Pub Date : 2025-12-01DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103592
Onn Laingoen , Catrin Hedd Jones , Sion Williams , Tawatchai Apidechkul , Simon Bishop
This article explores how hill tribe communities in Chiang Rai, Northern Thailand, engage with HIV prevention in the context of cultural complexity and marginalisation. Drawing on qualitative data from 29 semi-structured interviews and two participatory workshops, and informed by a modified social ecological framework, the research examines how individuals navigate risk and protection through informal knowledge networks, relational dynamics and constrained access to health services. Rather than depicting community members as passive or uninformed, the findings suggest active, contextually grounded strategies for managing HIV risk, often shaped by trust, silence and the negotiation of moral and emotional boundaries within families and partnerships. Prevention knowledge was largely circulated through peers, village health volunteers and social networks, while formal services were frequently viewed as inaccessible, untrustworthy or culturally misaligned. Structural factors, including geographic isolation and stigma, further exacerbated uncertainty and limited engagement with public health systems. The article argues for a reframing of HIV prevention as a relational and situated practice and calls for interventions that are co-designed with communities, inclusive of informal care systems and grounded in cultural safety and structural inclusion. Collectively, these insights offer suggestions for more effective, equitable and context-sensitive HIV prevention policy and practice in these marginalised populations.
{"title":"Negotiating risk and resilience: HIV prevention practices among hill tribe communities in northern Thailand","authors":"Onn Laingoen , Catrin Hedd Jones , Sion Williams , Tawatchai Apidechkul , Simon Bishop","doi":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103592","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103592","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This article explores how hill tribe communities in Chiang Rai, Northern Thailand, engage with HIV prevention in the context of cultural complexity and marginalisation. Drawing on qualitative data from 29 semi-structured interviews and two participatory workshops, and informed by a modified social ecological framework, the research examines how individuals navigate risk and protection through informal knowledge networks, relational dynamics and constrained access to health services. Rather than depicting community members as passive or uninformed, the findings suggest active, contextually grounded strategies for managing HIV risk, often shaped by trust, silence and the negotiation of moral and emotional boundaries within families and partnerships. Prevention knowledge was largely circulated through peers, village health volunteers and social networks, while formal services were frequently viewed as inaccessible, untrustworthy or culturally misaligned. Structural factors, including geographic isolation and stigma, further exacerbated uncertainty and limited engagement with public health systems. The article argues for a reframing of HIV prevention as a relational and situated practice and calls for interventions that are co-designed with communities, inclusive of informal care systems and grounded in cultural safety and structural inclusion. Collectively, these insights offer suggestions for more effective, equitable and context-sensitive HIV prevention policy and practice in these marginalised populations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49302,"journal":{"name":"Health & Place","volume":"97 ","pages":"Article 103592"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145662926","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-01DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103575
Jessie L. Heneghan , Kavya Velmurugan , Colleen Weatherwax , Sarah M. Bartsch , Corby K. Martin , Tiffany M. Powell-Wiley , Nevin Cohen , Megan A. McCrory , Abigail Horn , Kevin L. Chin , Tej D. Shah , Katherine T. Fraser , Samuele A. Petruccelli , Alexis M. Dibbs , Sheryl A. Scannell , Kayla de la Haye , Bruce Y. Lee
Introduction
Over the years, different diets have been recommended often with little consideration to how feasible they may be to follow given a person's circumstances and surroundings (e.g., the food environment). Therefore, we sought to determine how difficult it would be for people to maintain the Mediterranean and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (MED-DASH) versus default to the Typical American diet (TAD) in three different income-level neighborhoods in Los Angeles, California.
Methods
We developed geospatially explicit ABMs of three neighborhoods in Los Angeles that had varied socioeconomics and food environments with varying income levels – one lower-income (Boyle Heights), one middle-income (Inglewood), and one higher-income (Santa Monica). We tested how well the virtual residents (represented by computational agents) could adhere to the MED-DASH compared to defaulting to TAD. To summarize outcomes of average dietary adherence levels among agents within each neighborhood, we used means and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) for each diet scenario.
