Chelsea L Kracht, Jeanette Gustat, Maranda Gourley, Leslie Lewis, Amanda E Staiano
Background: Multiple state and local governments have legislated screen time policy regulations in early care and education (ECE) centers in the United States, though little is known about how and whether these are enacted within these settings. This study examined the implementation, communication, monitoring, enforcement, and evaluation strategies of recently enacted state-level early childhood education (ECE) center screen time regulations in a southern U.S. state.
Methods: ECE directors (n=12) participated in semi-structured interviews after the regulations were enacted, and interview transcripts were evaluated using thematic analysis.
Results: Most directors reported making environmental changes (e.g., removing screens from the classroom) and limiting children's and staff members' access to devices (e.g., restricting classroom time spent on screens), including regulating staff members' own screen time (i.e., phone usage). ECE center directors reported daily monitoring for adherence to regulations and used a variety of enforcement strategies, and most reported no adverse effects from implementing the policy. A few directors reported receiving resources from agencies or organizations to assist in implementing, monitoring, or enforcing screen time regulations.
Discussion: In this sample, environmental and individual changes helped ECE centers adhere to the regulations, along with frequent monitoring.
Conclusions: Development of technical assistance resources to support environmental and logistical changes, along with continued evaluation of the regulations, are warranted to minimize or eliminate screen time at ECE centers.
{"title":"STRATEGIES IN ADDRESSING STATE SCREEN TIME POLICIES IN EARLY CARE AND EDUCATION CENTERS IN LOUISIANA.","authors":"Chelsea L Kracht, Jeanette Gustat, Maranda Gourley, Leslie Lewis, Amanda E Staiano","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Multiple state and local governments have legislated screen time policy regulations in early care and education (ECE) centers in the United States, though little is known about how and whether these are enacted within these settings. This study examined the implementation, communication, monitoring, enforcement, and evaluation strategies of recently enacted state-level early childhood education (ECE) center screen time regulations in a southern U.S. state.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>ECE directors (<i>n</i>=12) participated in semi-structured interviews after the regulations were enacted, and interview transcripts were evaluated using thematic analysis.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Most directors reported making environmental changes (e.g., removing screens from the classroom) and limiting children's and staff members' access to devices (e.g., restricting classroom time spent on screens), including regulating staff members' own screen time (i.e., phone usage). ECE center directors reported daily monitoring for adherence to regulations and used a variety of enforcement strategies, and most reported no adverse effects from implementing the policy. A few directors reported receiving resources from agencies or organizations to assist in implementing, monitoring, or enforcing screen time regulations.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>In this sample, environmental and individual changes helped ECE centers adhere to the regulations, along with frequent monitoring.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Development of technical assistance resources to support environmental and logistical changes, along with continued evaluation of the regulations, are warranted to minimize or eliminate screen time at ECE centers.</p>","PeriodicalId":73985,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Louisiana Public Health Association","volume":"3 1","pages":"44-58"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10019469/pdf/nihms-1864811.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9149870","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Deborah Gurgel Smith, John Anthony Vanchiere, Michelle Raley, Andrew David Yurochko, Mohammad Alfrad Nobel Bhuiyan, Kevin Sean Murnane, Rona Scott, Jeremy Kamil, Jill Rush-Kolodzey, Martha Whyte, Kenneth Densmore, Maarten Van Diest, Christopher Kevil
Background: Vaccinating susceptible populations quickly and safely is vital during a pandemic. Mass vaccination programs using a drive-through method have been shown to reach large numbers of people efficiently during vaccine campaigns.
Methods: We performed a quantitative, cross-sectional study analyzing data collected by the COVID-19 mass vaccination program conducted by Louisiana State University Health Shreveport (LSUSH).
Results: Between December 2020 and September 2021, the vaccination program administered 90,655 COVID-19 vaccines. Among those who received at least the first dose of the vaccine, there were 21,700 men and 28,269 women; 22,820 were ≥60 years of age; 28,031 identified as Caucasian, 19,249 as African American, 47,916 as non-Hispanic, and most of them reported that they had not tested positive for COVID-19 before vaccination.
Discussion: The LSUHS vaccination center served people from different regions within Louisiana as well as those from outside Louisiana. Vaccination is a crucial public health measure in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Conclusions: Our study showed that the mass vaccination program conducted by LSUHS had a considerable positive impact on communities in Northwest Louisiana. This drive-through method is an effective strategy with which to reach a significant number of people during a pandemic.
{"title":"COVID-19 drive-through mass vaccination in Northwest Louisiana.","authors":"Deborah Gurgel Smith, John Anthony Vanchiere, Michelle Raley, Andrew David Yurochko, Mohammad Alfrad Nobel Bhuiyan, Kevin Sean Murnane, Rona Scott, Jeremy Kamil, Jill Rush-Kolodzey, Martha Whyte, Kenneth Densmore, Maarten Van Diest, Christopher Kevil","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Vaccinating susceptible populations quickly and safely is vital during a pandemic. Mass vaccination programs using a drive-through method have been shown to reach large numbers of people efficiently during vaccine campaigns.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We performed a quantitative, cross-sectional study analyzing data collected by the COVID-19 mass vaccination program conducted by Louisiana State University Health Shreveport (LSUSH).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Between December 2020 and September 2021, the vaccination program administered 90,655 COVID-19 vaccines. Among those who received at least the first dose of the vaccine, there were 21,700 men and 28,269 women; 22,820 were ≥60 years of age; 28,031 identified as Caucasian, 19,249 as African American, 47,916 as non-Hispanic, and most of them reported that they had not tested positive for COVID-19 before vaccination.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>The LSUHS vaccination center served people from different regions within Louisiana as well as those from outside Louisiana. Vaccination is a crucial public health measure in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our study showed that the mass vaccination program conducted by LSUHS had a considerable positive impact on communities in Northwest Louisiana. This drive-through method is an effective strategy with which to reach a significant number of people during a pandemic.</p>","PeriodicalId":73985,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Louisiana Public Health Association","volume":"2 2","pages":"30-41"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9484209/pdf/nihms-1829154.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9436181","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}