Author: a.heffley

The purposes of this systematic review of quantitative measures of school policy implementation were to (1) identify quantitative school health policy measurement tools developed to measure implementation at the school, district, or state/provincial levels; (2) describe the policy implementation outcomes and determinants assessed and identify the trends in measurement; and (3) assess pragmatic and psychometric properties of identified implementation measures to understand their quality and suitability for broader application. Results showed that implementation science can contribute to more complete and rigorous assessment of school health policy implementation processes, which can improve implementation strategies and ultimately the intended health benefits.

One of the PRC’s faculty recently became a US Citizen. Congrats Deborah Salvo!

This study examined parents’ perceived importance of, and engagement in, school-based physical activity (PA) promotion. The researchers found that parents’ perceived importance of school-based PA opportunities before and after school warrants emphasis in future research and advocacy.

The evidence-based public health course equips public health professionals with skills and tools for applying evidence-based frameworks and processes in public health practice. To date, training has included participants from all the 50 U.S. states, 2 U.S. territories, and multiple other countries besides the U.S. This study pooled follow-up efforts (5 surveys, with 723 course participants, 2005-2019) to explore the benefits, application, and barriers to applying the evidence-based public health course content.

Nature relatedness can be associated with health-related outcomes. This study aims to evaluate the associations of nature relatedness with physical activity and sedentary behavior.

This research team evaluated the sociotechnical environment impacting the implementation of electronic CDS, including workflow and communication, institutional culture, and hardware and software infrastructure, among other factors. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34011315/

The purpose of this study was to determine COVID-19’s impact on PA in rural and non-rural residents. Rural participants had a significantly higher body mass index, lower income, and a lower educational attainment. Conversely, non-rural participants reported more barriers to PA. There was no difference in the perception of COVID-19’s impact on PA, specifically; however, […]

Congrats to PRC Research Assistant, Sarah Kang!

The Gratitude Project, a new program focuses on highlighting stories of how WashU faculty, staff and students are rising up for the greater good.

Age-friendly cities and communities have emerged as a significant policy, participative and governance response to aging and its spatial effects. This paper argues that it has important benefits in mobilizing older people, placing age on the urban agenda and building recognition across politicians, policy makers and program managers.

Little is known about practices used to disseminate findings to non-research, practitioner audiences. This study describes the perspectives, experience and activities of dissemination & implementation (D&I) scientists around disseminating their research findings.

Numerous implementation strategies to improve utilization of statins in patients with hypercholesterolemia have been utilized, with varying degrees of success. The aim of this systematic review is to determine the state of evidence of implementation strategies on the uptake of statins.

With an intentional focus on health equity from funders, researchers, practitioners, advocates, evaluators and policy makers, the authors argue, the United States can harvest the rewards of the resources being invested in health-related research to eliminate avoidable disparities, resulting in greater health equity.

The prevention of illness and the encouragement of healthy behaviors—the twin goals of public health—receive only a tiny fraction of research spending in the United States. This interview highlights the importance of evidence-based public health practices when completing and communicating research.

This systematic review evaluates studies examining the association between universal free school meals and students’ school meal participation rates, diets, attendance, academic performance, and Body Mass Index (BMI), as well as school finances.

The objectives of this study are to determine research productivity in Latin America and in the United States focused on Latino populations and examine domains of research capacity (research infrastructure, training programs, mentoring, funding, and networks).

This paper aims to advance the research agenda of BE and PA for obesity prevention in Latin America and among Latino youth in the United States by (1) identifying environmental indicators to inform the design of interventions and policy, (2) identifying interdisciplinary methodological approaches for the study of the complex association between BE and PA, and (3) presenting case studies of PA-promoting BE programs.

Ebuwa’s initiative works to improve health and education outcomes of child farmworkers in Illinois using a systematic review and mixed methods research. They aim to increase knowledge about the impact of agricultural hazards, find access to healthcare, ensure equitable pay, and see that the educational rights of the child workers are adhered to.