Results
Adherence to the MED-DASH diet was on average only 57.43 % (95 % CI: 55.67 %–59.19 %) in the lower-income neighborhood, 62.39 % (95 % CI: 60.59–64.19 %) in the middle-income neighborhood, and 68.02 % (95 % CI: 66.21–69.82 %) in the higher-income neighborhood. Decreasing by 50 % the average price of foods that comprise the MED-DASH diet increased adherence by 17.24 %, 10.36 %, and 1.88 % in the neighborhoods, respectively.
Conclusions
Dietary recommendations, especially precision nutrition approaches, should take into consideration the surrounding food environment and ways to make suggested diets more feasible.
{"title":"Adherence to the combined Mediterranean-dietary approaches to stop hypertension diet is shaped by neighborhood socio-economics and food environments","authors":"Jessie L. Heneghan , Kavya Velmurugan , Colleen Weatherwax , Sarah M. Bartsch , Corby K. Martin , Tiffany M. Powell-Wiley , Nevin Cohen , Megan A. McCrory , Abigail Horn , Kevin L. Chin , Tej D. Shah , Katherine T. Fraser , Samuele A. Petruccelli , Alexis M. Dibbs , Sheryl A. Scannell , Kayla de la Haye , Bruce Y. Lee","doi":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103575","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103575","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><div>Over the years, different diets have been recommended often with little consideration to how feasible they may be to follow given a person's circumstances and surroundings (e.g., the food environment). Therefore, we sought to determine how difficult it would be for people to maintain the Mediterranean and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (MED-DASH) versus default to the Typical American diet (TAD) in three different income-level neighborhoods in Los Angeles, California.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We developed geospatially explicit ABMs of three neighborhoods in Los Angeles that had varied socioeconomics and food environments with varying income levels – one lower-income (Boyle Heights), one middle-income (Inglewood), and one higher-income (Santa Monica). We tested how well the virtual residents (represented by computational agents) could adhere to the MED-DASH compared to defaulting to TAD. To summarize outcomes of average dietary adherence levels among agents within each neighborhood, we used means and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) for each diet scenario.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Adherence to the MED-DASH diet was on average only 57.43 % (95 % CI: 55.67 %–59.19 %) in the lower-income neighborhood, 62.39 % (95 % CI: 60.59–64.19 %) in the middle-income neighborhood, and 68.02 % (95 % CI: 66.21–69.82 %) in the higher-income neighborhood. Decreasing by 50 % the average price of foods that comprise the MED-DASH diet increased adherence by 17.24 %, 10.36 %, and 1.88 % in the neighborhoods, respectively.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Dietary recommendations, especially precision nutrition approaches, should take into consideration the surrounding food environment and ways to make suggested diets more feasible.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49302,"journal":{"name":"Health & Place","volume":"97 ","pages":"Article 103575"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145656604","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-29DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103587
Freya Häussermann , Dorien Gryp , Wouter Schepers , Bas Dikmans , Sarah Dury , Liesbeth De Donder
Loneliness, though often perceived as an individual experience, is also influenced by the broader context in which individuals live, including the neighbourhood. This study used a participant-generated photo-elicitation approach to understand how structured (e.g., physical infrastructure) and lived (e.g., perceptions, safety, and affordability) characteristics of the neighbourhood-built environment affect loneliness. Eighteen participants (aged 20–80) from Belgium took photographs and engaged in photo-elicitation interviews to understand their narratives of loneliness and the role of the neighbourhood-built environment in these experiences. Interview data were inductively analysed using the Qualitative Analysis Guide of Leuven (QUAGOL) and supplemented by photographs. The results describe how the neighbourhood-built environment provides an escape from loneliness at home, facilitates social interactions and participation, supports meaningful involvement, and offers a space for solitude and for processing grief and loss. Availability, accessibility, and affordability of neighbourhood social infrastructure are important, while neighbourhood aesthetics contribute to feelings of safety and welcomeness. Changes in demographics and social infrastructure can bring improvements, but also challenges in relation to loneliness. The discussion underscores that loneliness is not only influenced by individual and interpersonal factors, but also by the neighbourhood-built environment. Our research offers a foundation for targeted, place-sensitive interventions that seek to prevent or moderate loneliness (e.g., preserving informal meeting places) and highlights the need for policymakers and urban planners to prioritise social infrastructure, including accessible third and passing places.
