The National Commission of Health Education Credentialing, Inc. (NCHEC) created the Category 1 COVID-19 Claim Form Opportunity to document how Certified Health Education Specialists (CHES
®
) and ...Master Certified Health Education Specialists (MCHES
®
) assisted communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using data submitted by CHES
®
/MCHES
®
(
n
= 3,098 claim forms), the purpose of this study was to (a) describe the settings where CHES
®
and MCHES
®
completed their pandemic work and (b) assess differences in the type of pandemic work completed by CHES
®
compared with MCHES
®
based on specific Areas of Responsibility (AOR) for Health Education Specialists. Findings showed that CHES
®
and MCHES
®
engaged in seven AOR during the pandemic, with the largest proportion of CHES
®
(
n
= 859; 33%) and MCHES
®
(
n
= 105; 21.9%, documenting COVID-19-related activities in health departments. CHES
®
reported higher engagement than MCHES
®
in activities such as COVID-19 reporting/tracking, χ
2
(1,
N
= 3,098) = 27.3,
p
< .001; outbreak response, χ
2
(1,
N
= 3,098) = 4.3,
p
= .039; and vaccination, χ
2
(1,
N
= 3,098) = 5.2,
p
= .023. Conversely, MCHES
®
reported higher participation than CHES
®
in screening/testing, χ
2
(1,
N
= 3,098) = 174.2,
p
< .001; administration of budgets/operations, χ
2
(1,
N
= 3,098) = 30.1,
p
< .001; and adapting educational activities at college/universities, χ
2
(1,
N
= 3,098) = 46.1,
p
< .001. CHES
®
were more likely than MCHES
®
to indicate working in all AOR except for Area 2—Plan Health Education/Promotion. Results support that employer-verified health education skills in all AOR were transferable during COVID-19, especially for CHES
®
employed within state/county health departments.
North America is experiencing an unprecedented overdose crisis driven by the proliferation of fentanyl and its analogues in the illicit drug supply. In 2018 there were 67,367 drug overdose deaths in ...the United States, and since 2016, there have been more than 14,700 overdose deaths in Canada, with most related to fentanyl. Despite concerted efforts and some positive progress, current public health, substance use treatment, and harm reduction interventions (such as widespread naloxone distribution and implementation of supervised consumption sites) have not been able to rapidly decrease overdose fatalities. In view of the persistent gaps in services and the limitations of available options, immediate scale-up of low-barrier opioid distribution programs are urgently needed. This includes “off-label” prescription of pharmaceutical grade opioids (e.g., hydromorphone) to disrupt the toxic drug supply and make safer opioids widely available to people at high risk of fatal overdose.
Aim
The prevalence of mental disorders increases sharply during adolescence. Therefore, school teachers are in a good position to provide initial assistance to students with mental health problems. ...Although effects of a number of mental health literacy programs aimed at teachers have been reported, they have not yet been reviewed in a systematic manner. This study conducted a systematic review of the effectiveness of mental health literacy programs for teachers.
Methods
PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL, ERIC, Web of Science and reference lists of included studies were searched in September 2018. Studies that quantitatively measured at least one of the main components of mental health literacy, including (a) knowledge of mental illnesses, (b) stigma towards mental illnesses, (c) confidence in helping students, and (d) behaviour of helping students, were included regardless of study design. Risk of bias was rated for each included study according to the Cochrane tool for randomized studies and the Cochrane tool, for raondomized studies, and the Risk of Bias Assessment Tool for Nonrandomized Studies (RoBANS), for nonrandomized studies.
Results
Sixteen studies met the inclusion criteria, including 1 randomized controlled trial (RCT), 2 cluster RCTs, 1 controlled before‐and‐after study and 12 case series. Most of the studies claimed significant improvement of knowledge, attitudes, behaviour and/or confidence. However, the overall quality for all outcomes was relatively low; 15 studies had high/unclear risk of bias due to lack of allocation concealment, not controlling for confounders, and/or inadequate analysis for attrition.
Conclusions
More high quality evidence is required before the effectiveness of mental health literacy programs for teachers can be established.
To assess the current state of graduate-level disaster-related curricula (i.e., Masters and Doctoral programs, degree concentrations, and graduate certificates) offered by the Council on Education ...for Public Health (CEPH)-accredited public health schools and programs in the US.
This research reviewed, evaluated, and summarized the content of websites of all US-based CEPH-accredited schools and programs to identify disaster-related degree programs, degree concentrations and graduate certificates from April - June 2021.
Of 191 schools and programs reviewed, 29 (15%) offered disaster-related curricula, totaling 44 degrees and programs. Programs included Masters-level degrees and Masters/ Doctoral degree concentrations, with the majority taking the form of graduate certificates (64%). Schools that offered disaster-related curricula were clustered in eastern and Gulf states.
Most US CEPH-accredited schools and programs do not offer graduate-level disaster-focused curricula. Of the programs offered, far fewer opportunities exist for in-depth graduate-degree level training compared to certificate-level training. Additionally, programs are constrained to certain areas of the country. Our findings suggest a need for disaster and public health emergency-related curricula development within schools and programs of public health to meet the growing needs of communities affected by disasters and emergencies.
