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Novel Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and are in the process of generating evidence of effectiveness or may not yet be tested.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
A retrospective registry-based chart review examined the various demographic and clinical risk factors associated with COVID-19 severity among patients aged 18-29. The study was done within a metropolitan health care system in Houston, TX. In the cohort of 1,853 young adult patients diagnosed with COVID-19 infection at a hospital encounter, including 226 pregnant women, 1,438 (78%) scored 0 on the Charlson Comorbidity Index, and 833 (45%) were obese (≥30 kg/m2). Within 30 days of their diagnostic encounter, 316 (17%) patients were diagnosed with pneumonia, 148 (8%) received other severe disease diagnoses, and 268 (14%) returned to the hospital after being discharged home. In multivariate logistic regression analyses, increasing age, male gender, Hispanic ethnicity, obesity, asthma history, congestive heart failure, cerebrovascular disease, and diabetes were predictive of severe disease diagnoses within 30 days. Non-Hispanic Black race, obesity, asthma history, myocardial infarction history, and household exposure were predictive of 30-day readmission.
Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
Youth nationwide face new intensified stressors like illness, death, social isolation, economic stress, food insecurity, family hardship, and increase domestic violence risk. These stressors are associated with outcomes like depression, behavioral problems, anxiety disorders, and worsened existing mental health conditions. School-based health centers (SBHCs) are a cost-effective health care delivery model that increases mental and behavioral health access and use. SBHC patients live in underserved communities and are at a greater risk for mental health issues. The qualitative data from this study highlight increased demand for mental health services and a lack of resources to meet this demand, resources to ensure universal telehealth technology access are needed to improve health care access for youth, and parental buy-in and support are crucial component of sustained care.
Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
In the United States, mobile health clinics are an important method for delivering high quality care to medically underserved populations. To address declining vaccination coverage among young children in Boston during the pandemic, Mattapan Community Health Center (Mattapan) and Codman Square Health Center (Codman Square) partnered with the Kraft Center for Community Health at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers to deploy a pediatric mobile health clinic as an adjunct to their in-person clinical services.
Promising Practices that show evidence of effectiveness in improving public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting, as indicated by achievement of aims consistent with the objectives of the activities, and are suitable for adaptation by other communities.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
This article describes G4H, an intervention to mitigate loneliness. This article identifies the need for more interventions to address loneliness and seeks to contribute to the evidence available through a randomized controlled trial where individuals participate in either a group based belonging intervention (G4H) or in cognitive behavioral therapy. The research takes place in Australia and included 174 people who received the intervention prior to COVID-19, with follow up measures collected after COVID-19. Results indicated that both CBT and G4H were effective at improving symptoms, but G4H showed higher benefits regarding loneliness, depression, and wellbeing.
Best Practices that show evidence of effectiveness in improving public health outcomes when implemented in multiple real-life settings, as indicated by achievement of aims consistent with the objectives of the activities.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
This practice traces a 14-year partnership between health institutions and a rural Native Hawaiian community. The partnership began as a single study to study familial cardiomyopathy, then evolved towards a community-based project to improve overall health and wellbeing. As time went on, other institutions and community leaders became involved. The article focuses on the growth of institutional capacity and community service. Lessons learned can serve to engage communities in COVID-19 prevention and mitigation measures.
Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
This article evaluates a partnership between the University of Maryland, Baltimore – an urban academic treatment center – and multiple rural behavioral health treatment centers to provide medication assisted treatment (MAT) to individuals with opioid use disorder via videoconference. Retention rates and toxicology results for patients who received MAT via videoconference were comparable to those receiving face-to-face treatment. It should be noted that data for this study were collected prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
This article presents the results of a non-randomized controlled trial comparing in-person vs. telemedicine treatment for pregnant women with opioid use disorder in South Carolina. The authors found no statistically significant difference in treatment outcomes for women who received care in-person vs. via telemedicine, and no statistically significant difference in outcomes for the newborns of women in these respective groups. The authors were unable to assign trial participants to telemedicine vs. in-person care at random due to the inability of some rural patients to attend treatment in person. Also, the sample size was not sufficient to achieve ~80% power to detect a difference between the two groups. At the same time, the practice strategy is considered useful for helping to deliver telehealth treatment for vulnerable populations, including pregnant and newly parenting people with substance use disorder, and people living in rural communities.
Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
This article describes the rapid scale-up of adolescent telehealth services at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Division of Adolescent Medicine. While the scale-up was partially effective in reaching some underserved populations (e.g., people living with HIV, people with substance use disorder, people living with mental illness), racial disparities in visit completion rates are concerning and would need to be addressed by sites replicating this intervention to avoid exacerbating health disparities. The practice strategy this article is focused on is adolescent telehealth services.
Best Practices that show evidence of effectiveness in improving public health outcomes when implemented in multiple real-life settings, as indicated by achievement of aims consistent with the objectives of the activities.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
This practice details the use of a classroom based, culturally grounded curriculum to prevent substance use among rural Hawaiian youth. Youth were exposed to the curriculum over a period of 2 years, and although substance use increased among control and intervention groups, the intervention group had significantly smaller increases. The curriculum focuses on resistance skills training for middle school aged youth, using video vignettes of Hawaiian youth engaged in realistic drug-related problem situations. Similar approaches could prove useful when informing Hawaiian youth about COVID-19 mitigation strategies.
Novel Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and are in the process of generating evidence of effectiveness or may not yet be tested.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
This commentary describes the challenges faced by rural communities in addressing COVID-19, with a focus on the issues faced by southeastern US states. It also addresses how the COVID-19 Community Vulnerability Index (CCVI) may be used as a tool to identify communities at heightened risk for COVID-19 on the basis of 6 clearly defined indicators. The CCVI can help decision makers target resources where they are most needed. Stakeholders, including hospitals, health care centers, insurance providers, policy makers, community-based organizations, and faith-based organizations, should be included in planning and enlisted to help reach disadvantaged and marginalized communities. The coordination would be valuable in planning emergency response, identifying areas of greatest needs, developing culturally appropriate messaging, and disseminating information throughout the community.