{"title":"How the neighbourhood-built environment shapes loneliness: A photo-elicitation study","authors":"Freya Häussermann , Dorien Gryp , Wouter Schepers , Bas Dikmans , Sarah Dury , Liesbeth De Donder","doi":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103587","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103587","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Loneliness, though often perceived as an individual experience, is also influenced by the broader context in which individuals live, including the neighbourhood. This study used a participant-generated photo-elicitation approach to understand how structured (e.g., physical infrastructure) and lived (e.g., perceptions, safety, and affordability) characteristics of the neighbourhood-built environment affect loneliness. Eighteen participants (aged 20–80) from Belgium took photographs and engaged in photo-elicitation interviews to understand their narratives of loneliness and the role of the neighbourhood-built environment in these experiences. Interview data were inductively analysed using the Qualitative Analysis Guide of Leuven (QUAGOL) and supplemented by photographs. The results describe how the neighbourhood-built environment provides an escape from loneliness at home, facilitates social interactions and participation, supports meaningful involvement, and offers a space for solitude and for processing grief and loss. Availability, accessibility, and affordability of neighbourhood social infrastructure are important, while neighbourhood aesthetics contribute to feelings of safety and welcomeness. Changes in demographics and social infrastructure can bring improvements, but also challenges in relation to loneliness. The discussion underscores that loneliness is not only influenced by individual and interpersonal factors, but also by the neighbourhood-built environment. Our research offers a foundation for targeted, place-sensitive interventions that seek to prevent or moderate loneliness (e.g., preserving informal meeting places) and highlights the need for policymakers and urban planners to prioritise social infrastructure, including accessible third and passing places.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49302,"journal":{"name":"Health & Place","volume":"97 ","pages":"Article 103587"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-11-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145618403","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-27DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103588
Chima Anyanwu , Kai Yang , Valerie Bonne , Amy E. Kalkbrenner , Constance Kostelac , Kirsten M.M. Beyer
Objective
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality in the U.S., and worldwide. We examined the association between geographic access to lung cancer screening facilities (LCSF) and geographically distributed lung cancer risk factors – fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and indoor radon levels in the contiguous U.S.
Methods
We estimated geographic access to LCSF using facility information from the American College of Radiology, Lung Cancer Screening Registry and the enhanced two-step floating catchment area method. Census tract level PM2.5 and county level radon data were obtained from the U.S. EPA. We examined whether PM2.5 and radon predicted geographic access to LCSF using a linear mixed effects model with random intercepts for counties, adjusting for smoking prevalence and other factors, and testing for modification by urban-rural area.
Results
We found higher geographic access to LCSF in counties with moderate and high radon levels, and census tracts with higher levels of PM2.5, with significant modification by urban-rural areas.
Discussion
Our results suggest that accessibility to LCSF in the U.S. is generally aligned with environmental risk factors for lung cancer, with the exception of micropolitan areas or small cities, where higher PM2.5 areas had lower screening access. It is worth considering how environmental risk factors may be incorporated into lung cancer screening programs.
