Journal of Public Health Policy最新文献

Politicians often claim to be "following science" but their claims are, reasonably, disputed. To claim to be following the science can mean that scientific evidence affects or legitimates decisions. The evidence that politicians are following science often comes from formal systems of advice that translate science into advice. We study the systems that informed policy in France, Germany, and the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that while in all three countries politicians had incentive to prefer private advice tailored to their needs, more transparent and independent advice appeared to contribute more to good policymaking and implementation, including by enhancing government's current and future accountability for their decisions.

Maternal mortality remains a pressing global challenge, with sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) disproportionately affected. Despite efforts to improve access to skilled delivery services, utilization remains low, especially in rural areas. This paper synthesizes the extant literature and empirical evidence from rural Ghana to highlight the critical issue of low-skilled delivery services uptake in rural SSA. The literature review findings reveal a pooled prevalence of 54.9% skilled delivery services utilization, while the empirical survey in Ghana indicates a lower rate of 48.7%. These findings underscore the urgent need for targeted interventions to improve access to skilled delivery services in rural SSA. We recommend addressing harmful gender norms, evaluating existing interventions, and integrating qualitative and quantitative approaches to better understand barriers to skilled delivery services utilization in rural Africa. Urgent action is needed to ensure safer childbirth experiences and better maternal and child health outcomes in the region.

This study examines the effect of risk communication styles (fear-based versus empowerment-based) on households' earthquake preparedness. An online longitudinal study with intervention and control groups was conducted using a representative sample of the adult population in Israel. The change in the reported level of preparedness was assessed through Repeated Measures ANOVA with interaction effects for both the risk communication style and gender. The Analysis revealed a significant difference in reported levels of earthquake preparedness over time (F(1.697,303.70) = 102.58, p < 0.001; partial η2 = 0.36). However, no statistically significant interaction was found with the risk communication style (p = 0.55). Borderline significance (p = 0.04) was observed in the three-way interaction (time-intervention-gender). Gender (β = 0.19), age (β = 0.21), perceived earthquake likelihood (β = 0.14), and sense of preparedness (β = 0.28) were significant predictors in multivariate regression analysis. While consistently showing that participants exposed to empowering information reported higher earthquake preparedness, the research hypothesis was not substantiated. Recommendations for public health policy are discussed.

This article critically examines the Housing First model within the broader context of neoliberal policies impacting homelessness, particularly at the intersection of mental illness, poverty, and addiction. While Housing First is celebrated for its effectiveness in providing immediate housing to chronically homeless individuals, this model's alignment with neoliberal principles prioritizes cost effectiveness and visible outcomes over comprehensive care. As a harm reduction approach, Housing First often overlooks the underlying mental health and addiction issues that maintain homelessness, resulting in a cycle of dependency rather than long-term recovery. In this article, we argue that the reduction in funding for transitional housing and mental health services, driven by neoliberal policies, has exacerbated the challenges faced by marginalized populations. A call is made for a shift toward more holistic and integrated approaches that balance immediate housing solutions with robust mental health care and social support systems, aiming for sustained recovery, independence, and social reintegration for individuals experiencing homelessness.

COVID-19 translated African Americans' greater social, economic, and health-related risk, reflecting adverse Social Determinants of Health (SDOH), into greater COVID morbidity, hospitalization, and mortality, and it threatened to enlarge the very risks causing greater COVID suffering. However, following a federal policy response injecting trillions of dollars into the US economy, longstanding African American-White disparities in economic well-being, insurance coverage, vaccination rates, and evictions declined. On the other hand, troubling and consequential disparities in k-12 academic achievement and college attendance disparities widened. Continuous monitoring and careful research are needed to document and explain trajectories in social determinant disparities and to offer insight into how policy intervention can decrease continuing disparities in economic well-being, health care, and housing stability.

Healthcare services and outcomes are often not evenly distributed across geographic regions. This study used the harmonized data from the Research on Early Life and Trends and Effects (RELATE) to compare the health outcomes of older adults across the North-South divide of Ghana and identify the factors underlying these differences. Although the literature indicates that the South has more health resources and better health indicators, the current study revealed that, for older adults, health outcome in the North was comparatively better than that in the South. The optimal health index scores show that older adults in the North are living at 86% of their optimal health compared with 82% in the South. Work-related physical activity and age substantially influenced optimal health in both regions. Additionally, healthcare use and gender were influential, particularly in the South. The results of the current study suggest that healthcare service availability can impact health outcomes, but so can behavioral and sociodemographic factors.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of death in the United States and may be prevented through improved working conditions. The United States does not guarantee paid sick leave (PSL) at the federal level. We used quasi-experimental event study methods to examine the relationship between state-level PSL policies and county-level CVD mortality among working-age adults aged 15 to 64 over time (2008 to 2019). We examined the annual CVD mortality rates in 1054 counties from all 50 states and Washington D.C.. In the Northeastern region of the United States, there were drops in the CVD mortality rate in all years after PSL was adopted. We found no effect of PSL in the Western United States with a strong presence of pretreatment effects, making the results for that region uninterpretable. Our results support the use of state-level PSL policies to reduce county-level CVD mortality rates in the Northeastern United States.

Various problematic statistical approaches can be used in regression analyses to help find no significant relationship between explanatory variables and response variables-"to find nothing." In an earlier paper, I provided examples of finding nothing from firearm studies, focusing on the lack of statistical power. In this Viewpoint, I offer three examples of "finding nothing" from firearms research and focus on a single hypothesis-that household gun ownership levels affect suicide rates, examining one type of evidence-cross-sectional ecological studies. I discuss studies examining variations in suicide rates across US states, US cities, and nations, highlighting the work of the one firearm researcher who continually "finds nothing."

In the United States and within Colorado, the number of persons experiencing homelessness has risen, with over 600,000 counted on a single night in 2023. Limited data integration across healthcare and social services hinders understanding of how permanent supportive housing (PSH) affects health outcomes. Our study in partnership with healthcare experts, housing providers, and a community advisory panel aimed to integrate data from health records, the justice system, and housing case manager notes to create a multidimensional measure of PSH success. Metrics not only included housing retention but engagement in care, wellness, housing rule adherence, and overall success. The initial 608 records were reduced to an analytic sample of 180 due to data loss across systems. Findings highlighted case managers' adaptability and the need for dynamic indicators of client progress. This study underscores the importance of a social-health information exchange and partnerships for improving access and understanding success in supportive housing.