Leadership tasks in public health: findings from the National Board of Public Health Examiners' job task analysis.

Introduction: Public health leadership plays a crucial role in shaping effective health policies and practices. The National Board of Public Health Examiners (NBPHE) conducts a job task analysis (JTA) survey every 5-7 years to update the Certified in Public Health (CPH) examination. The objective of this study is to examine the JTA findings on leadership tasks in public health practice.

Explanations for Failure to Detect Effects of a Prescription Medication Disposal Intervention for Rural Adults.

Prescription opioid misuse has had a substantial impact on morbidity and mortality in the United States, but proper disposal of unused medications can reduce the risk of misuse. This commentary reflects on potential explanations for our failure to detect effects of a mailed communication intervention promoting the use of prescription medication take-back boxes among a rural population of adults. This field experiment included adults (Intervention:  = 3,255; Comparison:  = 3,325) in six counties in Mississippi.

Online grocery purchasing in Mississippi: associations with broadband, rurality, and household characteristics.

Introduction: This study investigates the sociodemographic, economic, and area characteristics associated with Online Grocery Purchasing (OGP) use among adult residents of Mississippi. Understanding these factors is important in a largely rural and low-income state to address barriers and enhance accessibility.

Methods: Data were collected from a 2022 online pilot survey ( = 398) and secondary sources.

A Proportionate Mortality Study of Mississippi's Agricultural Industry, 2017-2021.

Objectives: Individuals employed in the agricultural industry encounter hazards in their work that could lead to injury or illness. Furthermore, the mental stress of being involved in the agricultural industry could lead to negative health-related outcomes for workers. This study evaluates the causes of deaths among employees in Mississippi's agricultural industry from 2017 to 2021.

Changes in Life-Space Mobility With Loss of Relatives and Friends Among Older Adults: Results From the UAB Study of Aging.

Background And Objectives: Increasing age brings a greater risk of death of friends and family (hereafter referred to as loss) potentially impacting individuals' life-space mobility (LSM) trajectory.

Research Design And Methods: Using the UAB study of aging, we examined differences in LSM trajectories of 1,000 community-dwelling older Alabamians (65 + years) with and without loss over 8.5 years.

Perceptions of Opioid Misuse in Mississippi Agricultural Communities: Focus Group Findings.

Highlights: There is a concern that agricultural producers could be misusing opioids to cope with stress and injuries. Focus groups were held in Mississippi to determine perceptions of opioid misuse in the agricultural community. Results found that alcohol misuse, not opioid misuse, is an issue for Mississippi agricultural producers.

Development and Pretesting of Prescription Opioid Misuse Prevention Messages: Results and Implications for Practice.

Well-designed health communication campaigns can contribute to the uptake of preventive behaviors, but there has been a lack of attention on using communication research to develop opioid misuse prevention messages. We report the results of two studies designed to inform the development of prescription opioid misuse prevention messages for adults ages 30-59. In Study 1, 16 adults across 4 counties participated in semi-structured interviews to provide input on message concepts addressing six key prescription opioid misuse prevention behaviors.

Increasing Uptake of Prescription Drug Take-Back Boxes: Eliciting Preferences and Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior to Predict Use.

This study assesses adults' perceptions of and predictors of intention to use prescription drug take-back boxes. This mixed methods study utilized focus groups and an online survey to examine factors related to intention to use a prescription drug take-back box. This study was conducted in [State] during the spring and summer of 2018.

Barriers to Healthy Eating and Physical Activity in the Mississippi Delta.

Rural regions in the United States are home to approximately 15-20% of the country's population. These regions are often characterized by low access to medical care and high rates of disease and death. The literature has detailed the heterogeneous nature of rural health disparities, calling for research detailing regional factors that influence individual-level risk factors such as diet and physical activity.

A Market Basket Assessment: Prices and Availability of Healthy Foods Across SNAP-Authorized Food Outlets in Counties With High Obesity Rates in Mississippi.

Introduction: The Mississippi Delta is predominantly rural and ranks among the US regions with the highest obesity rates. Throughout the US, rural and low-income communities have limited access to healthy foods. Given the interrelation between the quality of the food environment and the healthfulness of diets and obesity rates, the food environment is an important public health concern in these communities.

Mental health first aid training for Extension agents in rural communities.

Objective: The goal of the current study is to evaluate the effectiveness of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) in broadening the network of gatekeepers in rural communities.

Method: Extension agents in Mississippi who completed MHFA training were recruited via email to participate in a 22-item, web-based, quantitative and qualitative, six-month follow-up survey that measured demographic characteristics, which MHFA skills agents used post-training, barriers to skill use, and confidence in ability to use those skills (n = 80).

Results: Over 60% of the agents reported using the skills learned from the MHFA training, and nearly 15% of agents reported having an encounter with someone in crisis since completing the MHFA training.

Rural adults' perceived role of family members in prescription opioid misuse prevention: Implications for family-based approaches.

Purpose: This study explored and documented rural adults' perceptions of family roles in prescription opioid misuse prevention and the predisposing, reinforcing, and enabling factors that influence family members from taking those roles.

Methods: Nine focus groups with rural adults (n = 55) were conducted to evoke discussion about family roles in prescription opioid misuse prevention. Transcripts were coded based on common ideas that arose during the focus groups, previous literature, and the PRECEDE-PROCEED program planning model.

Cooperative Extension as a Force for Healthy, Rural Communities: Historical Perspectives and Future Directions.

