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Lai PHL, Halvorsen CJ, Chang K, Nguyen LHT, Howard EP, Lyons KS. Unemployed, Immigrant, and Older Asian Workers in a U.S.-Based Job-Training Program: Their Experiences and Well-Being, and Strategies for Reaching This Important Population. J Gerontol Soc Work 2024:1-17. [PMID: 38598561 DOI: 10.1080/01634372.2024.2339980] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2023] [Accepted: 04/03/2024] [Indexed: 04/12/2024]
Abstract
The Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) is a U.S.-based job-training program that serves unemployed workers aged 55 and older with incomes at or below 125% of the federal poverty level. While federal funds are set aside to serve Asian workers in SCSEP, little is known about their characteristics and experiences. In response, this pilot study aimed to document the health, well-being, and experiences of older Asian SCSEP participants in Massachusetts through the completion of a survey. Respondents (N = 39) ranged in age from 58 to 73 and identified as either Chinese (72%) or Vietnamese (28%). All were immigrants, and almost all spoke a language other than English at home. Most reported "good" health as well as financial difficulties. They also stated that their supervisors in their placements were supportive. On average, respondents noted moderate interest in searching for a paid job after exiting SCSEP, although more reported interest in searching for a volunteer role. Key to the success of this study was a robust collaboration with a local human services organization with strong ties to the Chinese and Vietnamese communities. The findings highlight the importance of this growing group of older workers.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Cal J Halvorsen
- School of Social Work, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA
- Center on Aging & Work at Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA
| | - Kun Chang
- Greater Boston Chinese Golden Age Center, Boston, MA, USA
| | | | | | - Karen S Lyons
- Connell School of Nursing, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA
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Wong R, Grullon JR, McNamara SE, Smith NH, Dillenbeck CA, Royal K, Brangman SA. Multisectoral Collaborations to Increase Recruitment and Retention of Diverse Older Adults in Biomedical Research. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 2024; 79:glad259. [PMID: 37950448 PMCID: PMC10851669 DOI: 10.1093/gerona/glad259] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2023] [Indexed: 11/12/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Older adults, especially minoritized racial-ethnic groups, are historically underrepresented in biomedical research. This study summarizes the development and assesses the impact of a review board involving a multisectoral group of stakeholders with the goal of increasing the diversity of older adults in biomedical research. METHODS A 25-member board of community members, caregivers, researchers, and clinicians from Upstate New York reviewed 3 projects presented by researchers, clinician-scientists, and a pharmaceutical company between January and December 2022. For each biomedical research project, the reviews provided guidance to increase the recruitment and retention of diverse older adults engaged in the study. Review board members and presenters completed surveys to provide feedback on their experience in this collaboration. RESULTS There was consistent positive feedback from all members and presenters. From member surveys, feedback trended positive in meetings throughout the year. Community members and caregivers initially indicated discomfort in expressing their views; however, these concerns subsided over time. Presenters had a very positive experience in the review board's impact on their recruitment strategy and study design, and therefore very likely to use this service again. Recommendations were made to adjust membership criteria, presentation format, and funding to sustain this effort. CONCLUSIONS Lack of diversity for older adults represented in biomedical research contributes to ethical and generalizability ramifications. The positive feedback from all stakeholders in our multisectoral board of community members, caregivers, researchers, and clinicians offers a promising structure for developing similar strategies to increase diversity within and beyond biomedical aging research in other communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roger Wong
- Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Norton College of Medicine, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York, USA
| | - Jason R Grullon
- Norton College of Medicine, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York, USA
| | - Sarah E McNamara
- Department of Geriatrics, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York, USA
| | | | - Colleen A Dillenbeck
- Department of Geriatrics, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York, USA
| | - Kathy Royal
- Department of Geriatrics, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York, USA
| | - Sharon A Brangman
- Department of Geriatrics, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York, USA
