The impact of housing prices on residents' health: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Rising housing prices are becoming a top public health priority and are an emerging concern for policy makers and community leaders. This report reviews and synthesizes evidence examining the association between changes in housing price and health outcomes. METHODS: We conducted a systematic literature review by searching the SCOPUS and PubMed databases for keywords related to housing price and health. Articles were screened by two reviewers for eligibility, which restricted inclusion to original research articles measuring changes in housing prices and health outcomes, published prior to June 31st, 2022. RESULTS: Among 23 eligible studies, we found that changes in housing prices were heterogeneously associated with physical and mental health outcomes, with multiple mechanisms contributing to both positive and negative health outcomes. Income-level and home-ownership status were identified as key moderators, with lower-income individuals and renters experience negative health consequences from rising housing prices. This may have resulted from increased stress and financial strain among these groups. Meanwhile, the economic benefits of rising housing prices were seen to support health for higher-income individuals and homeowners - potentially due to increased wealth or perception of wealth. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the associations identified in this review, it appears that potential gains to health associated with rising housing prices are inequitably distributed. Housing policies should consider the health inequities born by renters and low-income individuals. Further research should explore mechanisms and interventions to reduce uneven economic impacts on health.

Abortion-related crowdfunding post-Dobbs.

Previous research on abortion-related crowdfunding campaigns found that they are impacted by stigma around abortion and rarely successful. This paper analyzes crowdfunding activity in the US following a leak of the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs. V. Jackson Women's Health Organization, a time period that saw increased financial support of abortion access funds. Crowdfunding campaigns that included "abort" or "abortion" and were created between May 2 and November 8, 2022 were recorded from the GoFundMe and GiveSendGo crowdfunding platforms. These campaigns were reviewed for whether they were US based and sought funding where abortion was used as a justification for support. Included campaigns were assigned a campaign recipient type: (1) Organizations providing abortion access; (2) Organizations seeking legal protection for abortion; (3) Individuals seeking abortion access; (4) Organizations seeking to reduce abortion access; and (5) Individuals with needs resulting from choosing not to access abortion. The authors also identified four types of rationale for supporting these campaigns. Following a leak of the Dobbs decision, 398 abortion-related crowdfunding campaigns in the US raised over $3.8 million from over 50,000 donations. Campaigns supporting abortion access organizations raised higher median amounts than organizations seeking to reduce abortion access. Individuals seeking abortion access raised higher median amounts than individuals who chose not to terminate a pregnancy. In a reversal from pre-Dobbs crowdfunding, abortion access campaigns tended to outperform other abortion-related campaigns. It is not clear how long-lived this change in support will be and campaigners remain vulnerable to changes in platforms' content moderation policies.

Therapeutic Potential of Psilocybin for Treating Psychological Distress among Survivors of Adverse Childhood Experiences: Evidence on Acceptability and Potential Efficacy of Psilocybin Use.

Survivors of adverse childhood experience are at elevated risk for psychological distress. In recent years, renewed interest in psychedelic medicine has highlighted the therapeutic potential of psilocybin for those who have experienced childhood adversity. However, recreational psilocybin use remains illegal and access to approved therapies is difficult. Such use provides an opportunity to explore the therapeutic potential of psilocybin for psychological distress among people with adverse childhood experiences. Therefore, we conducted an online survey to assess interest in, acceptability of, and experiences with psilocybin. We further explored whether the association between Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire (ACEQ) scores and psychological distress was lower among those who had used psilocybin in the past three months. Results showed high levels of interest in and acceptability of psilocybin that did not differ across ACEQ scores. Results also showed that the effect of adverse childhood experiences on psychological distress was lower for people who had recently used psilocybin (p = .019). Taken together, these findings suggest that psilocybin therapy may be potentially acceptable and may feasibly help in supporting survivors of adverse childhood experiences with particularly strong benefits to those with more severe childhood adversity.

Loneliness and social support as key contributors to burnout among Canadians workers in the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: COVID-19 has dramatically affected Western Society's relationship with work and contributed to increased worker burnout. Existing studies on burnout have mostly emphasized workplace culture, leadership, and employee engagement as key contributors to burnout. In this cross-sectional study, we examine the associations between Malach-Pines Short Burnout Measure (MPSBM) scores and participant's self reported personal characteristics, financial strain, workplace conditions, work-life balance, and social inclusion among Canadians living during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: To identify the most salient correlates of burnout, Canadian residents, aged 16+, were recruited using paid social media advertisements in French and English to complete a cross-sectional study. Multivariable linear regression and dominance analysis identified the most salient correlates of MPSBM scores. Exposure variables included demographic factors, financial strain, workplace conditions, work-life balance, social support, and loneliness. RESULTS: Among 486 participants, family social support (adjusted ß = -0.14, 95%CI = -0.23, -0.05), emotional loneliness (adjusted ß = 0.26, 95% CI = 0.18, 0.35), insufficient sleep (adjusted ß = 0.38, 95% CI = 0.16, 0.60) and "me time" (adjusted ß = 0.22, 95% CI = 0.03, 0.42), and indicators of financial security (e.g., owning vs renting; adjusted ß = -0.36, 95% CI = -0.54, -0.17; insufficient pay: adjusted ß = -0.36, 95% CI = -0.54, -0.17) were key burnout indicators. People with a bachelor's degree (vs ≤high school diploma; adjusted ß = 0.29, 95% CI = 0.01, 0.58) also had higher burnout scores. CONCLUSION: Interventions addressing workplace culture, leadership, and other proximal workplace stressors, while important, are likely insufficient to meet the needs of workers. Our findings suggest that broader, holistic multicomponent approaches that address multiple upstream dimensions of health-including mental health-are likely necessary to prevent and reduce burnout.

'Us-Versus-Them': Othering in COVID-19 public health behavior compliance.

OBJECTIVE: We explored public perceptions about the COVID-19 pandemic to learn how those attitudes may affect compliance with health behaviors. METHODS: Participants were Central Pennsylvania adults from diverse backgrounds purposively sampled (based on race, gender, educational attainment, and healthcare worker status) who responded to a mixed methods survey, completed between March 25-31, 2020. Four open-ended questions were analyzed, including: "What worries you most about the COVID-19 pandemic?" We applied a pragmatic, inductive coding process to conduct a qualitative, descriptive content analysis of responses. RESULTS: Of the 5,948 respondents, 538 were sampled for this qualitative analysis. Participants were 58% female, 56% with ≥ bachelor's degree, and 50% from minority racial backgrounds. Qualitative descriptive analysis revealed four themes related to respondents' health and societal concerns: lack of faith in others; fears of illness or death; frustration at perceived slow societal response; and a desire for transparency in communicating local COVID-19 information. An "us-versus-them" subtext emerged; participants attributed non-compliance with COVID-19 behaviors to other groups, setting themselves apart from those Others. CONCLUSION: Our study uncovered Othering undertones in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, occurring between groups of like-minded individuals with behavioral differences in 'compliance' versus 'non-compliance' with public health recommendations. Addressing the 'us-versus-them' mentality may be important for boosting compliance with recommended health behaviors.