in health news media, depriving the public of important perspectives on health and healthcare and undermining the public's perceptions of nurses as experts. The George Washington University School of Nursing's Center for Health Policy and Media Engagement partnered with the American Organization for Nursing Leadership to invite a small group of chief nursing officers to participate in a workshop aimed at building an organization-specific strategy for sharing nurses' expertise with the public through media engagement. Participants completed a preworkshop survey, participated in two 4-hour workshops to explore the factors that contribute to nurses' invisibility as media sources, and developed a strategic plan for ensuring that their healthcare organizations are able to recognize and share their nurses' expertise with media.

Collection of Time Activity Data to Support Exposure Assessment: Protocol for a Systematic Evidence Map.

Background: Time Activity Data (TAD) describe the timing, duration, and/or frequency of human activities. Given that activity dictates the rate of contact a person has with an environmental agent, activity data can be used to derive rigorous estimates of exposure. TAD has been used to support exposure estimation in a variety of contexts, although there has been no systematic characterization of how TAD has been collected for environmental health applications.

Racial Disparities in a Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program: Abstinence-Only Versus a Comprehensive Sexuality Education Program.

Background: Despite overall declines in risky teen sexual activity, racial and ethnic disparities persist. This study compared abstinence-only and comprehensive teen pregnancy prevention (TPP) programs to explore the effects of the programs on teen sexual activity-related outcomes that may differ by race/ethnicity.

Methods: Program evaluation data were collected from 7th-grade students in comprehensive (N = 3244) and abstinence-only (N = 3172) TPP programs.

Racial and ethnic disparities in prior authorizations for patients with cancer.

Objective: Prior authorization is used to ensure providers treat patients with medically accepted treatments. Our objective was to evaluate prior authorization decisions in cancer care by race/ethnicity for commercially insured patients.

Study Design: Retrospective study of 18,041 patients diagnosed with cancer between January 1, 2017, and April 1, 2020.

Role of Doulas in Improving Maternal Health and Health Equity Among Medicaid Enrollees, 2014‒2023.

To assess the relationship between doula utilization and health outcomes of females enrolled in Medicaid-affiliated plans in the United States. In this retrospective, observational cohort study, we used Medicaid claims data from a national health insurer to compare health outcomes between females who used and who did not use a doula (2014-2023). We conducted propensity score matching using a 1:1 case‒control match, without replacement, and fit logistic regressions to analyze the relative risks for maternal health outcomes.

A focus shift in the evaluation of misinformation interventions.

The proliferation of misinformation has prompted significant research efforts, leading to the development of a wide range of interventions. There is, however, insufficient guidance on how to evaluate these interventions. Here, we argue that researchers should consider not just the interventions' primary effectiveness but also ancillary outcomes and implementation challenges.

Thinking clearly about misinformation.

There is concern that many ills in Western societies are caused by misinformation. Some researchers argue that misinformation is merely a symptom, not a cause. This is a false dichotomy, and research should differentiate between dimensions of misinformation in these evaluations.

Effect of multi-level social risk factors on developmental trajectories of sexual risk behaviors among Bahamian middle-to-late adolescents.

Background: Few studies have examined how multi-level social factors interact and affect developmental patterns of sexual risk among middle-to-late adolescents who are at risk of experiencing sexual risk behaviors. We examined developmental trajectories of sexual risk behaviors of boys and girls in middle-to-late adolescence and the effects of exposure to three social risk factors (poor parental monitoring, peer risk, and neighborhood risk).

Methods: We followed 2,332 Bahamian adolescents every six months from Grades 10-12.

Don't believe them! Reducing misinformation influence through source discreditation.

Misinformation often continues to influence people's reasoning even after it has been corrected. Therefore, an important aim of applied cognition research is to identify effective measures to counter misinformation. One frequently recommended but hitherto insufficiently tested strategy is source discreditation, that is, attacking the credibility of a misinformation source.

Helpful or harmful? The effect of a diagnostic label and its later retraction on person impressions.

Diagnostic labels for mental health conditions can inadvertently reinforce harmful stereotypes and exacerbate stigma. If a diagnosis is incorrect and a label is wrongly applied, this may negatively impact person impressions even if the inaccurate label is later corrected. This registered report examined this issue.

Fatal and non-fatal civilian injuries sustained during law enforcement-reported encounters in California, 2016-2021.

