Session
Student Training and Public Health Workforce Development Poster Session
APHA 2022 Annual Meeting and Expo
Abstract
It’s Not Just Race, A Look at Implicit Racial Bias Among Various Sociodemographic Characteristics of U.S. Educators
APHA 2022 Annual Meeting and Expo
Background: Research has identified that teachers exhibit similar levels of implicit racial bias as others. However, it is imperative to understand how various sociodemographic characteristics are associated with educators’ implicit racial bias levels. Therefore, this study aimed to examine implicit racial bias among primary, secondary, and special education educators and identified how race, ethnicity, political affiliation, education, religion, religiosity, and age were associated with their implicit bias.
Methods: Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate OLS regressions analyses were used to measure educators’ implicit bias using the 2021 Implicit Association Test dataset from Project Implicit’s Demonstration Website. In this sample of 28,263 educators, 81% were White, 9.4% were Black, and the remaining 9.14% race was categorized as multiracial, other/unknown, East Asian, South Asian, American Indian/Alaska Native, or Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander. The median age was 38 years and 78% identified as female.
Results: Educators averaged a slight pro-White/anti-Black implicit bias (M:0.26 SD:0.46). However, multivariate analysis showed statistically significant pro-White/anti-Black bias among various races, ages, birth sex, political and religious affiliations (p-value <0.05).
Conclusion: Literature has detailed racial disparities in school discipline and achievement expectations resulting from implicit racial bias. With demonstrated implicit pro-White/anti-Black bias across multiple sociodemographic characteristics, it is imperative to find solutions targeting anti-Black racial bias, such as sociocultural curriculum and training for educators. Finally, while this is data at the individual level, teachers do not exist in silos; institutional and systemic factors allow and foster racial inequities. Therefore, it is critical to examine how personal biases impact institutions, systems, and policies.
Abstract
Development, implementation and evaluation of the Community Research Consulting Initiative, a scalable, transportable model of trainee-led academic-community partnership
APHA 2022 Annual Meeting and Expo
Issues: Public health trainees have professional-level research skills and many are eager to volunteer these skills in community settings. Many community-based organizations (CBOs) have research-related needs but may not have the capacity or requisite expertise to meet them. Academic-community partnerships (ACPs) typically restrict trainees’ involvement to opportunities that align with curricular and/or academic goals.
Description: Community Research Consulting Initiative (CRCI) is a doctoral student-led consulting initiative that aims to match student volunteer research consultants (RCs) with CBOs to facilitate a bidirectional skill exchange. RC’s provide expertise and capacity-building to CBOs in areas such as data analysis/management, program evaluation, and grant writing while gaining experience in applied research and sustaining community stakeholder relationships. CRCI offers CBOs free 1-hour monthly group sessions and tailored one-on-one long-term project-based assistance.
Lessons Learned: Trainees developed CRCI from July 2021 to February 2022 through academic and community stakeholder engagement. Pilot implementation began in March 2022 with RC and CBO recruitment; research consulting and ongoing process evaluation will launch in May 2022. Results will describe the pilot program’s feasibility, uptake and acceptability by RCs and CBOs; barriers and facilitators to implementation; and stakeholder perspectives.
Recommendations: CRCI is a scalable, transportable model of bidirectional skill sharing that can be implemented by trainees who seek to share skills with CBO’s while gaining applied experience. Next steps include moving from pilot to implementation; tracking impact, outcomes, and sustainability within an implementation science framework; expanding recruitment of RC’s to staff and faculty; and identifying best practices in implementing the CRCI model.
Abstract
Centering Student Voices in Anti-Oppressive Advocacy: A Call for Schools of Public Health
APHA 2022 Annual Meeting and Expo
Schools of public health (SPH) have the opportunity and obligation to actively promote anti-oppressive education, practices, and policies. The ColoradoSPH is a collaborative program between the University of Colorado (CU), Colorado State University (CSU), and the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) where students are leading efforts to combat oppression and structural racism within the school. Despite significant institutional and structural barriers, students at ColoradoSPH have made notable strides on their own, and with key administrative and faculty champions, to promote anti-oppressive practices for students of public health.
Our efforts have led to programmatic changes that better align ColoradoSPH with equity and social justice priorities. CSU students formed the Anti-Racism Student Action Group, which launched initiatives that shifted the curriculum and culture of the Master of Public Health program. CU Anschutz students are active in several committees including the Anti-Racism and Equity Committee. Both of the aforementioned examples include students, faculty and staff working to address equity, diversity and inclusion gaps. As students continue anti-racism efforts across ColoradoSPH, it is critical for administration and faculty to center student voices to achieve equitable change.