To determine medical school characteristics that may result in graduates entering the specialty of public health and general preventive medicine (PH&GPM), the authors conducted an analysis comparing ...the presence of affiliated preventive medicine residency programs and combined Master of Public Health degree programs with the likelihood of graduates entering the specialty of PH&GPM.
Using data from the American Board of Preventive Medicine and publicly available information on medical schools and residencies, in spring 2022, the authors compared medical schools that produced PH&GPM physicians with the presence of a PH&GPM residency program, the presence of any preventive medicine residency (public health and general preventive medicine or occupational medicine or aerospace medicine), and the presence of a combined Doctor of Medicine‒Master of Public Health or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine‒Master of Public Health program.
Between 2017 and 2021, there were 385 physicians newly board certified in PH&GPM, 210 medical schools, and 75 preventive medicine residencies. The 385 physicians graduated from 110 of the 210 medical schools. Analyses showed statistically significant associations between medical schools that graduated PH&GPM physicians and the presence of PH&GPM residencies (OR=3.74; 95% CI=1.61, 8.69), all preventive medicine residencies (OR=2.75; 95% CI=1.37, 5.51), and combined degree programs (OR=4.37; 95% CI=2.45, 7.79).
Because PH&GPM residency programs affiliated with medical schools are a significant factor associated with PH&GPM physicians obtaining board certification, such analyses may provide critical guidance in the utilization of resources intended to produce more physicians certified in this specialty.
Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are at higher risks of developing chronic oral health conditions. This trial compared the efficacy of two tooth-brushing educational interventions on ...the oral hygiene status {Simplified Oral Hygiene Index (OHI-S)} among 7–15-year-old students with ASD in Tehran. Four schools were divided to intervention (video modeling) and comparison (social story) school groups. The OHI-S of 137 participants had been evaluated at baseline and 133 were analyzed finally after one month. Baseline characteristics were similar between both groups. OHI-S improvement was significantly higher in intervention group. We concluded that tooth-brushing educational intervention using video modeling based on modern technologies would improve oral hygiene status more than traditional social stories (standard education) in individuals with ASD. Trial registration number: IRCT20200208046413N1
,
Registration date: 2020–07-05.
The pandemic of COVID-19 has caused severe public health consequences around the world. Many interventions of COVID-19 have been implemented. It is of great public health and social importance to ...evaluate the effects of interventions in the pandemic of COVID-19. With the help of a synthetic control method, the regression discontinuity, and a state-space compartmental model, we evaluated the treatment and stagewise effects of the intervention policies. We found statistically significant treatment effects of broad stringent interventions in Wenzhou and mild interventions in Shanghai to subdue the epidemic's spread. If those reduction effects were not activated, the expected number of positive individuals would increase by 2.18 times on February 5, 2020, for Wenzhou and 7.69 times on February 4, 2020, for Shanghai, respectively. Alternatively, regression discontinuity elegantly identified the stringent (p-value: <0.001) and mild interventions (p-value: 0.024) lowered the severity of the epidemic. Under the compartmental modeling for different interventions, we understood the importance of implementing the interventions. The highest level alert to COVID-19 was practical and crucial at the early stage of the epidemic. Furthermore, the physical/social distancing policy was necessary once the spread of COVID-19 continued. If appropriate control measures were implemented, then epidemic would be under control effectively and early.
Supplementary materials
for this article, including a standardized description of the materials available for reproducing the work, are available as an online supplement.
Aim: This study aims to compare audio-visual and verbal education on the Oral Health status of Diabetes Mellitus (DM) Patients attending a Hospital in Moradabad. Materials and Methods: The current ...longitudinal interventional study was conducted to check the efficiency of audio-visual and verbal education on the Oral Health status of DM Patients attending a Hospital in Moradabad, U. P., India. The World Health Organization Oral Health Pro forma 1997 was used to collect information regarding the Oral Health Status and Treatment Needs of the DM patients. After collecting the initial baseline data, the sample was divided into two groups verbal education group (n = 1030) and audio-visual education group (n = 1030). Then, oral health education (OHE) was provided verbally to Group I patients and OHE with audio-visual aids was given to Group II patients visiting Teerthanker Mahaveer Hospital. OHE was repeated after each 2 months. At every 6, 12, and 18 months, clinical examination was repeated to evaluate the effectiveness of OHE. Inspection will be conducted under natural daylight on Hospital premises. Results: A total of 1926 patients attended all the follow-up and review examination. Subject dropout for Group I was 2% with 1009 at 6th month; 3% with 978 at 12th month; and 1% with 967 at 18th month. The subject dropout rate for Group II was 3% with 999 at 6th month; 0% with 999 at 12th month; and 4% with 959 at 18th month. The difference in subject dropout among the groups was not statistically significant (P = 0.23). After 18 months, the number of Type I and Type II DM patients with bleeding, calculus, and pockets was further reduced to 115, 114, and 29, respectively in verbal education group while it reduced to 96, 89, and 16, respectively, in audio-visual education group. The result was found to be statistically significant. At the end of 18 months, the number of Type I and Type II DM patients with decayed teeth were reduced to 486 in verbal education group while it was reduced to 421 in audio-visual education group. The result was found to be statistically significant. Conclusion: A main part of oral disease prevention is done by use of personal oral hygiene measures and maintaining oral hygiene. It is the duty of dental professionals to motivate, demonstrate and instruct patients to maintain appropriate oral health and oral hygiene.
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