Suchergebnisse

The growing mental health concerns during COVID-19,
particularly among rural residents, is a public health emergency. Rural residents are at
an elevated risk, as rurality has been associated with various disparities, including
lower accessibility to mental health services. Maryland Rural Opioid Technical
Assistance (ROTA; Maryland Extension) aimed to address this issue by delivering
evidence-based programs on opioid misuse and mental health to rural community members
and practitioners throughout Maryland when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S. and all
research activities had to transition to the virtual setting. The current study provides
an overview of the implementation process of the Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) program
and reports the findings from the evaluation efforts. Participants (N = 398) completed a
one-time online survey and answered open-ended questions, reporting high satisfaction
rates and positive experiences with the virtual delivery of the program. Results
suggested that the virtual format was still effective in program content delivery and
that virtual delivery of evidence-based programs may be an opportune strategy to reach
more rural residents. Recommendations for future research and practice efforts include
building sustainable partnerships with local community organizations and considering
rurality and prolonged-pandemic factors for effective program implementation.

Community-based programs may contribute to Latino
pediatric obesity prevention; however, attendance remains low. This study aimed to
identify factors associated with Latino father/male caregiver attendance in family-based
adolescent obesity prevention programs conducted as part of a randomized controlled
trial. The study used cross-sectional data from 137 fathers in the program, involving
eight weekly sessions to improve their children's energy balance-related behaviors.
Evaluation data were collected at baseline and post-intervention. Fathers in a
waitlisted control group attended sessions after post-intervention data collection.
Attendance patterns were identified using cluster analysis: consistently high attendance
(50% of fathers), declining attendance (19%), and non-attendance (31%) clusters.
Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine associations between attendance
patterns and variables. Compared to consistently high attendance, fathers in the
non-attendance cluster were more likely to have been assigned to the control group (odds
ratio [OR] = 7.86, p < 0.001), tended to have lower household income (OR = 2.50, p =
0.098), and attended the program at a site where the program occurred weekdays (OR =
0.35, p = 0.094). Maintaining contact during waiting periods and providing sessions
online or during weekends could reduce non-attendance by enhancing convenience for
low-income fathers working multiple jobs.