Cooperative Extension (Extension), part of the land-grant university system, has been engaged in rural communities for more than a century. While the focus of Extension's efforts has largely centered on agriculture, there is an important thread of work that has similarities to public health.As Extension settles into its second century, we are working to be even more engaged in efforts that improve the health and well-being of rural communities in particular.

Identifying Geriatric Patients at Risk for Malnutrition: A Quality Improvement Project.

Malnourishment leads to poor outcomes in the geriatric surgical population and national guidelines recommend preoperative nutrition screening. However, care practices do not reflect current recommendations. As a quality-improvement project, a validated nutritional screening tool, the Mini Nutritional Assessment-Short Form (MNA-SF), was implemented in the preoperative clinic of a large academic health center to identify patients at-risk for malnutrition prior to elective surgery.

Social and Demographic Predictors of Nutritional Risk: Cross-sectional Analyses From the UAB Study of Aging II.

Social factors may disparately affect access to food and nutritional risk among older adults by race and gender. This study assesses these associations using the Mini Nutritional Assessment among 414 community-dwelling persons 75+ years of age in Alabama. Descriptive analyses on the full sample and by African American men, African American women, white men, and white women showed that mean scores for the full Mini Nutritional Assessment differed by groups, with African American men and African American women having the highest nutritional risk.

Meals Enhancing Nutrition After Discharge: Findings from a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: After older adults experience episodes of poor health or are hospitalized, they may not return to premorbid or prehospitalization eating behaviors. Furthermore, poor nutrition increases hospital readmission risk, but evidence-based interventions addressing these risks are limited.

Objective: This pilot study's objective was to evaluate the feasibility of conducting a randomized controlled trial assessing a post-discharge home-delivered meal program's impact on older adults' nutritional intake and hospital readmissions and to assess patient acceptability and satisfaction with the program.

Effects of Calorie Restriction in Obese Older Adults: The CROSSROADS Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: We lack a comprehensive assessment of the risks and benefits of calorie restriction in older adults at high risk for cardiometabolic disease. Calorie restriction may reduce visceral adipose tissue (VAT) but also have negative effects on lean mass and quality of life.

Methods: We conducted a 52-week, randomized controlled trial involving 164 older adults with obesity taking at least one medication for hyperlipidemia, hypertension, or diabetes.

Neighborhood Disadvantage and Life-Space Mobility Are Associated with Incident Falls in Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

Objectives: To determine the relationship between neighborhood-level socioeconomic characteristics, life-space mobility, and incident falls in community-dwelling older adults.

Design: Prospective, observational cohort study with a baseline in-home assessment and 6-month telephone follow-up.

Setting: Central Alabama.

Surrounding community residents' expectations of HOPE VI for their community, health and physical activity.

Using a community-engaged participatory research approach, this study identified surrounding community residents' expectations for how a HOPE VI housing initiative might affect their community and individual health and physical activity. Fifty-nine women and men engaged in concept mapping, which is a mixed methods approach, where participants generate, sort, and rate ideas. Participants generated 197 unique statements.

Does Participation in Home-Delivered Meals Programs Improve Outcomes for Older Adults? Results of a Systematic Review.

Participation in home-delivered meals programs may contribute to the health and independence of older adults living in the community, especially those who are food insecure or those who are making transitions from acute, subacute, and chronic care settings to the home. The purpose of this study was to conduct a comprehensive and systematic review of all studies related to home-delivered meals in order to shed light on the state of the science. A complete review of articles appearing in PubMed using the keyword "Meal" was conducted; and titles, abstracts, and full-texts were screened for relevance.

Calorie restriction in overweight seniors: response of older adults to a dieting study: the CROSSROADS randomized controlled clinical trial.

We conducted a study designed to evaluate whether the benefits of intentional weight loss exceed the potential risks in a group of community-dwelling obese older adults who were at increased risk for cardiometabolic disease. The CROSSROADS trial used a prospective randomized controlled design to compare the effects of changes in diet composition alone or combined with weight loss with an exercise only control intervention on body composition and adipose tissue deposition (Specific Aim #1: To compare the effects of changes in diet composition alone or combined with weight loss with an exercise only control intervention on body composition, namely visceral adipose tissue), cardiometabolic disease risk (Specific Aim #2: To compare the effects of a change in diet composition alone or combined with weight loss with an exercise only control intervention on cardiometabolic disease risk), and functional status and quality of life (Specific Aim #3: To compare the effects of a change in diet composition alone or combined with weight loss with an exercise only control intervention on functional status and quality of life). Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: Exercise Only (Control) Intervention, Exercise + Diet Quality + Weight Maintenance Intervention, or Exercise + Diet Quality + Weight Loss Intervention.

Association between neighborhood disadvantage and hypertension prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control in older adults: results from the University of Alabama at Birmingham Study of Aging.

Objectives: We evaluated the effect of neighborhood disadvantage (ND) on older adults' prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension.

Methods: Data were from the University of Alabama at Birmingham Study of Aging, an observational study of 1000 community-dwelling Black and White Alabamians aged 65 years and older, in 1999 to 2001. We assessed hypertension prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control with blood pressure measurements and self-report data.

Ecological risk assessment for residual coal fly ash at Watts Bar Reservoir, Tennessee: Limited alteration of riverine-reservoir benthic invertebrate community following dredging of ash-contaminated sediment.

Benthic invertebrate communities were assessed after the December 2008 release of approximately 4.1 million m(3) coal fly ash from a disposal dredge cell at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Kingston Fossil Plant on Watts Bar Reservoir in Roane County, Tennessee, USA. Released ash filled the adjacent embayments and the main channel of the Emory River, migrating into reaches of the Emory, Clinch, and Tennessee Rivers.