Search Results (1,414)

Background: Residential radon exposure is a leading risk factor for lung cancer, and climate change may exacerbate this risk by increasing radon entry into homes. In North Carolina (NC), disparities in lung cancer outcomes and low radon awareness disproportionately affect racially and ethnically diverse and low-income populations. However, little is known about how use of conventional address-based sampling (ABS) compares with community-engaged recruitment strategies for enrolling historically underrepresented populations into such research. Community-engaged approaches are used to improve participation in environmental health research, yet few studies compare their effectiveness with traditional approaches in NC. This manuscript compares recruitment outcomes between ABS and community-engaged approaches within the CLOVER study to address this gap. Materials and Methods: The Climate Impact on Lung Cancer via Exposure to Radon (CLOVER) study is a cross-sectional study examining climate-impacted radon exposure and lung cancer risk in NC. Participants were recruited using either ABS through a commercial address database or targeted community-engaged approaches implemented through partnerships with community organizations and culturally responsive, in-person outreach events. After providing informed consent, participants completed a household survey and a 7-day home radon test. Recruitment outcomes—consent, survey completion, and radon test return—were stratified by race and ethnicity and compared across strategies. Results: Of 236 consented participants, community-engaged recruitment enrolled a higher proportion of Non-Hispanic (NH) Black, Hispanic/Latino, and American Indian participants than ABS (57.3% vs. 41.9%). Community-engaged recruitment also had a higher consent rate than ABS (10.2% vs. 1.3%). Of the 145 participants who completed the survey, ABS participants completed surveys at a higher rate than community-engaged participants (73.3% vs. 54.7%), while of the 86 who returned the radon test kits, community-engaged participants did so at twice the rate of ABS participants (44.7% vs. 22.1%). Conclusions: Community-engaged recruitment enrolled a more racially and ethnically diverse sample and achieved higher consent and return rates than ABS, though ABS participants completed surveys at a higher rate. These findings highlight the importance of community partnerships and in-person recruitment strategies to improve participation of historically underrepresented populations in environmental health research and support equitable approaches to radon mitigation and lung cancer prevention. Full article

International accreditation frameworks increasingly influence teacher education and quality assurance worldwide, yet limited research has examined their implementation in non-Western higher education contexts. This study used an explanatory sequential mixed methods design to explore faculty perceptions of how well the teacher education programs at Kuwait University’s College of Education align with the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) standards. The study also explained the institutional factors that shaped these perceptions. In the quantitative phase, a questionnaire was distributed to all eligible College of Education faculty members, and 38 faculty members completed the survey. In the qualitative phase, seven faculty members were purposively selected because of their direct experience with accreditation, quality assurance, and program evaluation. In addition, historical accreditation reports were analyzed to provide a broader institutional context. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Qualitative data from the interview transcripts and historical accreditation reports were analyzed using thematic analysis. The quantitative findings indicated moderate perceived alignment with CAEP Standards 1 (Content and Pedagogical Knowledge), 2 (Clinical Partnerships and Practice), and 6 (Fiscal and Administrative Capacity), while lower alignment was reported for Standards 3 (Candidate Quality, Recruitment, and Selectivity), 4 (Program Impact), and 5 (Quality Assurance and Continuous Improvement). The qualitative findings explained these patterns by revealing that weaker alignment was associated with challenges in candidate recruitment, curriculum alignment, school–university partnerships, evidence-based quality assurance, institutional leadership, organizational culture, communication, and resource capacity. The integrated findings demonstrate that successful implementation of international accreditation standards extends beyond technical compliance and depends on organizational readiness, institutional commitment, and sustained quality assurance processes within the local context. The study recommends strengthening institution-wide quality assurance systems, improving leadership coordination, and promoting evidence-based decision-making to support sustainable accreditation and the continuous improvement of teacher education programs. Full article

This paper investigates the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as flying base stations (BSs) to enhance fifth generation (5G) vehicular communications on highways, where traffic congestion and fluctuating user demand can challenge the capacity of terrestrial infrastructure. While UAV-assisted vehicular networking has attracted significant attention, many existing studies rely on simplified mobility, propagation, or communication models that limit the assessment of practical deployment performance. To address these limitations, we develop a realistic UAV-assisted vehicular networking framework that integrates microscopic traffic simulation through Simulation of Urban MObility (SUMO), network control via Traffic Control Interface (TraCI), and standard-compliant 5G communication modeling using MATLAB R2025b 5G Toolbox. The framework incorporates a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) rural macro cell (RMa) highway scenario, detailed clustered delay line (CDL)-based channel characterization, and cross-layer communication procedures. Within this framework, we propose a low-complexity trajectory optimization strategy that adapts the UAV position in real time to maximize the average received signal to noise ratio (SNR) while respecting practical motion constraints. Simulation results demonstrate that adaptive UAV positioning enhances communication performance, achieving mean SNR gains of up to 2.04 dB, throughput improvement of up to 11.2%, and block error rate (BLER) reductions of up to 27.3%. These findings highlight the potential of UAV-assisted communications to enhance user-perceived quality of service (QoS) for bandwidth-demanding vehicular applications under realistic 5G highway operating conditions. Full article