{"title":"Geographic access to lung cancer screening and environmental lung cancer risk factors in the contiguous United States","authors":"Chima Anyanwu , Kai Yang , Valerie Bonne , Amy E. Kalkbrenner , Constance Kostelac , Kirsten M.M. Beyer","doi":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103588","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103588","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><div>Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality in the U.S., and worldwide. We examined the association between geographic access to lung cancer screening facilities (LCSF) and geographically distributed lung cancer risk factors – fine particulate matter (PM<sub>2.5</sub>) and indoor radon levels in the contiguous U.S.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We estimated geographic access to LCSF using facility information from the American College of Radiology, Lung Cancer Screening Registry and the enhanced two-step floating catchment area method. Census tract level PM<sub>2.5</sub> and county level radon data were obtained from the U.S. EPA. We examined whether PM<sub>2.5</sub> and radon predicted geographic access to LCSF using a linear mixed effects model with random intercepts for counties, adjusting for smoking prevalence and other factors, and testing for modification by urban-rural area.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>We found higher geographic access to LCSF in counties with moderate and high radon levels, and census tracts with higher levels of PM<sub>2.5</sub>, with significant modification by urban-rural areas.</div></div><div><h3>Discussion</h3><div>Our results suggest that accessibility to LCSF in the U.S. is generally aligned with environmental risk factors for lung cancer, with the exception of micropolitan areas or small cities, where higher PM<sub>2.5</sub> areas had lower screening access. It is worth considering how environmental risk factors may be incorporated into lung cancer screening programs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49302,"journal":{"name":"Health & Place","volume":"97 ","pages":"Article 103588"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-11-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145618402","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-25DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103585
Micaela Camozzi , Allison Power , Lauren Tonti
Period poverty can act as a barrier to education for menstruating students. This study examines laws that support access to free menstrual products in public, private, and charter schools across grade levels within all 50 states and the District of Columbia (DC) to understand the legal landscape. Legal epidemiology methods were used to create a database of statutes and regulations, effective as of July 2024, that support access to free menstrual products in schools across all 50 states and DC (N = 51). Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data. This review found that 29 of 51 jurisdictions (57 %) have laws that support access to free menstrual products in schools. Of those 29 jurisdictions, 24 (83 %) mandate free product availability and 17 (59 %) describe the financial mechanisms to provide products. Regarding menstrual product placement, twenty-two jurisdictions (76 %) describe at least one type of sanitation facility to provide products – thirteen (45 %) include women's restrooms, thirteen (45 %) include gender-neutral restrooms, and six (21 %) include men's restrooms, which can support privacy and accessibility for transgender and non-binary menstruators. Based on regional categorization as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, these laws are found in 10 of the 17 jurisdictions in the South (59 %), 8 of 13 in the West (62 %), 6 of 9 in the Northeast (67 %), and 5 of 12 in the Midwest (42 %). Variations in legal features demonstrate opportunities for states and DC to establish or amend menstrual products in schools (MPIS) laws to address period poverty within their jurisdiction.
{"title":"Exploring the legal landscape of free menstrual products in schools: A scan of 50 states and DC","authors":"Micaela Camozzi , Allison Power , Lauren Tonti","doi":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103585","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103585","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Period poverty can act as a barrier to education for menstruating students. This study examines laws that support access to free menstrual products in public, private, and charter schools across grade levels within all 50 states and the District of Columbia (DC) to understand the legal landscape. Legal epidemiology methods were used to create a database of statutes and regulations, effective as of July 2024, that support access to free menstrual products in schools across all 50 states and DC (N = 51). Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data. This review found that 29 of 51 jurisdictions (57 %) have laws that support access to free menstrual products in schools. Of those 29 jurisdictions, 24 (83 %) mandate free product availability and 17 (59 %) describe the financial mechanisms to provide products. Regarding menstrual product placement, twenty-two jurisdictions (76 %) describe at least one type of sanitation facility to provide products – thirteen (45 %) include women's restrooms, thirteen (45 %) include gender-neutral restrooms, and six (21 %) include men's restrooms, which can support privacy and accessibility for transgender and non-binary menstruators. Based on regional categorization as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, these laws are found in 10 of the 17 jurisdictions in the South (59 %), 8 of 13 in the West (62 %), 6 of 9 in the Northeast (67 %), and 5 of 12 in the Midwest (42 %). Variations in legal features demonstrate opportunities for states and DC to establish or amend menstrual products in schools (MPIS) laws to address period poverty within their jurisdiction.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49302,"journal":{"name":"Health & Place","volume":"97 ","pages":"Article 103585"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145618401","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-24DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103584
Anne Sebert Kuhlmann, Kenan Li, Maire MacMaster, Sydney Gellner, Adam Gilmore, Enbal Shacham
Background
Individuals experiencing homelessness face daily challenges of sanitation and hygiene. These challenges are exacerbated during menstruation.
