Communities catalyzing change with data to mitigate an invisible menace, traffic-related air pollution.

OBJECTIVES: To identify strategies and tactics communities use to translate research into environmental health action. METHODS: We employed a qualitative case study design to explore public health action conducted by residents, organizers, and public health planners in two Massachusetts communities as part of a community based participatory (CBPR) research study. Data sources included key informant interviews (n = 24), reports and direct observation of research and community meetings (n = 10) and project meeting minutes from 2016-2021. Data were coded deductively drawing on the community organizing and implementation frameworks. RESULTS: In Boston Chinatown, partners drew broad participation from community-based organizations, residents, and municipal leaders, which resulted in air pollution mitigation efforts being embedded in the master planning process. In Somerville, partners focused on change at multiple levels, developer behavior, and separate from the funded research, local legislative efforts, and litigation. CONCLUSIONS: CBPR affords communities the ability to environmental health efforts in a way that is locally meaningful, leveraging their respective strengths. External facilitation can support the continuity and sustainment of community led CBPR efforts.

Policy Statement: Mental Well-being among Anthropologists at Universities: A Call for System Transformation.

The Anthropology of Mental Health Interest Group affirms that the state of mental health in Academic Anthropology needs serious attention and transformation. We respond to structural inequities in academia that exacerbate mental distress among graduate students and other anthropologists who experience oppression, by putting forward a policy statement with recommendations to create more equitable learning and working environments.

Neighborhood characteristics and ataque de nervios: the role of neighborhood violence.

Ataque de nervios is a Latina/o idiom of distress that may occur as a culturally sanctioned response to acute stressful experiences, particularly relating to grief, threat, family conflict, and a breakdown in social networks. The contextual factors associated with ataque de nervios have received little attention in research. This study examined the association between neighborhood factors and the experience of ataque de nervios among a sample of Latinas/os participating in the Latino Health and Well-Being Project in the northeastern United States. We examined the association between neighborhood cohesion, safety, trust, and violence and ataque de nervios. In multivariate logistic regression models, neighborhood violence was associated with ataque de nervios (p = .02), with each unit increase in the neighborhood violence scale being associated with 1.36 times greater odds of experiencing ataque de nervios. None of the other neighborhood variables were significantly associated with ataque de nervios. The positive association between neighborhood violence and the experience of ataque de nervios makes a further case for policy efforts and other investments to reduce neighborhood violence.

Health Lens Analysis: A Strategy to Engage Community in Environmental Health Research in Action.

Health Lens Analysis is a tool to facilitate collaboration among diverse community stakeholders. We employed HLA as part of a community based participatory research (CBPR) and action study to mitigate the negative health effects of TRAP and ultrafine particles (UFPs) in Somerville, MA. HLA is a Health in All Policies tool with previously limited implementation in a North American context. As part of the HLA, community and academic partners engaged residents from across near-highway neighborhoods in a series of activities designed to identify health concerns and generate recommendations for policies and projects to improve health over an 18-month planning period. Noise barriers, which may reduce TRAP exposure among residents in addition to reducing traffic noise, were seen as an acceptable solution by community stakeholders. We found HLA to be an effective means to engage stakeholders from across sectors and diverse community residents in critical discourse about the health impacts of near-roadway exposures. The iterative process allowed the project team to fully explore the arguments for noise barriers and preferred health interventions, while building a stakeholder base interested in the mitigation of TRAP, thus, creating a shared language and understanding of the issue.