Mandatory COVID Vaccination: Perspectives from Graduate Allied Health Students at a Mid-size University in the United States.

Because many students enrolled in Allied Health programs are on track to becoming health practitioners or clinicians and frontline workers who would become critical sources of information for patients it is critical to understand their perspectives about mandatory COVID-19 vaccination. Results: COVID-19 Risk Perception. A significant majority of the respondents had high or strongly high-risk perception of COVID-19, 82(56.6%) strongly agreed and 29(20%) agreed with the statement, COVID-19 is a public health issue (P-value < 0.0001), Comparing by demographic characteristics: African American/Black compared with other races (P-Value = 0.0462), Master of Public Health program, compared with all other graduate programs (P-Value = 0.0140) and fully vaccinated and fully vaccinated and boosted compared with incomplete or not-vaccinated for COVID-19 (P-value = 0.0059) had higher COVID-19 risk perceptions. strongly high-risk perception of COVID-19, 82(56.6%) strongly agreed and 29(20%) agreed with the statement, COVID-19 is a public health issue (P-value < 0.0001), Comparing by demographic characteristics: African American/Black compared with other races (P-Value = 0.0462), Master of Public Health program, compared with all other graduate programs (P-Value = 0.0140) and fully vaccinated and fully vaccinated and boosted compared with incomplete or not-vaccinated for COVID-19 (P-value = 0.0059) had higher COVID-19 risk perceptions.

Stress and Stressors: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Students, Faculty and Staff at a Historically Black College/University.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, academic institutions have changed their modus operandi, particularly in adopting distance learning in lieu of face-to-face instruction. This has sometimes produced unanticipated effects on students. The purpose of this study was to determine COVID-19 pandemic stressors and coping mechanisms utilized as relief measures by students, faculty, and staff in the College of Health Sciences at a historically Black institution. Cross-sectional study. SAMPLING: A convenience sample of 209 students, 34 faculty, and 9 staff from the College of Health Sciences at a historically Black institution participated in this study. INSTRUMENT: A 32-item Qualtrics survey was utilized to gather demographic data, COVID-19-related stressors, and coping mechanisms. ANALYSIS: Descriptive statistics, Chi-square test for categorical variables, and Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel tests for ordinal variables were used. Female students, African American students (AAS), and undergraduates perceived stress related to the risk of contagion during the pandemic higher than the male students (P-value = 0.0096), other races (P-value = 0.0249) and graduate students (P-value = 0.0141) respectively. Female students perceived more stress related to relationships with relatives (P-value = 0.0128). Caucasian students compared to others (P-value = 0.0240) and graduate students compared to undergraduate students (P-value = 0.0011) reported less perceived stress related to the relationships with other colleagues. Top coping strategies of students and staff included interaction with family and friends, social media, hand hygiene, and meditation/spiritualty. Except for "avoidance of public spaces/transportation", all other mechanisms were the same for faculty.

Factors influencing breast cancer screening in low-income African Americans in Tennessee.

This study examined demographic and lifestyle factors that influenced decisions and obstacles to being screened for breast cancer in low-income African Americans in three urban Tennessee cities. As part of the Meharry Community Networks Program (CNP) needs assessment, a 123-item community survey was administered to assess demographic characteristics, health care access and utilization, and screening practices for various cancers in low-income African Americans. For this study, only African American women 40 years and older (n = 334) were selected from the Meharry CNP community survey database. There were several predictors of breast cancer screening such as marital status and having health insurance (P < .05). Additionally, there were associations between obstacles to screening and geographic region such as transportation and not having enough information about screenings (P < .05). Educational interventions aimed at improving breast cancer knowledge and screening rates should incorporate information about obstacles and predictors to screening.

Something old is new again: mutual aid and the Tennessee Office of Minority Health.

This article is the result of inquiries and ethnographic encounters over a 15-year period, with the governmental agency known as the Tennessee Office of Minority Health (TOMH), a division of the Tennessee Department of Health. This article concerns the innovative and participatory response of TOMH to support African American health in Tennessee. For the purposes of this article, an innovative and participatory response to alleviate any form of human suffering is defined as mutual aid. How TOMH uses mutual aid will be considered. The intent of this article is to show that mutual aid has historic roots in African American communities and the Black Church. Yet today, government agencies like TOMH use mutual aid to create outputs-altering processes that support health and redress health needs for African American communities.

A Community-Driven Intervention for Improving Biospecimen Donation in African American Communities.

INTRODUCTION: Human biospecimens are an invaluable resource for addressing cancers and other chronic diseases. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of an educational intervention on biospecimen knowledge and attitudes. METHODS: The participants consisted of 112 African Americans, 18 years and older, and who had not provided biospecimens for any health-related research in the past. A total of 55 participants received the educational brochure, and 57 received the educational video. The main outcomes of the study were knowledge and attitudes for biospecimen donation. This information was collected pre- and post-intervention. RESULTS: The average knowledge scores increased (p < 0.0001) and the average attitude scores for biospecimen donation improved (p < 0.0001) post-intervention for both the video and brochure conditions. There was an interaction between the intervention condition and knowledge where the participants who received the educational video showed a greater increase in knowledge pre-to-post compared to those who received the educational brochure (p = 0.0061). There were no significant interactions between the two intervention conditions for attitudes toward biospecimen donation. DISCUSSION: The results of this study demonstrated the feasibility and efficacy of an academic institution collaborating with the African American community in developing educational tools for biospecimen donation.

Tennessee HIV/AIDS people of color project.

The 25th anniversary of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in the United States occurred in 2006. Despite advances in detection, treatment, and care, AIDS, along with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) remain formidable opponents. Tremendous strides have been made in educating the public about associated risk factors and effective prevention methods. However, this has occurred less in communities of color. The paper describes collaboration among public health practitioners and academics to design and conduct research about HIV/AIDS needs and assets in Tennessee's communities of color.

Exploring associations between church-based social support and physical activity.

OBJECTIVE: This study tested associations between church-based instrumental and informational social support and meeting physical activity guidelines. METHODS: Cross-sectional data were analyzed for 1625 rural residents using logistic regression. RESULTS: Associations were found between instrumental social support and performing some amount of physical activity but not between the 2 forms of support and meeting physical activity guidelines. CONCLUSION: Instrumental social support might help initiation of physical activity. Given that 54.1% of US adults get no leisure-time physical activity at the recommended minimum level, instrumental social support might be important in considering physical activity programs.