Aim
We sought to assess the location, accessibility, and functionality of public restrooms in the City of St. Louis.
Methods
We compiled and mapped a list of public restrooms based on local government websites. Then, using an audit tool based on previous research and UNICEF guidelines, we audited them for accessibility, functionality, cleanliness, and infrastructure that facilitates menstrual hygiene. We also determined the service area for each public restroom by mapping a 0.5-, 1- and 2-mile travel distance along the road network around each restroom location.
Results
In total, we visited 31 unique locations and audited 53 restrooms. Four locations were completely boarded up and could not be audited. Only 15 % of the City's total area is within one-half mile of a public restroom, and 67 % is within 2 miles from the closest public restroom. Nearly all the audited restrooms had functional toilets and locks/latches on the door or stall for privacy. Only 10 of the restrooms had period products available, and less than half had disposable bins available within reach of the toilet.
Conclusion
Availability of public restrooms is a key concern in St. Louis – limited both by physical availability and hours of operation. When restrooms are available, however, they tend to be physically accessible and functional, while infrastructure to help maintain menstrual hygiene is more limited. Local government needs to invest in increasing the availability of public restrooms for those in need.
{"title":"Availability, accessibility, and functionality of public restrooms in the City of St. Louis, Missouri","authors":"Anne Sebert Kuhlmann, Kenan Li, Maire MacMaster, Sydney Gellner, Adam Gilmore, Enbal Shacham","doi":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103584","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103584","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Individuals experiencing homelessness face daily challenges of sanitation and hygiene. These challenges are exacerbated during menstruation.</div></div><div><h3>Aim</h3><div>We sought to assess the location, accessibility, and functionality of public restrooms in the City of St. Louis.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We compiled and mapped a list of public restrooms based on local government websites. Then, using an audit tool based on previous research and UNICEF guidelines, we audited them for accessibility, functionality, cleanliness, and infrastructure that facilitates menstrual hygiene. We also determined the service area for each public restroom by mapping a 0.5-, 1- and 2-mile travel distance along the road network around each restroom location.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>In total, we visited 31 unique locations and audited 53 restrooms. Four locations were completely boarded up and could not be audited. Only 15 % of the City's total area is within one-half mile of a public restroom, and 67 % is within 2 miles from the closest public restroom. Nearly all the audited restrooms had functional toilets and locks/latches on the door or stall for privacy. Only 10 of the restrooms had period products available, and less than half had disposable bins available within reach of the toilet.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>Availability of public restrooms is a key concern in St. Louis – limited both by physical availability and hours of operation. When restrooms are available, however, they tend to be physically accessible and functional, while infrastructure to help maintain menstrual hygiene is more limited. Local government needs to invest in increasing the availability of public restrooms for those in need.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49302,"journal":{"name":"Health & Place","volume":"97 ","pages":"Article 103584"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145580306","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-24DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103568
Huinan Liu , Zhixiang Peng , Evon Lam Wong , Chi Yung Jim , Ling Li , Wai Kai Hou
Background
Little is known about the predictors of loneliness in childhood and adolescence compared with late adulthood. Addressing the methodological limitations of recent studies on environment-loneliness associations, this study investigated the associations between a comprehensive list of built environment attributes in early life and longitudinal trajectories of loneliness from childhood to adolescence, considering together with demographic, personal, and social characteristics.
Methods
Built environment attributes at baseline (9–10 years of age) and the subsequent 4-year trajectories of loneliness (i.e., no, transitory, and chronic loneliness) were extracted from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study dataset. Participants resided in the West (34.40 %), South (28.30 %), Midwest (20.40 %), and Northeast (16.90 %) Census Regions in USA. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) logistic regression examined the associations between the built environment attributes and the three trajectories, weighted by lifetime exposure to the attributes and covariates.
