Research on the health of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) populations can provide important information to address existing health inequalities. Finding existing research in LGBT ...health can prove challenging due to the plethora of terminology used. We sought to describe existing search strategies and to identify more comprehensive LGBT search terminology. We iteratively created a search string to identify systematic reviews and meta-analyses about LGBT health and implemented it in Embase, PubMed/MEDLINE, and PsycINFO databases on May 28-29, 2015. We hand-searched the journal LGBT Health. Inclusion criteria were: systematic reviews and meta-analyses that addressed LGBT health, used systematic searching, and used independent coders for inclusion. The published search terminology in each record and search strings provided by authors on request were cross-referenced with our original search to identify additional terminology. Our search process identified 19 systematic reviews meeting inclusion criteria. The number of search terms used to identify LGBT-related records ranged from 1 to 31. From the included studies, we identified 46 new search terms related to LGBT health. We removed five search terms as inappropriate and added five search terms used in the field. The resulting search string included 82 terms. There is room to improve the quality of searching and reporting in LGBT health systematic reviews. Future work should attempt to enhance the positive predictive value of LGBT health searches. Our findings can assist LGBT health reviewers in capturing the diversity of LGBT terminology when searching.
Improving the health of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals is a Healthy People 2020 goal; however, the IOM highlighted the paucity of information currently available about LGB populations.
...To compare health indicators by gender and sexual orientation statuses.
Data are from Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System surveys conducted January-December of 2010 with population-based samples of non-institutionalized U.S. adults aged over 18 years (N=93,414) in ten states that asked about respondents' sexual orientation (response rates=41.1%-65.6%). Analyses were stratified by gender and sexual orientation to compare indicators of mental health, physical health, risk behaviors, preventive health behaviors, screening tests, health care utilization, and medical diagnoses. Analyses were conducted in March 2013.
Overall, 2.4% (95% CI=2.2, 2.7) of the sample identified as LGB. All sexual minority groups were more likely to be current smokers than their heterosexual peers. Compared with heterosexual women, lesbian women had more than 30% decreased odds of having an annual routine physical exam, and bisexual women had more than 2.5 times the odds of not seeking medical care owing to cost. Compared with heterosexual men, gay men were less likely to be overweight or obese, and bisexual men were twice as likely to report a lifetime asthma diagnosis.
This study represents one of the largest samples of LGB adults and finds important health inequalities, including that bisexual women bear particularly high burdens of health disparities. Further work is needed to identify causes of and intervention for these disparities.
Research shows that constraining aspects of male gender norms negatively influence both women's and men's health. Messaging that draws on norms of masculinity in health programming has been shown to ...improve both women's and men's health, but some types of public health messaging (e.g., Man Up Monday, a media campaign to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections) can reify harmful aspects of hegemonic masculinity that programs are working to change. We critically assess the deployment of hegemonic male norms in the Man Up Monday campaign. We draw on ethical paradigms in public health to challenge programs that reinforce harmful aspects of gender norms and suggest the use of gender-transformative interventions that challenge constraining masculine norms and have been shown to have a positive effect on health behaviors.
We systematically reviewed evidence of disparities in tobacco marketing at tobacco retailers by sociodemographic neighborhood characteristics. We identified 43 relevant articles from 893 results of a ...systematic search in 10 databases updated May 28, 2014. We found 148 associations of marketing (price, placement, promotion, or product availability) with a neighborhood demographic of interest (socioeconomic disadvantage, race, ethnicity, and urbanicity). Neighborhoods with lower income have more tobacco marketing. There is more menthol marketing targeting urban neighborhoods and neighborhoods with more Black residents. Smokeless tobacco products are targeted more toward rural neighborhoods and neighborhoods with more White residents. Differences in store type partially explain these disparities. There are more inducements to start and continue smoking in lower-income neighborhoods and in neighborhoods with more Black residents. Retailer marketing may contribute to disparities in tobacco use. Clinicians should be aware of the pervasiveness of these environmental cues.
Abstract
This paper discusses the development and implementation of a locally‐sourced corpus to address the specific needs of an ESL writing program. The paper begins with a description of the ...motivation and development of the
Corpus of Ohio Learner and Teacher English
(COLTE), a large in‐house corpus consisting of assessed ESL student writing and teacher feedback from first‐year writing courses. The paper illustrates research conducted within the local context using the COLTE and discusses how the program's corpus‐based approach influenced curricular revisions and instructional practice. It addresses the evaluation of these efforts, challenges encountered, and considerations for building and using corpora at the program level. The paper concludes by arguing that stakeholders within programs can work collaboratively to build and use locally‐sourced corpora grounded in their specific setting to explore local practices and address the English language learning and teaching needs of their own particular context.
In eutrophic coastal waters, harmful algal blooms (HAB) often occur and present challenges to environmental and fisheries management. Despite decades of research on HAB early warning systems, the ...field validation of algal bloom forecast models have received scant attention. We propose a daily algal bloom risk forecast system based on: (i) a vertical stability theory verified against 191 past algal bloom events; and (ii) a data-driven artificial neural network (ANN) model that assimilates high frequency data to predict sea surface temperature (SST), vertical temperature and salinity differential with an accuracy of 0.35oC, 0.51oC, and 0.58 psu respectively. The model does not rely on past chlorophyll measurements and has been validated against extensive field data. Operational forecasts are illustrated for representative algal bloom events at a marine fish farm in Tolo Harbour, Hong Kong. The robust model can assist with traditional onsite monitoring as well as artificial-intelligence (AI) based methods.
