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Special Issue "Reducing Health Disparities and Promoting Healthy Youth, Families, and Communities"

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Health Behavior, Chronic Disease and Health Promotion".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2023) | Viewed by 6031

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Michael P. Anastario

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Guest Editor

Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work, Florida International University, ACH5 11200 SW 8th St., Miami, FL 33174, USA
Interests: agrichemical exposures; life history elicitation techniques; renal function decline; agrarian lifeways; health disparities; research methods

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Structural violence imposes organized distress upon individuals, families, and communities. It systematically impacts environments and the associated biological responses experienced by humans within them. While there is general awareness that marginalized populations suffer health disparities, there remains a need for health disparities research that moves beyond raising awareness. This includes research focused on understanding environmental health disparities, research that examines environmental health issues faced by historically marginalized populations, developing solutions-oriented research that aims to reduce health disparities, and developing scientific methods, measures, and metrics that support health disparities research.

This special issue, entitled “Reducing Health Disparities and Promoting Healthy Youth, Families, and Communities” invites a wide range of submissions that address environmental health disparities. This includes quantitative and qualitative research, research that documents the processes underlying health disparities, research that develops and tests interventions to reduce health disparities, research that uses and develops community-engaged research methods, and research that is methodological in nature.

New research papers, brief reports, case reports, methodological papers, and commentaries are welcome. We will accept manuscripts across multiple fields including epidemiology, exposure science, toxicology, the social sciences, intervention studies, implementation science, and risk and health impact assessment.

Dr. Michael P. Anastario
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

minority health
health disparities
trials
multi-level interventions
environmental health
structural violence
solutions-oriented research
community-engaged research

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

Open AccessArticle

Developing Public Health Promotion Strategies for Social Networking Sites: Perspectives of Young Immigrant Women in Norway

Rita Agdal

and

Ingrid Onarheim Spjeldnaes

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(5), 4033; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20054033 - 24 Feb 2023

Viewed by 965

Abstract

Background: Social networking sites (SNS) have emerged as digital settings for youth participation and health promotion. Understanding the complex dynamic of analog/digital participation has become crucial for settings-based health promotion strategies that aim to enable people to increase control over their health and environments. Previous research demonstrates that SNS influence young people’s health in complex ways, but less is known about how processes related to intersectionality are reflected in digital settings. This study asked the following question: how do young women with immigrant backgrounds experience and navigate SNS and how can this inform settings-based health promotion strategies? Methods: The study included three focus groups with 15 women aged 16–26 years and used thematic content analysis. Findings and conclusion: Young women with immigrant backgrounds reported that transnational networks provided a sense of belonging. However, their presence on SNS strengthened negative social control and had consequences for endeavors to connect with local peers in both digital and analog settings. Both challenges and resources were amplified. The participants reported that sharing strategies to navigate complex networks was useful; they emphasized the importance of anonymous chats, they shared health-related information with extended networks with lower e-literacy, and they saw opportunities for the cocreation of health promotion strategies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Reducing Health Disparities and Promoting Healthy Youth, Families, and Communities)

Open AccessArticle

Exploring the Digital Divide among the Bhutanese Refugee Community during COVID-19: Engaged Research in Action

and

Francisco Alejandro Montiel Ishino

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(24), 16854; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192416854 - 15 Dec 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2153

Abstract

The digital divide proved a critical barrier to accessing information and healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic and negatively impacted the Bhutanese refugee community. Moving beyond a technological model of the digital divide that highlights a lack of access to computers and the internet, we engaged the community to co-produce a dynamic approach that identifies the impact of socio-cultural and socio-environmental factors as well. Our paper reports on our community-academic research partnership and explores how the digital divide exacerbates health disparities in a midwestern Bhutanese refugee community. Combining the efforts of the community, anthropologists and social workers, this paper reports on the health disparities that confront the community as well as interventions designed to mitigate social inequities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Reducing Health Disparities and Promoting Healthy Youth, Families, and Communities)

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Open AccessArticle

Factors That “Nudge People towards the Healthier” Snacks—A Qualitative Study with Student, Faculty, and Staff Leaders and Decision Makers

Christie Leanne Kirchoff

Rumi Agarwal

Mariana Sanchez

and

Cristina Palacios

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(23), 15922; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192315922 - 29 Nov 2022

Viewed by 1114

Abstract

(1) College campuses pose numerous public health challenges for students, faculty and staff. The healthfulness of the snacks available on campuses is lacking, and there is a desire for change among the students and staff. The objective of this study is to understand the perspectives of the students, staff, and decision makers regarding the college campus food environment and the perceived facilitators and barriers to improving it. (2) In-depth interviews were conducted (n = 15) with decision makers in food, policy development, wellness, and nutrition at a large Hispanic-Serving University in South Florida. (3) The key stakeholders shared that educational campaigns, student buy-in, raising awareness around obesity and chronic disease, and the university’s position within the community would all help to facilitate improvements to the snack food environment. However, the participants noted that the complex nature of what is considered to be healthy and what divergent consumers want are significant barriers to improving the snack food environment along with concerns over lost revenue and the corporate structure. (4) These results inform potential focal points for multi-level interventions and inform policy discussions focused on improving the snack food environment at minority-serving universities. Taking strategic actions to improve the snack food environment may aid the students and staff of the university to enhance their diet quality. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Reducing Health Disparities and Promoting Healthy Youth, Families, and Communities)

Open AccessArticle

Retrospective Assessment of Human–Chemical Interactions in Health-Disparity Populations: A Process Evaluation of Life History Calendars

Michael Anastario

Olivia Ceavers

Paula Firemoon

Nezahualcoyotl Xiuhtecutli

and

Ana Maria Rodriguez

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(19), 12397; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912397 - 29 Sep 2022

Viewed by 773

Abstract

Life-history calendars (LHCs) can produce retrospective data regarding numerous events, exposures, and sequences that have occurred across participants’ lifespans. In this mixed-quantitative-and-qualitative-methods study, processes of LHC administration were evaluated in two populations experiencing health disparities: foreign-born agricultural workers (n = 41) and Indigenous people who used injection drugs (IPWIDS) (n = 40). LHC administrator and participant perspectives were elicited during follow-up survey activities. In both agricultural workers and IPWIDs, over half of participants reported that the LHC made it easier to remember things about the past, and participant age was associated with cumulative experience in different domains of interest. Qualitative findings suggested that data-collector training and the development of concise interview guides are critical for improving LHC data quality. Participants described ethical themes, including utilitarian, cathartic, and reflective aspects, of LHC participation. Future iterations of the LHC may benefit from providing free-form and open-ended spaces for participants to reflect on the LHC activity following LHC administration. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Reducing Health Disparities and Promoting Healthy Youth, Families, and Communities)

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Special Issue "Reducing Health Disparities and Promoting Healthy Youth, Families, and Communities"

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