This presentation is going to explore efforts led by ColoradoSPH students and resulting effects that could benefit other schools of public health including:
1. Development of funded student positions to direct initiatives aimed at improving School inclusivity and equity.
2. Curriculum updates and development of new anti-oppressive courses.
3. Changes to staff and faculty hiring practices.
4. Publications of scholarship addressing the need for student-centered leadership and scholar-activism.
Abstract
Establishment of a Hybrid, Intradisciplinary Vaccine Administration Training Program for First and Second Year Medical Students
APHA 2022 Annual Meeting and Expo
Vaccine administration training is included in the curriculum for several health professions including nursing and pharmacy. It is not, however, universally incorporated into medical school pre-clinical curriculum.
The TTU System Public Health and Health Policy Think Tank, in collaboration with the TTUHSC School of Nursing, conducted a vaccine training for first and second year medical students. Students completed an online CDC module prior to participating in an in-person simulation with nursing faculty. Students were asked to complete a pre and post survey on the effectiveness of the training. Questions used a Likert 5-point scale and a Student’s paired t-test was used for data analysis.
101 students participated in the training; 93 completed the surveys. Following the training, students felt more comfortable giving a patient a vaccine under the supervision of a physician (p<0.0001), volunteering in a community wide vaccine campaign (p<0.0001), and giving vaccines during clinical rotations (p<0.0001). 93% (n=87) of students found the in-person training to be “effective or “very effective . 80% (n=74) of students would not have been able to participate in a vaccine training outside of this opportunity and 98% (n=91) think learning how to administer vaccines should be incorporated into the pre-clinical medical curriculum.
Thousands of medical students across the country can be used to help in vaccinations drives. Training these students will not only better prepare the country to handle the next pandemic or outbreak, but it will also empower a student workforce to provide access to common vaccines to underserved rural and urban communities.
Abstract
Perceptions and Experiences of Diversity at a US Medical School – One Institution's Response to the Racial Justice Report Card
APHA 2022 Annual Meeting and Expo
Issue: As the gatekeepers to the health professions, medical schools and teaching hospitals play a significant role in cultivating a more diverse and inclusive health system. While medical schools across the U.S. call for a conscious effort towards diversity, the presence of diverse representation at these institutions pales in comparison to the growing diversity of the nation’s population. This concern has been further amplified by changes in the country’s sociopolitical landscape. Few studies have evaluated the perspective of students and faculty on racial, ethnic, and sexual diversity in medical schools, specifically in the time following the 2016 election. In response to growing tensions surrounding the social injustices witnessed across the nation, a group of engaged students and faculty at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine developed a questionnaire to assess the institutional climate of diversity and inclusion. Description: Building upon the White Coats 4 Black Lives Racial Justice Report Card, this concurrent mixed-methods survey explored participant experiences with bias and discrimination on campus. The survey was distributed from September - November 2018 via the institutional listserv for all medical staff, faculty, and students. Of the 2,228 individual respondents, 435 provided both responses to both the qualitative and quantitative prompts. The majority of participants were White (n=159), US-born (n=281) female (n=292) staff (n=268) age 40-55 (n=161) with Christian beliefs (n=206). Lessons Learned: Thematic analysis of the qualitative responses revealed four major themes: perceived otherness; pretense of diverse representation; impact of identity on upward mobility; and institutional commitment to equity and inclusion. To our knowledge, this is the first study to address staff as members of the university climate, highlighting the important element they provide to the campus environment. In response to these results, the University implemented a Task Force on Racial Justice in June 2020 with the main goal of addressing issues of systemic racism and sexism within the university and creating a culture of diversity, inclusion, and equity.
Abstract
Melissa: Monitoring the Environment with Living Investigatory Sentinel Species Apis mellifera
APHA 2022 Annual Meeting and Expo
Without the ability to meaningfully detect an environmental contaminant, public health efforts can get behind the curve, and people suffer for it. Industrial polluters are the major source of environmental contamination. Despite regulation, industrial compliance efforts are often limited by the difficulty of getting samples to analyze due to cost and logistical challenges. The current method requires a compliance officer to gather a sample or rely on self-reported measures from the potential polluters. This process can be remarkably costly both in capital and human labor. These issues can be remedied by relying on the domesticated honeybee to gather the “samples. Honeybees (Apis mellifera) are a species especially well-suited to environmental biomonitoring. Honeybees have a wide forage area in which they fly, crawl, and swim, thus picking up an extensive array of exposures. These exposures can be monitored to gain an understanding of the local exposome of a beehive, thus giving further inference on regional regulatory compliance. While the literature has explored the impact of exposure to the bees, there is little in the way of using the bees to monitor point source pollution in the environment. The studies that do use bees as a biomonitor do not attempt to apply any meaningful spatial resolution to the gathered data to identify a non-compliant environmental actor. This project is an endeavor to use GIS software, public environmental data, and a multi-hive network to produce a method to locate point pollution sources using honeybees as a sentinel species.