Completed a program evaluation of the first year of a newly implemented MDLC utilizing the RE-AIM (reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance) framework. Despite limited reach and adoption of the MDLC, a large intervention effect included improved diagnosis, increased prescribing of guideline-recommended treatments, and clinically significant reduction of lipid levels.

With a stronger commitment to health equity from funders, researchers, practitioners, advocates, evaluators, and policy makers, we can harvest the rewards of the resources being invested in health-related research to eliminate disparities, resulting in health equity.

The ORBIT model stands for Obesity-Related Behavioral Intervention Trials. This article reports the application of the ORBIT model to (1) describe the characteristics and design of a novel HIT tool (the PREVENT tool) using behavioral theory, (2) illustrate the use of stakeholder-centered “designing for dissemination and sustainability” principles, and (3) discuss the practical implications and directions for future research.

The goals of this study were to 1) summarize characteristics of diabetes SMS interventions implemented in the United States and 2) identify the extent to which disadvantaged populations are represented in SMS-based diabetes management intervention studies.

The Y-PATHS is a comprehensive classification framework that can help researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to better understand youth physical activity.

A systematic review was performed to synthesize the latest evidence of health information technology (HIT) used by healthcare professionals to address overweight/obesity among children and adolescents.

Evidence-based decision making (EBDM) allows public health practitioners to implement effective programs and policies fitting the preferences of their communities. To engage in EBDM, practitioners must have skills themselves, their agencies must engage in administrative evidence-based practices (A-EBPs), and leaders must encourage the use of EBDM. This longitudinal study to quantifies perceptions of individual EBDM skills and A-EBPs, as well as the longitudinal associations between the two.

This study investigated the relationship between six-minute walking test (6MWT) distance walked and preschool-aged children’s academic abilities, and behavioral and event-related potentials (ERP) indices of cognitive control. The findings indicate that the positive influence of cardio-respiratory fitness on cognitive function is evident in 4-6-year-olds.

Diana Parra Perez has been awarded a grant to develop programs to address high-risk populations for COVID-19 in St. Louis. The Center in St. Louis will work with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services in the Building Resilient Inclusive Communities (BRIC) program to boost existing efforts of partners and communities with a focus on health equity in nutrition security, access to safe physical activity and social connectedness.

Congrats to Gabby on this excellent podcast on food insecurity!

The Mindfulness Working Group is putting together an event with support from CRE2!

MAPS-Global is a feasible and reliable instrument that can be used both on-street and online to analyze microscale environmental characteristics in diverse international urban settings.

State-level public health practitioners are in ideal positions to affect programs and policies related to chronic disease, but the extent to which mis-implementation occurring with these programs is largely unknown. Mis-implementation refers to ending effective programs and policies prematurely or continuing ineffective ones. This study found that greater attention to mis-implementation should lead to greater use of effective interventions and more efficient expenditure of resources, ultimately to improve health outcomes.

To help address the international social, economic and public health ramifications of the outbreak, the McDonnell International Scholars Academy recently awarded $250,000 in seed grants to kick-start research projects led by Washington University faculty members and their international collaborators.

Three Brown School faculty members were among the awardees: Professor Rodrigo Reis, Assistant Professor Deborah Salvo, and Michal Grinstein-Weiss, Shanti K. Khinduka Distinguished Professor.

​Two recent Brown School graduates, including our own PRC alum, Mackenzie Robinson, were recently selected for a highly competitive Global Health Fellowship. The good news of their awards was amplified when they learned later they’d both be working in Nairobi, Kenya.

This review emphasizes the need to uphold human rights and address long term mental health needs of populations that have suffered disproportionately during the pandemic.

This paper exemplifies how the D&I scientist/researcher collaborative process might work and important elements to consider in doing so, as well as provides an outline on how collaborations might progress for different project needs.

Dissemination and implementation (D&I) science provides the tools needed to close the gap between known intervention strategies and their effective application. The authors report on the Mentored Training for Dissemination and Implementation Research in Cancer (MT-DIRC) program-a D&I training program for postdoctoral or early-career cancer prevention and control scholars.

Mis-implementation – defined as failure to successfully implement and continue evidence-based programs-is widespread in public health practice. Yet the causes of this phenomenon are poorly understood.