•A daily algal bloom forecast system suitable for coastal fisheries management is developed for the first time.•The model is validated against 191 past algal bloom events and 4 years of real time water quality data at a fish farm.•The ANN model assimilates real time data to predict SST, vertical temperature and salinity differential.•The operational forecast does not rely on past chlorophyll measurements.•The robust model can assist with traditional onsite water quality monitoring as well as AI-based methods.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people are at increased risk for the adverse effects of tobacco use, given their high prevalence of use, especially smoking. Evidence regarding ...cessation is limited. To determine if efficacious interventions are available and to aid the development of interventions, a systematic review was conducted of grey and peer-reviewed literature describing clinical, community, and policy interventions, as well as knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding tobacco use cessation among LGBT people.
Eight databases for articles from 1987 to April 23, 2014, were searched. In February-November 2013, authors and researchers were contacted to identify grey literature.
The search identified 57 records, of which 51 were included and 22 were from the grey literature; these were abstracted into evidence tables, and a narrative synthesis was conducted in October 2013-May 2014. Group cessation curricula tailored for LGBT populations were found feasible to implement and show evidence of effectiveness. Community interventions have been implemented by and for LGBT communities, although these interventions showed feasibility, no rigorous outcome evaluations exist. Clinical interventions show little difference between LGBT and heterosexual people. Focus groups suggest that care is needed in selecting the messaging used in media campaigns.
LGBT-serving organizations should implement existing evidence-based tobacco-dependence treatment and clinical systems to support treatment of tobacco use. A clear commitment from government and funders is needed to investigate whether sexual orientation and gender identity moderate the impacts of policy interventions, media campaigns, and clinical interventions.
A quiet methodological revolution, a modeling revolution, has occurred over the past several decades, almost without discussion. In contrast, the 20th century ended with contentious argument over the ...utility of null hypothesis significance testing (NHST). The NHST controversy may have been at least partially irrelevant, because in certain ways the modeling revolution obviated the NHST argument. I begin with a history of NHST and modeling and their relation to one another. Next, I define and illustrate principles involved in developing and evaluating mathematical models. Following, I discuss the difference between using statistical procedures within a rule-based framework and building mathematical models from a scientific epistemology. Only the former is treated carefully in most psychology graduate training. The pedagogical implications of this imbalance and the revised pedagogy required to account for the modeling revolution are described. To conclude, I discuss how attention to modeling implies shifting statistical practice in certain progressive ways. The epistemological basis of statistics has moved away from being a set of procedures, applied mechanistically, and moved toward building and evaluating statistical and scientific models.
The purpose of this study is to determine the past-year prevalence estimates of any nicotine/tobacco use, cigarette smoking, and DSM-5 tobacco use disorder based on sexual identity among U.S. adults, ...and to examine potential variations in these estimates by age, race/ethnicity, and sexual identity–attraction concordance/discordance.
The 2012–2013 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions collected data via in-person interviews with a cross-sectional nationally representative sample of non-institutionalized adults (response rate=60.1%) and analyses for the present study were conducted in 2017.
Any past-year nicotine/tobacco use, cigarette smoking, and DSM-5 tobacco use disorder were most prevalent among sexual minority–identified adults compared with heterosexual-identified adults, with notable variations based on sex, age, race/ethnicity, and sexual identity–attraction discordance. Elevated rates of any nicotine/tobacco use, cigarette smoking, and DSM-5 tobacco use disorder among sexual minorities were most prevalent among younger lesbian women and gay men, and all age groups of bisexual men and women. The odds of any nicotine/tobacco use, cigarette smoking, and DSM-5 tobacco use disorder were significantly greater among sexual identity–attraction discordant women and significantly lower among sexual identity–attraction discordant men.
These findings provide valuable new information about sexual minority subgroups, such as self-identified bisexual older adults and sexual identity–attraction discordant women, that appear to be at higher risk for adverse smoking-related health consequences as a result of their elevated rates of cigarette smoking. Additional attention is warranted to examine these high-risk subpopulations prospectively and, if the results are replicated with larger samples, this information can be used to target smoking-cessation and lung cancer screening efforts.
Objective To conduct a systematic review of the literature examining risk factors/correlates of cigarette smoking among lesbian, gay and bisexual (ie, sexual minority) populations. Methods Sets of ...terms relevant to sexual minority populations and cigarette smoking were used in a simultaneous search of 10 databases through EBSCOhost. The search was limited to the peer-reviewed literature up to January 2011, using no geographic or language limits. For inclusion, the paper was required to: (1) have been written in English, (2) have sexual minorities (defined by either attraction, behaviour, or identity) included in the study population and (3) have examined some form of magnitude of association for risk factors/correlates of any definition of cigarette smoking. A total of 386 abstracts were reviewed independently, with 26 papers meeting all inclusion criteria. Abstracts were reviewed and coded independently by authors JB and JGLL using nine codes derived from the inclusion/exclusion criteria. Results Studies used various measures of sexual orientation and of smoking. Risk factors that could be considered unique to sexual minorities included internalised homophobia and reactions to disclosure of sexual orientation. Some studies also indicated common smoking risk factors experienced at higher rates among sexual minorities, including stress, depression, alcohol use and victimisation. Conclusions This review identified risks that were associated with sexual minority status and common to the general population but experienced at potentially higher rates by sexual minorities. Government and foundation funds should be directed towards research on the origins of this disparity.
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