OBJECTIVES:Hearing loss is a highly prevalent condition; however, it is widely under-treated, and Black Americans have been found to have significantly lower rates of hearing aid utilization than other ethnic/racial groups. In this exploratory study, we aimed to identify hearing health beliefs among Black adults, guided by the Health Belief Model, with social determinants of health, and examine individual differences in these perspectives. DESIGN:The Hearing Beliefs Questionnaire (HBQ) was administered online to measure constructs of the Health Belief Model among 200 Black adults aged 18 to 75 ( M = 39.14, SD = 14.24). Approximately 13% reported hearing difficulty. In addition, 11 social determinants of health questions were included. Participants were recruited from a university otolaryngology clinic and local Black congregations, meeting inclusion criteria of being 18 or older and Black/African American. Mean scores and SDs for HBQ subscales were calculated. Analysis included analysis of variance and t tests to explore relationships with demographic variables and social determinants of health. Multiple regression analyses predicted HBQ subscale scores from sociodemographic variables. RESULTS:Mean HBQ subscale scores ranged from 3.88 (SD = 2.28) for Perceived Barriers to 6.76 (SD = 1.93) for Perceived Benefits. Positive correlations were observed between Perceived Severity, Perceived Benefits, and Perceived Self-Efficacy scores and participant educational attainment. Lower economic stability was correlated with poorer scores in Perceived Self-Efficacy, Perceived Severity, and Perceived Benefits. Black adults' willingness to purchase a hearing aid was heavily influenced by their Perceived Benefit, Perceived Severity, and Perceived Self-Efficacy scores, with lower scores correlating with unwillingness to purchase devices. Higher frequency of racism/discrimination and financial hardship correlated with increased Perceived Barriers scores for accessing hearing healthcare. In addition, hearing health beliefs between participants with self-reported hearing difficulty and those without trouble only exhibited differences in the Perceived Susceptibility subscale, with those experiencing hearing difficulty having higher scores in this subscale; no other distinctions were identified. CONCLUSIONS:The Health Belief Model, used with social determinants of health, revealed associations, and variations, in the hearing health beliefs held by Black adults. The present investigation reveals heterogeneity within this group and pinpoints individuals at higher risk for untreated hearing loss, stemming from their negative perceptions about hearing healthcare. These beliefs are influenced by demographics and social determinants of health, underscoring areas ripe for intervention.

The COVID-19 pandemic is highlighting deep-rooted health inequities. While the virus itself does not discriminate, gaps in access to services and disparities in health outcomes are prevalent. Concerns over worsening mental health outcomes and increases in family violence exist. Thus, service organizations have faced an unprecedented call to rethink services, with many transitioning to virtual programming to ensure the needs of their clients can be met. This brief highlights lessons learned as one organization pivoted to meet critical client needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Evidence suggests atypically high engagement and retention in family education and family violence reduction programming under Safer at Home orders when compared with pre-COVID engagement. Findings suggest key tenants for program success are tied to strong programming, staff engagement, and participation retention and satisfaction. Program adaptations create opportunities for increasing service equity, improving engagement and satisfaction, and improving family and mental health outcomes by maintaining connections, while providing a model for delivering services to reduce child maltreatment during times of social isolation and increased hardship.

Objective: Health-Care Coalitions (HCCs) provide an important emergency response safety net function across the United States in preparedness and responses to disasters. A key challenge is the variation in the maturity and operational readiness of HCCs. The purpose of this study was to identify key tenets that define high-functioning HCCs and help mature HCCs into a higher-functioning state of operations. Methods: This was a qualitative study based on grounded theory methodology using semi-structured interviews for data collection and thematic analysis. Participants were stakeholders (n = 39) of HCCs from across the United States at local, state, and federal levels. Results: Through an institutional logics lens, the 3 key attributes for high functioning-HCCs were identified as (1) having an established and growing partnership, (2) being value-driven culture, and (3) being response ready. In addition, 3 logics were deemed essential for guiding HCCs: sources of governance, sources of partner engagement, and sources of sustainability. Participant responses describe the importance of these attributes and logics in influencing decision-making processes, supporting a community's resilience during a disaster, and fostering robust relationships among community partners. Conclusions: Addressing these attributes and logics in planning and management of HCCs can help establish the foundation for partner collaborations and high-functioning HCCs.