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Adkins-Jackson PB, Vázquez E, Henry-Ala FK, Ison JM, Cheney A, Akingbulu J, Starks C, Slay L, Dorsey A, Marmolejo C, Stafford A, Wen J, McCauley MH, Summers L, Bermudez L, Cruz-Roman ZL, Castillo I, Kipke MD, Brown AF. The Role of Anti-Racist Community-Partnered Praxis in Implementing Restorative Circles Within Marginalized Communities in Southern California During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Health Promot Pract 2023; 24:232-243. [PMID: 36419256 PMCID: PMC9703012 DOI: 10.1177/15248399221132581] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the adverse influence of structural racism and discrimination experienced by historically marginalized communities (e.g., Black, Latino/a/x, Indigenous, and transgender people). Structural racism contributes to trauma-induced health behaviors, increasing exposure to COVID-19 and restricting access to testing and vaccination. This intersection of multiple disadvantages has a negative impact on the mental health of these communities, and interventions addressing collective healing are needed in general and in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Share, Trust, Organize, and Partner COVID-19 California Alliance (STOP COVID-19 CA), a statewide collaborative of 11 universities and 75 community partners, includes several workgroups to address gaps in COVID-19 information, vaccine trial participation, and access. One of these workgroups, the Vaccine Hesitancy Workgroup, adopted an anti-racist community-partnered praxis to implement restorative circles in historically marginalized communities to facilitate collective healing due to structural racism and the COVID-19 pandemic. The project resulted in the development of a multilevel pre-intervention restorative process to build or strengthen community-institutional partnerships when procurement of funds has been sought prior to community partnership. This article discusses this workgroup's role in advancing health justice by providing a community-based mental health intervention to marginalized communities in Southern California while using an antiracist praxis tool to develop a successful community-institutional partnership and to live up to the vision of community-based participatory research.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Ann Cheney
- University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA
| | | | | | - Lindsay Slay
- Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Alexander Dorsey
- Mending Minds Professional Clinical Counseling, Inc, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | | | | | - James Wen
- St. John's Cathedral, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | | | - Latrese Summers
- St. John's Well Child and Family Center, Inc., Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | | | | | | | | | - Arleen F Brown
- University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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Reynolds NR, Baker D, D'Aoust R, Docal M, Goldstein N, Grubb L, Hladek MD, Koirala B, Kverno K, Ling C, Lukkahatai N, McIltrot K, Pandian V, Regier NG, Sloand E, Tomori C, Wenzel J. COVID-19: Implications for Nursing and Health Care in the United States. J Nurs Scholarsh 2023; 55:187-201. [PMID: 36583656 PMCID: PMC9847252 DOI: 10.1111/jnu.12853] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2022] [Revised: 11/03/2022] [Accepted: 11/04/2022] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE COVID-19 and other recent infectious disease outbreaks have highlighted the urgency of robust, resilient health systems. We may now have the opportunity to reform the flawed health care system that made COVID-19 far more damaging in the United States (U.S.) than necessary. DESIGN AND METHODS Guided by the World Health Organization (WHO) Health System Building Blocks framework (WHO, 2007) and the socio-ecological model (e.g., McLeroy et al., 1988), we identified challenges in and strengths of the U.S.' handling of the pandemic, lessons learned, and policy implications for more resilient future health care delivery in the U.S. Using the aforementioned frameworks, we identified crucial, intertwined domains that have influenced and been influenced by health care delivery in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic through a review and analysis of the COVID-19 literature and the collective expertise of a panel of research and clinical experts. An iterative process using a modified Delphi technique was used to reach consensus. FINDINGS Four critically important, inter-related domains needing improvement individually, interpersonally, within communities, and for critical public policy reform were identified: Social determinants of health, mental health, communication, and the nursing workforce. CONCLUSIONS The four domains identified in this analysis demonstrate the challenges generated or intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic, their dynamic interconnectedness, and the critical importance of health equity to resilient health systems, an effective pandemic response, and better health for all. CLINICAL RELEVANCE The novel coronavirus is unlikely to be the last pandemic in the U.S. and globally. To control COVID-19 and prevent unnecessary suffering and social and economic damage from future pandemics, the U.S. will need to improve its capacity to protect the public's health. Complex problems require multi-level solutions across critical domains. The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored four interrelated domains that reveal and compound deep underlying problems in the socioeconomic structure and health care system of the U.S. In so doing, however, the pandemic illuminates the way toward reforms that could improve our ability not only to cope with likely future epidemics but also to better serve the health care needs of the entire population. This article highlights the pressing need for multi-level individual, interpersonal, community, and public policy reforms to improve clinical care and public health outcomes in the current COVID-19 pandemic and future pandemics, and offers recommendations to achieve these aims.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nancy R. Reynolds