Findings
Among 8638 children (mean age = 9.48, 47.46 % female) across the 4-year observations, 70.13 % presented no loneliness, 27.44 % transitory loneliness, and 2.43 % chronic loneliness. Among all built environment attributes and covariates, fewer social services, higher lead risk, higher noise and residential density, more alcohol outlets, and greater distance from major roads differentiated adolescents with transitory loneliness from no loneliness, whereas non-environmental individual attributes of female sex, higher internalizing symptoms, and higher personality trait of behavioral inhibition differentiated those with chronic loneliness from no loneliness.
Interpretation
Community support and urban planning should, on top of individualized assessment and interventions, be designed to encourage interactions between social groups within the physical spaces of cities, enhance the living environment, and address the social determinants of health for upholding child and adolescent mental health.
{"title":"Built environment in early life is linked to heterogeneous trajectories of loneliness from childhood to adolescence in the ABCD study","authors":"Huinan Liu , Zhixiang Peng , Evon Lam Wong , Chi Yung Jim , Ling Li , Wai Kai Hou","doi":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103568","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103568","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Little is known about the predictors of loneliness in childhood and adolescence compared with late adulthood. Addressing the methodological limitations of recent studies on environment-loneliness associations, this study investigated the associations between a comprehensive list of built environment attributes in early life and longitudinal trajectories of loneliness from childhood to adolescence, considering together with demographic, personal, and social characteristics.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Built environment attributes at baseline (9–10 years of age) and the subsequent 4-year trajectories of loneliness (i.e., no, transitory, and chronic loneliness) were extracted from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study dataset. Participants resided in the West (34.40 %), South (28.30 %), Midwest (20.40 %), and Northeast (16.90 %) Census Regions in USA. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) logistic regression examined the associations between the built environment attributes and the three trajectories, weighted by lifetime exposure to the attributes and covariates.</div></div><div><h3>Findings</h3><div>Among 8638 children (mean age = 9.48, 47.46 % female) across the 4-year observations, 70.13 % presented no loneliness, 27.44 % transitory loneliness, and 2.43 % chronic loneliness. Among all built environment attributes and covariates, fewer social services, higher lead risk, higher noise and residential density, more alcohol outlets, and greater distance from major roads differentiated adolescents with transitory loneliness from no loneliness, whereas non-environmental individual attributes of female sex, higher internalizing symptoms, and higher personality trait of behavioral inhibition differentiated those with chronic loneliness from no loneliness.</div></div><div><h3>Interpretation</h3><div>Community support and urban planning should, on top of individualized assessment and interventions, be designed to encourage interactions between social groups within the physical spaces of cities, enhance the living environment, and address the social determinants of health for upholding child and adolescent mental health.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49302,"journal":{"name":"Health & Place","volume":"97 ","pages":"Article 103568"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145580307","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103566
Julie Roelandt , Melina T. Czymoniewicz-Klippel , Monique Simons , Emely de Vet
Adolescent health and well-being is significantly influenced by the urban living environment. This study examined what health and well-being mean to adolescents and how they perceive neighborhood factors as influencing them. Interviews with 15 adolescent boys from a low socioeconomic urban neighborhood in the City of Utrecht, the Netherlands, reveal that, according to these boys, doing fun things and spending time with friends and peers underpin their health. The adolescents indicated that such activities support adolescents' subjective well-being by providing opportunities to, inter alia, develop social contacts, explore and affirm their personal identity, and negotiate social belonging. The findings show that neighborhoods can support or hinder adolescents' health and well-being by providing or limiting access to public and private spaces—such as outdoor recreation areas, organizations, sports clubs, and local stores and restaurants—where young people can gather, interact and potentially engage in paid work. Future health promotion efforts should focus on enhancing existing institutional resources, developing new ones, and improving financial support to provide all adolescents with affordable and accessible opportunities to promote their health and well-being through meaningful peer activities.