The majority of Americans are overweight or obese. 1 Virani S.S. Alonso A. Aparicio H.J. et al. Heart disease and stroke statistics-2021 update: a report from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2021; 143: e254-e743 Crossref PubMed Scopus (814) Google Scholar While clinicians continue attempting to address body weight, a myriad of factors may limit the implementation and effectiveness of weight loss interventions, including social determinants of health, insurance coverage, motivation, mental health concerns, provider hesitancy, and patients’ perception of having a healthy weight. As such, numerous weight-related comorbidities (eg, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, cancer, fatty liver disease, gall stones, diabetes, and prediabetes) continue to cause a significant decrement in the health and wellbeing of Americans. Each condition is well recognized and requires its own treatment, thus creating a further burden on patients and health systems, with one exception: prediabetes.

This paper presents a conceptual framework and critical considerations for the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) in academic public health. Academic education for public health has undergone significant transformation over the last two decades as the demand for responsive and innovative public health pedagogy and training for preparing graduates to deploy an increasing array of skills has grown. The authors suggest that the role of schools, administrators, faculty, and educational staff in developing promising practices for teaching and learning in public health involves an articulated conceptual framework to guide the development and dissemination of scholarly, pedagogical innovations. Building on seminal philosophical foundations of SoTL, the authors conceptualize SoTL from the foundational belief that knowing and learning are communal tasks and that faculty are both scholars and learners in the practice of education. The paper advocates for SoTL as a form of engaged practice and scholarly inquiry that exists in contextually rich, diverse educational environments that abounds with uncertainty. SoTL is guided by an educational philosophy, values, and learning theories that envision educators critically examining themselves, their teaching practice, scholarly literature, and students' learning to improve their teaching, enhance learning, and promote further inquiry. The authors suggest that SoTL involves the search for multiple forms of evidence and fosters dialogues on multiple interpretations and perspectives of the most promising practices of teaching and learning. The authors advocate for the term promising practices as an outcome of SoTL that supports and nurtures ongoing scientific discovery and knowledge generation, instead of supporting the search for best-ness in teaching and learning endeavors. SoTL should occur across formal, informal, and nonformal education.

Public health and global health practitioners need to develop global health diplomacy (GHD) skills to efficiently work within complex global health scenarios, such as the current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Problem-based learning was used as a framework to create a scenario-based activity designed to develop GHD-related skills. The application and effectiveness of this scenario-based activity to develop GHD-related skills were assessed. A mixed-methods approach involving a self-administered survey and one focus group discussion was used. The survey collected baseline participant characteristics as well as understanding and improvements in GHD-related skills using a 5-point Likert scale. The focus group was audio-recorded and thematically analyzed using both inductive and deductive codes. Data integration was achieved by connecting and weaving. Method and investigator triangulation techniques were used. Participants self-reported significantly better postscenario-based activity responses when asked about their understanding of diplomacy, negotiation, communication, and how to address public health emergencies ( P < 0.01, Wilcoxon signed rank test). Most participants either agreed or strongly agreed that their GHD-related skills improved with participation in the scenario-based activity (diplomacy = 55.6%; negotiation = 66.5%; communication = 72.2%; addressing public health emergencies = 72.1%). Overall, qualitative data were consistent with results obtained using quantitative methods. The scenario-based activity was effective for improving the self-reported understanding of GHD-related skills. The scenario-based activity was also effective for developing the selected GHD-related skills (as self-reported). This scenario-based activity is likely to reduce cognitive load and avoid participant overload, thereby facilitating learning. Further research is required to elucidate its long-term impact on skills development.

