Purpose COVID-19 devastated communities globally, with the United States leading in fatalities despite extensive control efforts. In 2021, COVID-19 vaccines emerged as the most promising solution, with an efficacy rate exceeding 95% after full vaccination. However, herd immunity remains an elusive target with only 70% of the U.S. population fully vaccinated. This study investigates whether prior vaccination and medical history significantly predict COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and uptake. Design Using data collected from the 66 th largest U.S. city after the widespread deployment of COVID-19 vaccines and boosters, we employed logistic regression to test whether an individual’s history of vaccination and prior medical engagement positively influence COVID-19 vaccine-related decisions. Setting Cross-sectional U.S. survey from July-October 2022 (N = 397) and November 2023-February 2024 (N = 429). Subjects Adult Residents of the City of Newark, New Jersey (Aged 18+). Measures Newark Community Health Survey (2022, 2023). Results Individuals with a history of preventive care, such as attending at least one non-emergency medical visit in the past year, receiving either the pneumococcal or influenza vaccine within the past year, strongly predicted COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. These predictors also demonstrated a strong positive association with the completion of the primary vaccine series and a higher overall total vaccine uptake. Conclusion Future vaccine campaigns should prioritize “low engagement” populations who lack both recent routine medical visits and a history of previous vaccinations.

The goal of this study is to examine police personnel performance in terms of the disproportionate use of lethal force against racial minorities in the United States. More specifically, we want to better understand the conditions where we are likely to observe disproportionality against racial minority suspects using signal detection theory. When examining fatal encounters, we found that even though White officers are not likely to target Black suspects, in general, the disproportionality of Black victims emerges when the victim has an issued warrant. The study suggests that disproportionate police fatal encounters against Black suspects may emerge under specific circumstances. We conclude our study by discussing the implications for police personnel behavior and performance in bureaucratic decision-making using the tenets of signal detection.

Many municipal governments in the United States have undergone structural changes over time. While previous research primarily focused on classifying and comparing different municipal government forms, it only hinted at spatial patterns without empirically examining them from a spatial perspective. This study explores the patterns of the two most prevalent forms of municipal government - mayor-council and council-manager - in the Midwestern region of the United States in 1980 and 2010. Spatial analysis methods, including average nearest neighbour, spatial autocorrelation, and cluster and outlier analysis, were used. The findings reveal spatial autocorrelation, indicating that neighbouring municipalities influenced changes in the form of government. Both average nearest neighbour and spatial autocorrelation analyses show that significant spatial clustering characterised both forms of government. Furthermore, cluster and outlier analysis indicates that municipal governments were significantly clustered in 1980 and 2010, with the strength of clustering slightly increasing over the 30-year period. This suggests that spatial patterns in the distribution of municipal government forms have become more pronounced over time. These results underscore the importance of spatial contexts in shaping municipal governance.

A wealth of research has documented the detrimental consequences of health illiteracy and its impact on a multitude of health-related issues. Scholars across various disciplines have consistently shown that individuals with higher educational attainment, those born in the United States, and those with greater English proficiency, are more likely to exhibit higher levels of health literacy. However, the extent to which these individuals adhere to established health guidelines remains an understudied area. Therefore, we analyzed data from one of the largest cities impacted by COVID-19 in the United States, to determine whether traditional predictors of high health literacy levels translated into higher levels of vaccination intentions and vaccination doses, to protect themselves and their communities from COVID-19 related illness and death. The results indicated that individuals with high health literacy levels do not necessarily exhibit higher levels of compliance, thus challenging conventional wisdom.

In this research, we examine whether community policing policies (CPPs), community policing training for new recruits or regular community policing training, impact who is killed by a law enforcement officer in terms of the victim's race. We seek to present one of the few empirical studies of evidence on whether community policing has the potential to address racial disparities. Using a unique dataset and multinomial logistic models, we found that the presence of community policing policies does not reduce the relative likelihood of law enforcement officers using lethal force against minority citizens. However, we did find evidence that white police officers who received at least eight hours of community policing training were negatively associated with using lethal force against black suspects. We suggest that strategies to improve the effectiveness of CPPs are necessary, and these efforts will contribute to improving the perceived legitimacy of policing agencies and addressing the disproportionate killings of minority residents.

Two essential questions for those leading the field of public administration are: What do we teach our students, and how do we train them? As scholars, we pay significant attention to our research, often to the detriment of recognizing the potential for merging our research with teaching through the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). However, given our students' leadership positions, SoTL-related work is vital to their success. In this article, we have come together to reflect on the state of SoTL's work in public administration. Through this reflection, we explore the windows of opportunity for research that we see emerging. Included among these opportunities is the need for research on how we can best serve students in and out of the classroom, as well as research the most effective way of managing our programs. We also see the need for research into faculty development, instructional design, and the return on investment for a public administration degree. Lastly, we argue for improved recognition of the value and contribution of SoTL-related work in tenure and promotion standards.

