Strategies for Strengthening the Resilience of Public Health Systems for Pandemics, Disasters, and Other Emergencies.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to identify and prioritize strategies for strengthening public health system resilience for pandemics, disasters, and other emergencies using a scorecard approach. METHODS: The United Nations Public Health System Resilience Scorecard (Scorecard) was applied across 5 workshops in Slovenia, Turkey, and the United States of America. The workshops focused on participants reviewing and discussing 23 questions/indicators. A Likert type scale was used for scoring with zero being the lowest and 5 the highest. The workshop scores were analyzed and discussed by participants to prioritize areas of need and develop resilience strategies. Data from all workshops were aggregated, analyzed, and interpreted to develop priorities representative of participating locations. RESULTS: Eight themes emerged representing the need for better integration of public health and disaster management systems. These include: assessing community disease burden; embedding long-term recovery groups in emergency systems; exploring mental health care needs; examining ecosystem risks; evaluating reserve funds; identifying what crisis communication strategies worked well; providing non-medical services; and reviewing resilience of existing facilities, alternate care sites, and institutions. CONCLUSIONS: The Scorecard is an effective tool for establishing baseline resilience and prioritizing actions. The strategies identified reflect areas in most need for investment to improve public health system resilience.

Brief report: Initial psychometric properties of the everyday discrimination scale in black adolescents.

This study explored select psychometric properties of the Everyday Discrimination Scale in 120 Black adolescents (65 males and 55 females). Youth completed the Everyday Discrimination Scale and the Child Behaviour Checklist-Youth Self-Report Form. A t-test analysis revealed that Everyday Discrimination Scale scores were not significantly different for males and females (p > 0.18). The alpha reliability coefficient was 0.87, with item-total correlations that ranged from 0.50 to 0.70 (mean=0.61). The split-half reliability was 0.83 (p < 0.0001). A principal component analysis yielded one factor, which accounted for approximately 49% of the standardized variance. Correlation analyses indicated that the Everyday Discrimination Scale score was significantly related to internalizing and externalizing symptoms (ps < 0.0002).

Relationship of perceived parenting practices to anger regulation and coping strategies in African-American adolescents.

This study examined the relationship of perceived parenting practices to anger and coping in a sample of 70 African-American adolescents. Regression analyses reveled that perceptions of parental strictness were negatively related to anger temperament, anger-out, and avoidance (all p<0.05), and was positively associated with engaging in demanding activities (p<0.02). Additionally, perceptions of parental involvement were positively related to seeking diversions (p<0.04), and perceptions of parental autonomy granting were negatively related to anger-out (p<0.02). These findings highlight the potential importance of the perceived parent-adolescent relationship for African-American adolescents.