Browsing by Subject "Public Health"
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Item 10 Tips for Maintaining a Healthy Lifestyle and Body Weight(Fairbanks School of Public Health, 2020-03-18) Song, Yiqing; Epidemiology, School of Public HealthAt this extreme moment, we began working from home, away from campus, and keeping social distance for as many people as possible. As we stay home and are stuck with the foods that have been in our fridge or pantry for a while, we are temporarily living a sedentary lifestyle with increased odds of physical inactivity, excessive eating and sitting, stress, anxiety, and depression. In particular, many of us will gain some weight during the pandemic and may keep the extra weight permanently, which may carry considerable health risks for type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart attack, stroke, and other health problems. Here, I’d like to share some basic tips and resources for how to maintain your healthy lifestyle, body weight, and overall well-being while staying home and engaging in social distancing.Item 2013 Indiana County Fact Sheets(2015-04) Nowak, Callie L.; Maxey, Hannah L.These fact sheets present detailed information on each of Indiana’s 92 counties. Information is provided on population and health system characteristics for each county which is critical to Indiana’s health system for planning and policy development. For each county, population characteristics such as age, race, economic indicators, health status, and education attainment were reported. Health system characteristics were also reported. Health workforce supply, healthcare facilities, and health professions shortages were used to estimate access to health care for each county. Data in each fact sheet provide stakeholders with information needed to improve the quality and accessibility of health care for Indiana residents through policy making, workforce development, and resource allocation. Additionally, fact sheets may be useful to local organizations seeking information for grant proposals or program implementation.Item Applications of geospatial analysis techniques for public health(2016-05-02) Stanforth, Austin Curran; Filippelli, Gabriel; Johnson, Daniel P.; Wang, Lixin; Wilson, Jeffrey; Moreno-Madriñán, Max J.; Jacinthe, Pierre-AndréGeospatial analysis is a generic term describing several technologies or methods of computational analysis using the Earth as a living laboratory. These methods can be implemented to assess risk and study preventative mitigation practices for Public Health. Through the incorporation Geographic Information Science and Remote Sensing tools, data collection can be conducted at a larger scale, more frequent, and less expensive that traditional in situ methods. These techniques can be extrapolated to be used to study a variety of topics. Application of these tools and techniques were demonstrated through Public Health research. Although it is understand resolution, or scale, of a research project can impact a study’s results; further research is needed to understand the extent of the result’s bias. Extreme heat vulnerability analysis was studied to validate previously identified socioeconomic and environmental variables influential for mitigation studies, and how the variability of resolution impacts the results of the methodology. Heat was also investigated for the implication of spatial and temporal resolution, or aggregation, influence on results. Methods studying the physical and socioeconomic environments of Dengue Fever outbreaks were also studied to identify patters of vector emergence.Item Association of Socio-Demographic Factors, Social Determinants of Health and Weekly Physical Activity in an Urban Hospital in Northwest Indiana(2023-07) Gad, Wael; Chandler, Brianna; Jones, Brendan; Mangum, JoshuaBackground: Engaging in regular physical activity has been proven to have beneficial health effects such as preventing chronic diseases and improving mental health. Recent studies have demonstrated correlations between socio-demographic factors and physical activity levels. This study determined the associations between socio-demographic factors, social determinants of health and the amount of weekly physical activity in patients occupying an urban underserved area. Methods: This study retrospectively analyzed a dataset generated by St. Mary Medical Center from EPIC™ with demographic characteristics and physical activity levels partitioned by time per week for adult inpatient visits from January 2021 to March 2023. Patients were stratified into physical activity levels based upon published guidelines: inactive (no physical activity), insufficiently active (<150 minutes per week) or sufficiently active (≥150 minutes per week). Data analysis was conducted in SPSS 28.0 using tests of association including Kruskal Wallis H and multivariate ordinal regression model. This study was exempted by Indiana University Human Research Protection Program (IRB # 14040). Results: The sample of individuals from the dataset who answered physical activity questions was comprised of 1498 patients. There was a statistically significant difference in physical activity level by age group (p<0.001), sex (p<0.05), insurance category (p<0.001), and social connections risk score (p<0.001); with race (p=0.057) and language (p=0.054) approaching significance. Multivariate analysis showed that age was the only significant factor when accounting for all variables, with higher age groups reporting lower proportions of physically active individuals. Conclusion: Determining how socio-demographic factors influence physical activity levels will direct efforts to form and implement new interventions in the Northwest Indiana urban area and support community health initiatives. This