Background The WHO African region frequently experiences outbreaks and epidemics of infectious diseases often exacerbated by weak health systems and infrastructure, late detection, and ineffective outbreak response. To address this, the WHO Regional Office for Africa developed and began implementing the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response strategy in 1998. Objectives This systematic review aims to document the identified successes and challenges surrounding the implementation of IDSR in the region available in published literature to highlight areas for prioritization, further research, and to inform further strengthening of IDSR implementation. Methods A systematic review of peer-reviewed literature published in English and French from 1 July 2012 to 13 November 2019 was conducted using PubMed and Web of Science. Included articles focused on the WHO African region and discussed the use of IDSR strategies and implementation, assessment of IDSR strategies, or surveillance of diseases covered in the IDSR framework. Data were analyzed descriptively using Microsoft Excel and Tableau Desktop 2019. Results The number of peer-reviewed articles discussing IDSR remained low, with 47 included articles focused on 17 countries and regional level systems. Most commonly discussed topics were data reporting (n = 39) and challenges with IDSR implementation (n = 38). Barriers to effective implementation were identified across all IDSR core and support functions assessed in this review: priority disease detection; data reporting, management, and analysis; information dissemination; laboratory functionality; and staff training. Successful implementation was noted where existing surveillance systems and infrastructure were utilized and streamlined with efforts to increase access to healthcare. Conclusions and implications of findings These findings highlighted areas where IDSR is performing well and where implementation remains weak. While challenges related to IDSR implementation since the first edition of the technical guidelines were released are not novel, adequately addressing them requires sustained investments in stronger national public health capabilities, infrastructure, and surveillance processes.

The University of South Florida, College of Public Health, is dedicated to providing career planning and professional development services for students in varying formats. However, changing public health training needs and an emerging need for focused attention on professional development necessitated the development of an evaluative program to better understand our students' needs in these areas. Specifically, anecdotal student feedback about feeling unprepared professionally and survey feedback from students, preceptor feedback regarding the need for students to be better trained in core professional concepts, and low rates of attendance in standard professional development events resulted in a quality improvement study to identify students' perceived career planning and professional development needs. Findings were used to redesign current services and provided the basis for developing more targeted trainings to ensure that public health graduates are better prepared to meet employer expectations and to excel in the workforce. This article provides an overview of this transformative process, including the results of the qualitative survey on student, faculty, alumni, and community preceptor perspectives, and resulting prototypes developed for the professional development pilot along with preliminary insights.

While fertility is a widely studied public health issue, infertility among college students is rarely examined. Research on fertility among college students focuses primarily on pregnancy prevention. Often constructed as hyper-fertile, cohorts of women in graduate studies are struggling with fertility issues and left to suffer in silence. Objective: This study aimed to identify barriers to access and gaps in available reproductive services to college attending women. Methods: This multi-method, exploratory study employed online surveys (n = 37), semi-structured interviews (n = 5), and an assessment of fertility-related school health services available at universities nationally to understand issues related to infertility, including experience with and access to services. Results: A near absence of fertility-related care on college campuses emerged nationally, while a clear need among female graduate students emerged locally. Perceptions of poor treatment and dismissal of concerns were prominent issues. Conclusions: Findings suggest the need for self-advocacy, while highlighting the potential role of university and community supports for women suffering from the dual burden of being a student while struggling with fertility related issues.

Latinos in the United States represent a disproportionate burden of illness and disease and face barriers to accessing health care and related resources. Culturally tailored, evidence-based interventions hold promise in addressing many of these challenges. Yet, ensuring patient voice is vital in the successful development and implementation of such interventions. Thus, this paper examines the application of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to inform the augmentation and implementation of an evidence-based chronic disease self-management programme for underserved Latinos living with both minor depression and chronic illness. The process of AHP allows for direct input from the individuals that would utilize such a programme, including afflicted individuals, their family members and the health educators/promotores that would be responsible for implementation. Specifically, 45 participants, including 15 individuals with chronic disease, 15 family members/caregivers and 15 promotores, partook in the Stakeholder Values Questionnaire, which elicited preferences and values regarding major goals, processes and content for the intervention. AHP was employed to analyse pairwise comparison ratings and to determine differences and similarities across stakeholder groups. This analytical technique allowed for the adaptation of the EBI to stakeholders' specific priorities and preferences and facilitated complex decision-making. Findings not only shed light on similarities and differences between stakeholder groups, but also the magnitude of these priorities and preferences and allowed the intervention to be driven by the participants, themselves. Applying AHP was a unique opportunity to optimize the decision-making process to inform cultural adaptation of an EBI while considering multiple viewpoints systematically.

