Suchergebnisse

Do existing public opinion surveys provide valid and reliable measures of attitudes towards environmental sustainability? This question is critical given the importance of public support for achieving sustainability. Starting with 28 survey items about the environment drawn from the World Values Survey Waves 5 and 6 and the 2010 International Social Survey Program, we assessed reliability by checking for significant correlations between similar or identical items on different surveys. Next, to assess validity, we evaluated correlations between survey items and 22 objective environmental indicators drawn from the Environmental Performance Index (EPI). As the level of economic development is a likely confound, we also performed partial correlation analyses controlling for GDP per capita. From the initial 28 items, we identified 23 sufficiently reliable items, but many of these were found to have low predictive power in the validity analysis. Items about air and water pollution were valid predictors of objective environmental conditions in these areas. Items asking about the relative importance of environmental problems compared to other social issues were also good positive predictors of progress on perceptible environmental issues. Items asking about general sentiment with no clear referent performed poorly. When controlling for GDP, country-level attitudes were more aligned with country-specific environmental conditions. Finally, nearly half of all EPI indicators were associated with few or no survey items, indicating the existence of 'blind spots' in public awareness. Our findings should offer guidance to both survey developers and users, as well as to policy makers responsible for conveying information about environmental sustainability to the wider public.

AbstractLockdown restrictions were implemented in Italy from 10 March 2020 to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. Our study aims to evaluate air pollution changes, with focus on nitrogen dioxide (NO2), before and during the lockdown in Rome and in the surroundings. Significant NO2 declines were observed during the COVID-19 pandemic with reductions of − 50%, − 34%, and − 20% at urban traffic, urban background, and rural background stations, respectively. Tropospheric NO2 vertical column density (VCD) from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) was used to evaluate the spatial-temporal variations of the NO2 before and during the lockdown for the entire area where the surface stations are located. The evaluation is concerned with the pixels including one or more air quality stations to explore the capability of the unprecedented high spatial resolution to monitor urban and rural sites from space with relation to the surface measurements. Good agreement between surface concentration and TROPOMI VCD was obtained in Rome (R = 0.64 in 2019, R = 0.77 in 2020) and in rural sites (R = 0.71 in 2019). Inversely, a slight correlation (R = 0.20) was observed in rural areas during the lockdown due to very low levels of NO2. Finally, the TROPOMI VCD showed a sharp decline in NO2, larger in urban (− 43%) than in rural sites (− 17%) as retrieved with the concurrent surface measurements averaging all the traffic and urban background (− 44%) and all the rural background stations (− 20%). These results suggest air pollution improvement in Rome gained from implementing lockdown restrictions.

Introducción. El presente estudio indaga los riesgos y cuidados de jóvenes usuarios/as de sustancias psicoactivas que asisten a eventos nocturnos de presencia masiva. Como objetivo adicional, se construyó y validó un instrumento para evaluar las prácticas que se desarrollan en tales escenarios. Método. Participantes: 115 sujetos usuarios/as de sustancias psicoactivas (65% mujeres y 35% varones) de 18 a 30 años que asistían a eventos nocturnos de presencia masiva de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires/Argentina. Instrumentos: Cuestionario sociodemográfico, Escala de Prácticas de Riesgo y Cuidados en Escenarios Nocturnos (EPEN) y Cuestionario de Identificación de los Trastornos Debidos al Consumo de Alcohol (AUDIT-C). Resultados: Las prácticas de cuidado predominan por sobre las prácticas de riesgo, en especial las prácticas de auto-cuidado (Mdna = 30) y los cuidados que provee el grupo (Mdna = 27) (diferencias significativas a nivel p < .001). No hubo diferencias entre géneros y grupos de edad. Respecto del instrumento para evaluar las prácticas en escenarios nocturnos, el estudio muestra una estructura de tres factores para evaluar prácticas de riesgo [χ2 = 168.99, gl = 161, p = .32, TLI = .90, CFI = .92 y RMSEA = .02] y tres factores para evaluar las prácticas de cuidado [χ2= 152.33, gl = 149, p = .41, TLI = .94, CFI = .95 y RMSEA = .01]. Estos tres factores se corresponden con tres niveles de análisis diferenciables: individual, grupal y del entorno. La confiabilidad de cada factor fue adecuada (Alpha = de .70 a .82) excepto para la subescala de Cuidado Grupal (Alpha = .55). Las asociaciones de los factores con variables relacionadas como consumo de alcohol (r = de .25 a .43; p < .05) y con la participación en encuentros previos a la asistencia del evento (U = 553; p < .01 para Riesgo Total y U = 561; p < .01 para Cuidado Total) aportaron evidencia adicional de validez convergente del instrumento de evaluación. Conclusión: Conocer la prevalencia de prácticas de riesgo y de cuidado con herramientas de rastrillaje válidas y confiables es fundamental para orientar políticas de prevención y promoción de la salud en grupos poblacionales específicos. Estudios futuros permitirán conocer otros indicadores de validez de la escala y su uso en diferentes contextos.

Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities have weathered centuries of racism, causing transgenerational mental health consequences and hindering access to quality treatment. In this commentary, we describe the systemic challenges of engaging BIPOC to promote mental health equity during the COVID-19 pandemic. We then describe an initiative that illustrates these strategies, provide recommendations and further readings for academic institutions seeking to partner with community organizations to provide equitable mental health services to populations that have been traditionally overlooked.

Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities have weathered centuries of racism, causing transgenerational mental health consequences and hindering access to quality treatment. In this commentary, we describe the systemic challenges of engaging BIPOC to promote mental health equity during the COVID-19 pandemic. We then describe an initiative that illustrates these strategies, provide recommendations and further readings for academic institutions seeking to partner with community organizations to provide equitable mental health services to populations that have been traditionally overlooked.

Time-series of abundance indices of deep sea demersal resources (501-800m) derived by the MEDITS trawl survey in the Strait of Sicily (GSA 16) were analysed by aggregated taxa (bony fish, cartilaginous fish, cephalopods and crustaceans) and species using a polynomial approach. The results showed a significant increasing trend of the cartilaginous fish and cephalopods, in terms of biomass (kg/km) and density (n/Km) indices, whereas temporal pattern in bony fish and crustaceans resulted not significant. Helicolenus dactylopterus, Hoplostetus mediterraneus, Galeus melastomus, Nephrops norvegicus and Aristaeomorpha foliacea showed significant trends in both number and weight, whereas Aristeus antennatus, Etmopterus spinax and Chimera monstrosa only in biomass. ; This work was carried out within the Data Collection Regulation and Framework - module trawl surveys MEDITS funded by European Union and the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies. ; peer-reviewed

AbstractIntroductionImplementation science (IS) offers methods to systematically achieve the Ending the HIV Epidemic goals in the United States, as well as the global UNAIDS targets. Federal funders such as the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) have invested in implementation research to achieve these goals, including supporting the AIDS Research Centres (ARCs), which focus on high‐impact science in HIV and mental health (MH). To facilitate capacity building for the HIV/MH research workforce in IS, "grey areas," or areas of IS that are confusing, particularly for new investigators, should be addressed in the context of HIV/MH research.DiscussionA group of IS experts affiliated with NIMH‐funded ARCs convened to identify common and challenging grey areas. The group generated a preliminary list of 19 grey areas in HIV/MH‐related IS. From the list, the authors developed a survey which was distributed to all ARCs to prioritize grey areas to address in this paper. ARC members across the United States (N = 60) identified priority grey areas requiring clarification. This commentary discusses topics with 40% or more endorsement. The top grey areas that ARC members identified were: (1) Differentiating implementation strategies from interventions; (2) Determining when an intervention has sufficient evidence for adaptation; (3) Integrating recipient perspectives into HIV/MH implementation research; (4) Evaluating whether an implementation strategy is evidence‐based; (5) Identifying rigorous approaches for evaluating the impact of implementation strategies in the absence of a control group or randomization; and (6) Addressing innovation in HIV/MH IS grants. The commentary addresses each grey area by drawing from the existing literature (when available), providing expert guidance on addressing each in the context of HIV/MH research, and providing domestic and global HIV and HIV/MH case examples that address these grey areas.ConclusionsHIV/MH IS is key to achieving domestic and international goals for ending HIV transmission and mitigating its impact. Guidance offered in this paper can help to overcome challenges to rigorous and high‐impact HIV/MH implementation research.