data makes it possible to inform practitioners of the demographics that are at risk of being insufficiently active and having them direct those patients to programs in place to help bridge the lapse.Item Barriers to Hospital Electronic Public Health Reporting and Implications for the COVID-19 Pandemic(Oxford University Press, 2020-06-01) Holmgren, A. Jay; Apathy, Nate C.; Adler-Milstein, Julia; Health Policy and Management, School of Public HealthWe sought to identify barriers to hospital reporting of electronic surveillance data to local, state, and federal public health agencies and the impact on areas projected to be overwhelmed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Using 2018 American Hospital Association data, we identified barriers to surveillance data reporting and combined this with data on the projected impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospital capacity at the hospital referral region level. Our results find the most common barrier was public health agencies lacked the capacity to electronically receive data, with 41.2% of all hospitals reporting it. We also identified 31 hospital referral regions in the top quartile of projected bed capacity needed for COVID-19 patients in which over half of hospitals in the area reported that the relevant public health agency was unable to receive electronic data. Public health agencies’ inability to receive electronic data is the most prominent hospital-reported barrier to effective syndromic surveillance. This reflects the policy commitment of investing in information technology for hospitals without a concomitant investment in IT infrastructure for state and local public health agencies.Item Better patient identification could help fight the coronavirus(Nature Research, 2020-06-01) Moscovitch, Ben; Halamka, John D.; Grannis, Shaun; BioHealth Informatics, School of Informatics and ComputingItem Biden’s infrastructure plan targets lead pipes that threaten public health across the US(The Conversation US, Inc., 2021-05-04) Filippelli, Gabriel; Earth and Environmental Sciences, School of ScienceItem A case study of community response to a health crisis from a communication perspective(2016-11) Goodin, Lisann; Parrish-Sprowl, JohnThe city of Austin is a small community in Southern Indiana that experienced a large HIV/AIDS outbreak which infected over 180 people. Due to rapid spread of the disease from shared needles during intravenous drug use, a public health emergency was declared in March 2015. This epidemic was a symptom of the overall communal health issues within the area related to drugs, crime, prostitution and poverty. These problems affect residents’ physical and mental health, however, often go unaddressed due to limited resources, healthcare and education. Organizations within the area were affected by the epidemic, and many provided a response to help combat the issue. The purpose of this study is to examine how organizations respond to a health crisis from a communication perspective. Research question one is, what was the level of coordination between the seven organizations during the HIV/AIDS epidemic? Research question two is, what was the public’s response to the effort made by the seven organizations? This study interviewed seven participants and a thematic analysis was conducted that discovered four themes: coordinated response, uncoordinated activities, response time, and inadequate response. In response to research question one, the levels of coordination were infrequent with the seven agencies. Research question two found multiple areas that indicated the agencies approach ineffective in adequately informing the public. The agencies’ efforts displayed a lack of coordination and poor timely response to the crisis. These issues show it is imperative that we develop a resilient health system to operate systemically. By implementing communication for whole health, it would provide a resilient system for agencies to understand and develop coordination and collaboration between each other. With a sense of coordination, they would then be able to execute ways of promoting and living out better physical and mental health (Parrish-Sprowl and Parrish-Sprowl, 2016).Item Celebrating Dr. Amelia R. Keller: Pioneering Physician, Educator, Suffragist, and Public Health Advocate(2022-04-19) Pieczko, Brandon T.Exhibit developed by the Ruth Lilly Medical Library for the dedication of an Indiana State Historical Marker honoring Dr. Amelia R. Keller on April 19, 2022.Item Coronavirus Health Inequities in the United States Highlight Need for Continued Community Development Efforts(SAGE Publications, 2020-07-01) Walter-McCabe, Heather A.; School of Social WorkThe coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic of 2020 has shown a spotlight on inequity in the USA. Although these inequities have long existed, the coronavirus and its disparate impact on health in different communities have raised the visibility of these deeply ingrained inequities to a level that has created a new awareness across the US population and an opportunity to use this heightened awareness of the existing conditions for change. ‘Community and social development’ efforts in the post-pandemic USA can be informed by a health justice framework, across economic, societal and cultural, environmental and social dimensions. Dimensions which have all been implicated in the coronavirus response and complement other social and community development models. Although health disparities and inequities did not begin with coronavirus and will not end in the post-pandemic USA, social and community development efforts which value health justice and concentrate on social determinants of health can provide needed policies and programmes for a more equitable US health system.