Subsidiarity assistance creates opportunities for the federal government to intervene in subnational affairs, supplement emergency response, and reduce jurisdictional vulnerabilities. Recognizing the differential effects that disaster events and revenue sharing could have on states, the research investigates the determinants of federal subsidiarity assistance grants to states in the context of American federalism. This study draws from disaster impact scholarship and social vulnerability theory for theoretical context to understand the determinants of short-term and long-term public assistance grants and intergovernmental transfers, which constitute federal subsidiarity assistance to subnational governments. Using panel data on 50 U.S. states over a 17-year time period, findings show that disasters trigger federal subsidiarity assistance for disaster-induced short-term and long-term public assistance grants; however, social vulnerability more likely explains intergovernmental transfers to states.

The need to improve diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) efforts has reached monumental heights in the past decade as a result of the Black Lives Matter movement and other DEIA efforts. This shift in thought has impacted recruitment and hiring practices in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. For years, universities have tried a variety of mechanisms to increase the pool of minority applicants in PhD programs as well as the faculty ranks. However, many of these efforts have not been sustainable. In this article, we discuss the results from a survey of graduate-level public affairs programs to discern specific efforts to increase the number of minority students pursuing graduate degrees and subsequently the number of minority faculty. In addition, we completed an extant review of the literature to determine additional practices that have proven fruitful in other graduate programs.

Public budgeting and finance is a discipline that encompasses communities of research and practice. Too often, however, these communities fail to engage each other, instead choosing to operate independently. The result is that the research being conducted fails to address the questions of the day and our governments’ challenges. In this article, we come together as a community of academics and practitioners to establish an agenda for where future research should be conducted. This agenda aims to align the research being undertaken within the academic community with the needs of those working in the community of practice. After establishing ten areas where research is needed, we followed a ranked-choice voting process to establish a prioritization for them. Based on the outcome of this process, the two primary areas where research is currently needed most are the fiscal health of our governments and the implementation of social equity budgeting.

Although extensive literature has focused on officer behaviour in police killings, little research has examined suspect behaviour during these incidents. Building on the theory of symbolic representation, this study investigates how officer characteristics influence suspect behaviour, specifically the use of threats. Analysing all confirmed police killing cases in the United States from 2014 to 2017, we find that Black officers' presence is associated with reduced threat levels from Black suspects. However, this effect is absent in the interactions between White officers and White suspects. This article has implications for officer diversity in law enforcement and its impact on suspect cooperation.

Scholars have begun to call for more formalized training of clinicians in “structural competency” as a way to address health inequities. Existing programs tend to focus on physicians. This continuing education program brought together a diverse group of academics and community partners to provide a more comprehensive and inclusive approach to structural competency training. The objective of this article is to outline the processes and procedures utilized to address structural determinants of health in a collaborative, community-based participatory research model. Study participants attended 12 weekly, two-hour seminars and completed electronic pre/post-knowledge surveys and a program evaluation form. The principal investigator and a graduate student reviewed open-ended survey responses using a grounded theory approach and summarized findings using narrative and descriptive statistics. Participants demonstrated an increased understanding of the distinction between structural competency and the social determinants of health. The program also led to successful collaborations on two research proposals. Even though structural determinants of health are distinct from the social determinants of health, many clinicians are unfamiliar with these distinctions. Working with an interdisciplinary team that includes community partnerships and individuals with diverse non-clinical areas of expertise can help healthcare professionals better understand these distinctions and how they influence patient outcomes. A multidisciplinary structural competency course can improve practical understanding of the structural determinants of health through an engaged community partnership platform.

Background:Deployment of telehealth has been touted as a means of reducing health disparities in underserved groups. However, efforts to reduce regulatory barriers have not been associated with greater telehealth uptake. The goal of this study was to examine engagement with technology among low-income people of color living in Newark, New Jersey. Methods: Using surveys and focus groups, we examined study participants' daily use of technology (eg, Internet) and comfort with telehealth services (eg, use of teleconferencing for medication refills) before and after COVID-related social distancing mandates went into effect. Results: Use of technology was significantly lower in the pre-COVID period. However, prior months' use of technology had a weak but significant correlation with comfort with telehealth (r=.243, P= .005) in bivariate analyses and was the only significant predictor in multivariate analyses. Analyses of focus group discussions confirmed that lack of experience with technology and distrust of the security and privacy of digital systems were the most important barriers to comfort with telehealth in our sample. Conclusion: Our study found that approximately 20% of people in this under-resourced community lacked access to basic technologies necessary for successful deployment of telehealth services. The study's timing provided an unexpected opportunity to compare experiences and attitudes relating to telehealth in 2 regulatory environments. Although uptake of telehealth services increased with the Federal governments' relaxation of regulatory barriers, there was not a similar increase in comfort with telehealth use. Investments in broadband access and equipment should be accompanied by educational programs to increase day-to-day use of and comfort with associated technologies which would improve consumer confidence in telehealth.