青少年的健康和福祉受到城市生活环境的显著影响。这项研究调查了健康和幸福对青少年意味着什么，以及他们如何看待邻里因素对他们的影响。对来自荷兰乌得勒支市（City of Utrecht）一个社会经济水平较低的城市社区的15名青春期男孩的采访显示，根据这些男孩的说法，做有趣的事情并与朋友和同龄人共度时光是他们健康的基础。青少年表示，这些活动提供了发展社会交往、探索和肯定个人身份以及协商社会归属的机会，从而支持青少年的主观幸福感。研究结果表明，社区可以通过提供或限制进入公共和私人空间（如户外休闲区、组织、体育俱乐部、当地商店和餐馆）来支持或阻碍青少年的健康和福祉，年轻人可以在这些地方聚会、互动并可能从事有偿工作。今后的健康促进工作应侧重于加强现有的机构资源，开发新的机构资源，并改善财政支持，以便为所有青少年提供负担得起和可获得的机会，通过有意义的同伴活动促进他们的健康和福祉。
{"title":"Urban neighborhood factors influencing adolescent health and well-being: A qualitative study among adolescent boys in the city of Utrecht, the Netherlands","authors":"Julie Roelandt , Melina T. Czymoniewicz-Klippel , Monique Simons , Emely de Vet","doi":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103566","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103566","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Adolescent health and well-being is significantly influenced by the urban living environment. This study examined what health and well-being mean to adolescents and how they perceive neighborhood factors as influencing them. Interviews with 15 adolescent boys from a low socioeconomic urban neighborhood in the City of Utrecht, the Netherlands, reveal that, according to these boys, doing fun things and spending time with friends and peers underpin their health. The adolescents indicated that such activities support adolescents' subjective well-being by providing opportunities to, <em>inter alia</em>, develop social contacts, explore and affirm their personal identity, and negotiate social belonging. The findings show that neighborhoods can support or hinder adolescents' health and well-being by providing or limiting access to public and private spaces—such as outdoor recreation areas, organizations, sports clubs, and local stores and restaurants—where young people can gather, interact and potentially engage in paid work. Future health promotion efforts should focus on enhancing existing institutional resources, developing new ones, and improving financial support to provide all adolescents with affordable and accessible opportunities to promote their health and well-being through meaningful peer activities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49302,"journal":{"name":"Health & Place","volume":"96 ","pages":"Article 103566"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145395901","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103570
Lucas Tucker , Francisco Ibáñez-Carasco , Brooke Legault , Dawn Cameron , Janett Michaud , Guy Seguin , Meya Jurkus , Kaela Pelland , Heidi Eisenhauer , Geoff Bardwell
Greater Sudbury, Canada, is the largest geographical city in the province of Ontario. With urban and rural characteristics, Sudbury's population density is sparse, yet it features an active downtown core. Sudbury's only supervised consumption site (SCS) closed in 2024. We examine the socio-spatial contexts of drug use and access as a governance outcome of service placement, transportation access, and policing. By mapping and identifying areas of unregulated drug use in this study, we provide qualitative maps to explore the day-to-day geographies related to unregulated drug use and service access using participatory sketch-mapping. We conducted a community-based rapid ethnography consisting of naturalistic observations and semi-structured interviews with clients and non-clients of the local SCS (n = 27 across two waves, April–August 2024). Interviews involved self-mapping the approximate areas where participants lived/stayed, accessed harm reduction services, and purchased and used unregulated drugs. Data was incorporated into ArcGIS, a geographic information system (GIS) software. To analyze spatial data and emerging patterns while ensuring participant privacy, Kernel Density Estimation was employed, which provided insights into unregulated drug activity without disclosing exact coordinates. Findings indicate a high concentration of unregulated drug activities in Sudbury's downtown core, while significant activity extended across the city, with varying visibility. Study findings exhibit both the centrality of unregulated drug use and the peripheral areas where activities are less detectable, yet still present. These findings aid us in spatially understanding unregulated drug use in a Northern setting and can inform drug strategies related to the placement of harm reduction and health services, including mobile SCS.