In the twenty-first century, the dynamics of health and health care are changing, necessitating a commitment to revising traditional public health curricula to better meet present day challenges. This article describes how the College of Public Health at the University of South Florida utilized the Intervention Mapping framework to translate revised core competencies into an integrated, theory-driven core curriculum to meet the training needs of the twenty-first century public health scholar and practitioner. This process resulted in the development of four sequenced courses: History and Systems of Public Health and Population Assessment I delivered in the first semester and Population Assessment II and Translation to Practice delivered in the second semester. While the transformation process, moving from traditional public health core content to an integrated and innovative curriculum, is a challenging and daunting task, Intervention Mapping provides the ideal framework for guiding this process. Intervention mapping walks the curriculum developers from the broad goals and objectives to the finite details of a lesson plan. Throughout this process, critical lessons were learned, including the importance of being open to new ideologies and frameworks and the critical need to involve key-stakeholders in every step of the decision-making process to ensure the sustainability of the resulting integrated and theory-based curriculum. Ultimately, as a stronger curriculum emerged, the developers and instructors themselves were changed, fostering a stronger public health workforce from within.

Twenty-first century health challenges have significantly altered the expanding role and functions of public health professionals. Guided by a call from the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health's (ASPPH) and the Framing the Future: The Second 100 Years of Education for Public Health report to adopt new and innovative approaches to prepare public health leaders, the University of South Florida College of Public Health aimed to self-assess the current Masters of Public Health (MPH) core curriculum with regard to preparing students to meet twenty-first century public health challenges. This paper describes how Intervention Mapping was employed as a framework to increase readiness and mobilize the COPH community for curricular change. Intervention Mapping provides an ideal framework, allowing organizations to access capacity, specify goals, and guide the change process from curriculum development to implementation and evaluation of competency-driven programs. The steps outlined in this paper resulted in a final set of revised MPH core competencies that are interdisciplinary in nature and fulfill the emergent needs to address changing trends in both public health education and challenges in population health approaches. Ultimately, the competencies developed through this process were agreed upon by the entire College of Public Health faculty, signaling one college's readiness for change, while providing the impetus to revolutionize the delivery of public health education at the University of South Florida.

The purpose of this paper is to share lessons learned from a collaborative, community-informed mixed-methods approach to adapting an evidence-based intervention to meet the needs of Latinos with chronic disease and minor depression and their family members. Mixed-methods informed by community-based participatory research (CBPR) were employed to triangulate multiple stakeholders' perceptions of facilitators and barriers of implementing the adapted intervention in community settings. Community partners provided an insider perspective to overcome methodological challenges. The study's community informed mixed-methods: research approach offered advantages to a single research methodology by expanding or confirming research findings and engaging multiple stakeholders in data collection. This approach also allowed community partners to collaborate with academic partners in key research decisions.

Public health professionals have been challenged to radically reform public health training to meet evolving demands of twenty-first century public health. Such a transformation requires a systems thinking approach with an interdisciplinary focus on problem solving, leadership, management and teamwork, technology and information, budgeting and finance, and communication. This article presents processes for implementing and evaluating a revised public health curriculum and outlines lessons learned from this initiative. To date, more than 200 students have participated in the initial pilot testing of this program. A rigorous process and outcome evaluation plan was developed and employed. Results from the evaluation were used to enhance the resulting curriculum. Specifically, all instructional materials were evaluated by both the students who received the materials and the faculty who presented the materials. As each successive pilot is delivered, both enrollment and faculty involvement has increased. Through this process, the value of committed faculty, the importance of engaging learners in the evaluation of an education program, and the need to implement curriculum that has been carefully evaluated and evidence-informed in nature has emerged. We credit our successful transformation of the Masters in Public Health core to the challenge provided by the Framing the Future task force, the commitment of our College of Public Health leadership, the engagement of our faculty, and the time we allowed for the process to unfold. Ultimately, we believe this transformed curriculum will result in better trained public health professionals, interdisciplinary practitioners who can see public health challenges in new and different ways.

To understand the positives and negatives of online dating according to the lived experience of older women, telephone interviews were conducted with 45 women ages 50+ who date online. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and thematically team coded. The opportunity to expand one’s social network for both friendships and romantic partners, the ability to control dating risks and pace of relationship formation, and knowing more about one’s partner were significant reported benefits of online dating. Dating online also includes unique risks, such as pervasive lying, attempted financial exploitation in the form of scammers, and unwanted electronic sexual aggression.