- Sigma Theta Tau International Nu Beta at‐Large ChapterSchool of NursingJohns Hopkins UniversityBaltimoreMarylandUSA
| | - Deborah Baker
- Sigma Theta Tau International Nu Beta at‐Large ChapterSchool of NursingJohns Hopkins UniversityBaltimoreMarylandUSA
| | - Rita D'Aoust
- Sigma Theta Tau International Nu Beta at‐Large ChapterSchool of NursingJohns Hopkins UniversityBaltimoreMarylandUSA
| | - Maria Docal
- Sigma Theta Tau International Nu Beta at‐Large ChapterSchool of NursingJohns Hopkins UniversityBaltimoreMarylandUSA
| | - Nancy Goldstein
- Sigma Theta Tau International Nu Beta at‐Large ChapterSchool of NursingJohns Hopkins UniversityBaltimoreMarylandUSA
| | - Lisa Grubb
- Sigma Theta Tau International Nu Beta at‐Large ChapterSchool of NursingJohns Hopkins UniversityBaltimoreMarylandUSA
| | - Melissa D. Hladek
- Sigma Theta Tau International Nu Beta at‐Large ChapterSchool of NursingJohns Hopkins UniversityBaltimoreMarylandUSA
| | - Binu Koirala
- Sigma Theta Tau International Nu Beta at‐Large ChapterSchool of NursingJohns Hopkins UniversityBaltimoreMarylandUSA
| | - Karan Kverno
- Sigma Theta Tau International Nu Beta at‐Large ChapterSchool of NursingJohns Hopkins UniversityBaltimoreMarylandUSA
| | - Catherine Ling
- Sigma Theta Tau International Nu Beta at‐Large ChapterSchool of NursingJohns Hopkins UniversityBaltimoreMarylandUSA
| | - Nada Lukkahatai
- Sigma Theta Tau International Nu Beta at‐Large ChapterSchool of NursingJohns Hopkins UniversityBaltimoreMarylandUSA
| | - Kimberly McIltrot
- Sigma Theta Tau International Nu Beta at‐Large ChapterSchool of NursingJohns Hopkins UniversityBaltimoreMarylandUSA
| | - Vinciya Pandian
- Sigma Theta Tau International Nu Beta at‐Large ChapterSchool of NursingJohns Hopkins UniversityBaltimoreMarylandUSA
| | - Natalie G. Regier
- Sigma Theta Tau International Nu Beta at‐Large ChapterSchool of NursingJohns Hopkins UniversityBaltimoreMarylandUSA
| | - Elizabeth Sloand
- Sigma Theta Tau International Nu Beta at‐Large ChapterSchool of NursingJohns Hopkins UniversityBaltimoreMarylandUSA
| | - Cecília Tomori
- Sigma Theta Tau International Nu Beta at‐Large ChapterSchool of NursingJohns Hopkins UniversityBaltimoreMarylandUSA
| | - Jennifer Wenzel
- Sigma Theta Tau International Nu Beta at‐Large ChapterSchool of NursingJohns Hopkins UniversityBaltimoreMarylandUSA
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Carpenter CR, Southerland LT, Lucey BP, Prusaczyk B. Around the EQUATOR with clinician-scientists transdisciplinary aging research (Clin-STAR) principles: Implementation science challenges and opportunities. J Am Geriatr Soc 2022; 70:3620-3630. [PMID: 36005482 PMCID: PMC10538952 DOI: 10.1111/jgs.17993] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2022] [Revised: 06/25/2022] [Accepted: 07/04/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
The Institute of Medicine and the National Institute on Aging increasingly understand that knowledge alone is necessary but insufficient to improve healthcare outcomes. Adapting the behaviors of clinicians, patients, and stakeholders to new standards of evidence-based clinical practice is often significantly delayed. In response, over the past twenty years, Implementation Science has developed as the study of methods and strategies that facilitate the uptake of evidence-based practice into regular use by practitioners and policymakers. One important advance in Implementation Science research was the development of Standards for Reporting Implementation Studies (StaRI), which provided a 27-item checklist for researchers to consistently report essential elements of the implementation and intervention strategies. Using StaRI as a framework, this review discusses specific Implementation Science challenges for research with older adults, provides solutions for those obstacles, and opportunities to improve the value of this evolving approach to reduce the knowledge translation losses that exist between published research and clinical practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher R Carpenter
- Department of Emergency Medicine and Emergency Care Research Core, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
| | - Lauren T Southerland
- Department of Emergency Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
| | - Brendan P Lucey
- Department of Neurology, Washington University in St Louis School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
| | - Beth Prusaczyk
- Department of Medicine Institute for Informatics, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
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