{"title":"Mapping socio-spatial contexts of drug use and service access: A community-based rapid ethnography in Northern Ontario, Canada","authors":"Lucas Tucker , Francisco Ibáñez-Carasco , Brooke Legault , Dawn Cameron , Janett Michaud , Guy Seguin , Meya Jurkus , Kaela Pelland , Heidi Eisenhauer , Geoff Bardwell","doi":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103570","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103570","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Greater Sudbury, Canada, is the largest geographical city in the province of Ontario. With urban and rural characteristics, Sudbury's population density is sparse, yet it features an active downtown core. Sudbury's only supervised consumption site (SCS) closed in 2024. We examine the socio-spatial contexts of drug use and access as a governance outcome of service placement, transportation access, and policing. By mapping and identifying areas of unregulated drug use in this study, we provide qualitative maps to explore the day-to-day geographies related to unregulated drug use and service access using participatory sketch-mapping. We conducted a community-based rapid ethnography consisting of naturalistic observations and semi-structured interviews with clients and non-clients of the local SCS (n = 27 across two waves, April–August 2024). Interviews involved self-mapping the approximate areas where participants lived/stayed, accessed harm reduction services, and purchased and used unregulated drugs. Data was incorporated into ArcGIS, a geographic information system (GIS) software. To analyze spatial data and emerging patterns while ensuring participant privacy, Kernel Density Estimation was employed, which provided insights into unregulated drug activity without disclosing exact coordinates. Findings indicate a high concentration of unregulated drug activities in Sudbury's downtown core, while significant activity extended across the city, with varying visibility. Study findings exhibit both the centrality of unregulated drug use and the peripheral areas where activities are less detectable, yet still present. These findings aid us in spatially understanding unregulated drug use in a Northern setting and can inform drug strategies related to the placement of harm reduction and health services, including mobile SCS.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49302,"journal":{"name":"Health & Place","volume":"96 ","pages":"Article 103570"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145498001","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103569
Jennie Hayes , Liz Edwards-Smith , Richard Byng , Kerryn Husk , Katrina Wyatt
Community assets (including voluntary, community, social enterprise and grassroots initiatives) have the potential to help address health inequalities. There is a growing understanding of the importance of putting communities at the heart of public health to improve population health. Understanding the mechanisms by which grassroots activities support health and wellbeing is important for making commissioning decisions, for community confidence and for the purposes of evaluation. This study takes an ethnographic case study approach to explore one rural community in the south-west of England. We observed activities and interactions, had informal conversations with residents and community leaders and conducted focus groups. Focus groups were recorded, and transcripts and field notes were analysed thematically. Findings were mapped to South and colleagues’ family of community-centred approaches. We explore to what extent this framework applies to grassroots activities in our case study site and consider how outcomes from these community assets (places, activities and people) may link to the evidence base behind this framework. We discuss the mechanisms by which these approaches support health and wellbeing, as well as the factors that may constrain their development. We suggest that, through linking to the evidence base, there is a case for investing in the transformational health-generating work of grassroots organisations.
{"title":"How do community assets support health in a rural community? An ethnographic case study","authors":"Jennie Hayes , Liz Edwards-Smith , Richard Byng , Kerryn Husk , Katrina Wyatt","doi":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103569","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103569","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Community assets (including voluntary, community, social enterprise and grassroots initiatives) have the potential to help address health inequalities. There is a growing understanding of the importance of putting communities at the heart of public health to improve population health. Understanding the mechanisms by which grassroots activities support health and wellbeing is important for making commissioning decisions, for community confidence and for the purposes of evaluation. This study takes an ethnographic case study approach to explore one rural community in the south-west of England. We observed activities and interactions, had informal conversations with residents and community leaders and conducted focus groups. Focus groups were recorded, and transcripts and field notes were analysed thematically. Findings were mapped to South and colleagues’ family of community-centred approaches. We explore to what extent this framework applies to grassroots activities in our case study site and consider how outcomes from these community assets (places, activities and people) may link to the evidence base behind this framework. We discuss the mechanisms by which these approaches support health and wellbeing, as well as the factors that may constrain their development. We suggest that, through linking to the evidence base, there is a case for investing in the transformational health-generating work of grassroots organisations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49302,"journal":{"name":"Health & Place","volume":"96 ","pages":"Article 103569"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145558819","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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