Background: In 2015, California passed AB 71 to create a state-wide Use of Force Incident Reporting Database (URSUS) to tabulate law enforcement-reported encounters that resulted in serious bodily injury, death or discharge of a firearm. We use these data to analyse encounters that resulted in fatal and non-fatal civilian injuries in California between 2016 and 2021.

Methods: We performed a retrospective review of URSUS from January 2016 to December 2021.

Storing and managing water for the environment is more efficient than mimicking natural flows.

Dams and reservoirs are often needed to provide environmental water and maintain suitable water temperatures for downstream ecosystems. Here, we evaluate if water allocated to the environment, with storage to manage it, might allow environmental water to more reliably meet ecosystem objectives than a proportion of natural flow. We use a priority-based water balance operations model and a reservoir temperature model to evaluate 1) pass-through of a portion of reservoir inflow versus 2) allocating a portion of storage capacity and inflow for downstream flow and stream temperature objectives.

Nudge-based misinformation interventions are effective in information environments with low misinformation prevalence.

Nudge-based misinformation interventions are presented as cheap and effective ways to reduce the spread of misinformation online. However, despite online information environments typically containing relatively low volumes of misinformation, most studies testing the effectiveness of nudge interventions present equal proportions of true and false information. As the effectiveness of nudges can be highly context-dependent, it is imperative to validate the effectiveness of nudge-based interventions in environments with more realistic proportions of misinformation.

Application and demonstration of meso-activity exposure factors to advance estimates of incidental soil ingestion among agricultural workers.

Background: Soil is an understudied and underregulated pathway of chemical exposure, particularly for agricultural workers who cultivate food in soils. Little is known about how agricultural workers spend their time and how they may contact soil while growing food. Exposure factors are behavioral and environmental variables used in exposure estimation.

Toolbox of individual-level interventions against online misinformation.

The spread of misinformation through media and social networks threatens many aspects of society, including public health and the state of democracies. One approach to mitigating the effect of misinformation focuses on individual-level interventions, equipping policymakers and the public with essential tools to curb the spread and influence of falsehoods. Here we introduce a toolbox of individual-level interventions for reducing harm from online misinformation.

Aspartame exposures in the US population: Demonstration of a novel approach for exposure estimates to food additives using NHANES data.

Background: Exposure to food additives is widespread but up-to-date and accurate intake estimates are rarely available. The safety of the food additive aspartame is the subject of recent controversy and intake estimates for this nonnutritive sweetener are typically derived from surrogates such as diet soda consumption.

Objective: We describe an approach for developing nationally representative dietary exposure estimates for food additives that combines intake from dietary recalls and grocery purchasing information.

Teachers' Perceptions of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Their Implementation of an Evidence-based HIV Prevention Program in the Bahamas.

Information on how school-based programs is implemented and sustained during crises is limited. In this study, we assessed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the implementation of a HIV prevention intervention in The Bahamas. Data were collected from 139 Grade 6 teachers in 2021-2022.

Nutrients and non-essential metals in darkibor kale grown at urban and rural farms: A pilot study.

Kale is a nutrient-dense leafy vegetable associated with wide-ranging health benefits. It is tolerant of drought and temperature fluctuations, and could thus serve an increasingly important role in providing a safe and nutritious food supply during the climate crisis, while kale's ease of cultivation and ability to be grown in a wide range of soils make it a good fit for urban agriculture. In this pilot study we explored potential differences between kale grown at urban versus rural farms.

The Association Between Mammography Screening Frequency and Breast Cancer Treatment and Outcomes: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Objective: Guidelines for optimal frequency of screening mammography vary by professional society. Sparse evidence exists on the association between screening frequency and breast cancer treatment options. The main objective was to examine differences in cancer treatment rendered for U.

Limitations of Reporting Requirements under California's Livestock Antimicrobial Restriction Law.

Background: Antimicrobial use in livestock production is considered a key contributor to growing antimicrobial resistance in bacteria. In 2015, California became the first state to enact restrictions on routine antimicrobial use in livestock production via Senate Bill 27 (SB27). SB27 further required the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) to collect and disseminate data on antimicrobial use in livestock production.

Assessing the difference in contamination of retail meat with multidrug-resistant bacteria using for-consumer package label claims that indicate on-farm antibiotic use practices- United States, 2016-2019.

Background: Antibiotic use in food-producing animals can select for antibiotic resistance in bacteria that can be transmitted to people through contamination of food products during meat processing. Contamination resulting in foodborne illness contributes to adverse health outcomes. Some livestock producers have implemented antibiotic use reduction strategies marketed to consumers on regulated retail meat packaging labels ("label claims").