In The Basics of Public Budgeting and Financial Management: A Handbook for Academics and Practitioners, 4th Edition, Charles E. Menifield carefully examines the key areas that every budgeting and financial management student needs to know in order to be a successful budgeteer in a local government, nonprofit, or state-level budget office. His analysis includes a discussion of: basic budgeting concepts; accounting techniques; a discussion of the budget process; budget techniques and analytical models; capital and personnel budgets; financial management; and budget presentations. Homework assignments reinforce the various subjects with practical applications that allow the students to reflect and engage the material in a realistic manner. This book blends budgetary theory and practice in a volume that is easy to understand by both undergraduate and graduate students alike.

In the early months of 2020, news spread that a coronavirus (COVID-19) had been detected in Wuhan, China. The virus quickly spread across the country and to other continents. As deaths mounted in the United States, evidence indicated that some states experienced a higher rate of COVID-19 deaths than other states and that African American communities were hit harder by the virus than other racial groups. Hence, we pose two questions in this research: Are COVID-19 deaths spread equally across different states and regions of the United States? Secondly, are African Americans more likely to die from COVID-19 than other racial groups? Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and APM Research Lab, we show that some states witnessed significant loss of life due to the virus and that African Americans were more likely to die from the virus when compared with White residents.

In 1997. Congress passed a lawcreating the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) with the goal of reducing the number of uninsured children in the United States. Programs such as this have become even more important as the nation grapples with high unemployment and increases in uninsured citizens due to COVID-19. The purpose of this research is to examine insurance enrollment datafrom 1997 through 2017 to determine the impact ofCHIP on reducing the number of children without healt/1 insurance in low-incomefamilies. In addition. this research examines whether public insurance is crowding-out private insurailce. This is a critical issue because several states raised their eligibility threshold, thereby increasing the possibilitv of crowd- out between 2002-2009. The findings show that the number of uninsured children has dropped tremendously since the program began and that crowd-out likely occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Cultural Diversity is the property of Tucker Publications, Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose Municipal amalgamation (or merger or consolidation) is commonly employed in countries around the world to improve efficiency in public service. While mergers occur among jurisdictions of all sizes, the municipal amalgamation discourse is typically limited to one national setting and a focus on mergers of larger local jurisdictions. The existing municipal amalgamation literature pays little attention to predicate conditions for successful mergers. This study seeks to address these deficiencies by examining the premerger conditions and effects of municipal amalgamations that recently took place in four small jurisdictions of similar size in Thailand and the United States. Design/methodology/approach A holistic multiple case study approach was employed. These two cases share a geographical attribute: one municipal jurisdiction encircled by another. Findings The evidence indicates that factors associated with what the researchers refer to as “familiarity” facilitated both successful approval of and outcomes resulting from the amalgamation actions. While the study's findings align with international research regarding the potential for reducing administrative support costs through consolidation, its findings diverge from existing international evidence in that the evidence indicates operating effectiveness and efficiency improvements. Economies of scope and marginal economies of scale are in evidence. Although findings from this study indicate that there might be problematic effects regarding political representation and participation, in that the consolidated jurisdictions remain small in size, negative citizen engagement and participation consequences may be less than that evidenced in larger consolidated jurisdictions. Originality/value The study introduces the “familiarity” theorem as a theoretical lens to assist in understanding the cases.

The debate over possible bias in the use of deadly force has recently been exacerbated by highly publicized killings of African American males around the country While much research has been conducted examining police behavior, little has been done to investigate the impact of race on police behavior. This article aims to answer this question: are white police officers more likely to use lethal force on minority suspects or people of a specific race? To answer this question, the authors construct a data set of all confirmed uses of lethal force by police officers in the United States in 2014 and 2015. They find that although minority suspects are disproportionately killed by police, white officers appear to be no more likely to use lethal force against minorities than nonwhite officers.

Substantial research has been conducted examining policy diffusion among both the American states and the nations of the developed world and to a somewhat lesser extent, developing worlds. Little research, especially at the nation-state level, has focused upon budget systems, however. We use case studies of 18 diverse countries (Menifield, 2011) to conceptualize national budget systems and, based upon this conceptualization, to identify clusters of nations with similar systems. We found evidence suggesting that policy diffusion may be occurring in the realm of national budget systems. Our analysis shows that budgetary institutions and behaviors can and do form clusters that are useful in analyzing national budget systems. Our ability to describe clusters of nations with similar budget systems could prove to be a helpful tool for analyzing international policy diffusion.