Abstract
Nurse Practitioners in Full Scope of Practice & Reduced Practice States: Incremental Change
APHA 2022 Annual Meeting and Expo
Background: Nurse Practitioners (NPs) have been proposed as a solution to the U.S. primary care physician shortage, however, scope of practice boundaries have been hotly debated for decades. Despite the ongoing debate, the literature lacks a comparative historical policy perspective exploring why and how some states have achieved NP full scope of practice, while others have not.
Methods: Semi-structured interviews with policy experts in full and reduced scope of practice states were conducted. Questions focused on experts’ understanding of key NP scope of practice policies. Additional relevant documents were identified and subsequently analyzed.
Results: Fourteen policy experts participated in semi-structured interviews. A total of >50 additional documents were analyzed. In full scope of practice states NPs were recognized and received full prescriptive authority much earlier than in reduced practice states, which allowed full practice states to move toward working on other issues such as payment parity. At first glance, each state’s journey to expand NP scope of practice seems unique, yet overarching similarities emerged. For example, NPs across all states achieved incremental policy changes to remove barriers to practice; NP arguments in all states centered around improving access to care; and physician opposition was present in all states.
Conclusions: Understanding how some states have achieved independent practice is critical because if utilized effectively, NPs can be considered part of the solution to the primary care physician shortage. Incremental change stands out as one factor that explains how each state reached its current NP policy.
Abstract
Growing the nursing assistant workforce through expansions to the Nurse Corps program
APHA 2022 Annual Meeting and Expo
In less than ten years, 1 in 5 Americans will be above the retirement age, and during this period, nursing careers needed to care for them are among the highest in projected growth. However, the workforce is not developing to meet this need. The LNA certification costs thousands, creating a financial barrier; and as a result, those entering the workforce are not attracted to the career. In return for their labor, the average pay for an LNA in the United States is just $14.56 an hour. Studies have shown that depressive symptoms are strongly associated with working six or seven days a week as a nursing assistant. Yet, if the patients were distributed more evenly among nursing assistants and fewer shifts were necessary, this would reduce employee emotional distress: a top reason for resignation. The Nurse Corps program provides scholarships and loan repayment to nurses who agree to work primary care positions in health professional shortage areas (HPSAs). Current data shows the Nurse Corps program is exceeding targets in HPSA nurse retention, making it a successful solution for health staffing shortages. With the increased funding to the Nurse Corps program in the upcoming year, I propose that the program expand to include incentives for CNA/LNA training and job retention. To incentivize people to work in HPSAs as a nursing assistant, the Nurse Corps program should offer a monthly stipend or lump sum upon completion of a service term to trained CNAs/LNAs who work in critical shortage facilities.
Abstract
Health Policy Ambassadors: A Model for Engaging Students in Health Policy Advocacy
APHA 2022 Annual Meeting and Expo
Issues:
Advocacy is vital to spurring decision-makers to enact policies that are supportive of public health equity. Advocacy can seem inaccessible to students and young people who hold the greatest stake in policy that supports a healthy, equitable future. The Health Policy Ambassador program was established to bridge the gap between students and community organizations that are advocating for health policy change.
Description:
Students were tasked with completing educational modules focused on the policy-making process. Teams of three students were matched with four community partners who work in a variety of health-related fields: nursing, disability justice, arts education, and environmental justice. Once linked with our partners, we began familiarizing ourselves with the community partner organization, their needs, and their advocacy goals. Students then worked with our partners to develop an advocacy plan in the fall semester and implement the plan in the spring. Final projects include a focus group resulting in informal recommendations, a policy brief presented to the mayor’s office, a public awareness campaign, and a policy proposal for a local government.
Lessons Learned:
Community partners gained an increased capacity for advocacy and students gained real-world experience engaging in policy advocacy, relationship building, communication, and teamwork.
Recommendations:
Student experiences were positive and gave us the opportunity to apply our coursework in the real world. This is a model that can be used at other institutions as a way to engage students from a variety of backgrounds and areas of study in health policy advocacy.