Planning debates increasingly recognise that climate adaptation, community wellbeing, and tourism development cannot be treated as separate domains; yet existing place-based frameworks rarely integrate Indigenous governance, multidimensional wellbeing, and visitor dynamics within a single cohesive model. This article develops the Relational Resilient Place Framework as a conceptual model for understanding how culturally grounded landscapes can balance Indigenous authority, local community interests, and destination pressures. Drawing on mātauranga Māori (Indigenous knowledge) scholarship, therapeutic landscapes research, and the destination governance literature, the framework positions place as relational infrastructure. In this model, ecological vitality (mauri), collective wellbeing, cultural integrity, and visitor engagement are treated as interdependent rather than competing objectives. The framework is structured through six lenses: partnership integrity, cultural safety, community wellbeing, climate transition capacity, visitor–resident alignment, and long-term stewardship. The article establishes a conceptual basis for evaluating the theoretical conditions under which places function as resilient systems across rural, regional, and destination contexts. It argues that Indigenous governance principles provide a structural foundation for aligning wellbeing and tourism without reproducing extractive or growth-centric logics. In doing so, the framework demonstrates how Indigenous ontologies can move beyond symbolic inclusion to underpin resilient, non-extractive approaches to place-based planning. Full article

Concerns regarding poor air quality in communities experiencing disproportionately high levels of air pollution frequently motivate formation of community–academic partnerships. Low-cost air monitors can assess air pollution but require specific training. The RISE Communities program was created to support partnerships in air quality training and community-engaged research. The RISE Communities program in-person training took place in Cincinnati, OH, in summers 2023 and 2024. The training included hands-on workshops, lectures, and monthly webinars with continued expert guidance for one year following the in-person training. A mixed method evaluation included pre-, post-, and one-year follow-up surveys, webinar evaluation surveys, and focus groups at the conclusion of each cohort. Participants reported significantly increased confidence in describing the health impacts of air pollution and using low-cost air sensors. Subjective feedback commented on the need for more tailored and interactive webinars and data training. Participants agreed that the goals of the RISE Communities training program were met and skills were sustained. This mixed method evaluation study demonstrates that an immersive training program for academic and community partners resulted in significantly higher confidence levels related to community partnership, data analytics, data visualization, and achieving project planning outcomes. Full article

Understanding how vaccination-event characteristics relate to doses administered can inform public health delivery strategies. This study examined associations between modifiable characteristics of community-based COVID-19 vaccination events and doses administered per event. We conducted a retrospective analysis of 631 vaccination events coordinated by the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness (LMPHW) in Jefferson County, Kentucky, between March 2021 and May 2022. The outcome was the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered per event. Multivariable regression models assessed associations between event characteristics and doses administered per event. Across all events, 27,767 COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered. Each additional hour of event duration was associated with 21.6% more doses administered per event (95% CI: 14.0–29.8%). Weekend events were associated with 87.8% more doses administered per event than weekday events (95% CI: 45.7–142.0%). Compared with government-hosted events, 44.7% more doses were administered at non-profit organizations, 110.0% more at business organizations, and 57.8% more at medical service providers. LMPHW-only events were associated with 198.4% more doses administered per event than partnered events (95% CI: 120.1–304.6%). Principal findings were generally consistent across sensitivity analyses. These findings may help inform planning of future community vaccination and other immunization initiatives. Full article

Bedouin society in the Negev/Naqab has experienced rapid social, spatial, and economic transformation, including expanded access to higher education and paid employment alongside enduring kinship obligations and gendered expectations. Guided by an ecological perspective on family life, this qualitative descriptive study examined how married, educated, and employed Bedouin women and men described their experiences at the intersection of social change, family relationships, parenting, gendered work, and place. Twenty-four participants (12 women and 12 men), aged 28–60, participated in semi-structured interviews. Data underwent reflexive thematic analysis. Four interconnected patterns were identified: (1) negotiating household-level autonomy within extended-family belonging; (2) pursuing marital partnership while unequal care and public authority persisted; (3) treating children’s education as both an intergenerational resource and a present-day strain; and (4) experiencing locality and planning status as conditions that shaped family security and everyday coordination. Rather than presenting a linear movement from “tradition” to “modernity”, participants’ accounts suggest that family change is an ecological process: everyday marital and parental arrangements are negotiated within kin networks, work demands, community expectations, and their location’s material conditions. The study contributes to family science by showing how dual-earner family processes in a collectivist, Indigenous-minority context are shaped not only by household-level role negotiation, but also by spatial governance and collective belonging. Full article

Urban community gardens are increasingly institutionalized through public land, infrastructure, and administrative recognition, yet the mechanisms through which formalized gardens retain—or lose—civic purpose remain insufficiently understood. This article examines Madrid through a qualitative comparative case study involving 33 participants: 30 participants across 13 community gardens and three contextual actors. A layered, multi-perspectival adaptation of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis combines idiographic interpretation with site-level and cross-case comparisons. An embedded quantitative content analysis of a transparent 12-garden transcript subsample (approximately 85,219 Spanish-language words) normalized six thematic dictionaries per 1000 words and used exploratory Mann–Whitney U tests. No thematic-rate difference reached statistical significance, suggesting that cultivation layout alone does not explain civic capacity. Cross-case analysis identifies five mediating processes: distributed roles, recurrent collective routines, knowledge translation, boundary-spanning partnerships, and accessible routes into participation and voice. Participants experienced gardens as therapeutic and relational counter-spaces, settings of agroecological learning, civic classrooms, modest forms of food autonomy, and negotiated commons. Food-security contributions were supplementary, whereas ecological literacy, practical competence, social connection, and collective agency were substantial. Adaptive Civic Commons is proposed as a framework for publicly anchored, community-led commons whose continuity depends on adaptation in governance, ecological practice, civic pedagogy, and public legitimacy. Full article

Black women faced disproportionate social, emotional, and structural burdens during the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and racial injustice, yet their mental health experiences remain underexamined. This study explores how Black women understood, navigated, and coped with these intersecting crises. Seven Black women in North Carolina participated in a seven-session virtual photovoice study, including four photo discussion sessions. Participants generated four photo assignments, took photos, and discussed them using the SHOWeD framework. Recorded discussions were analyzed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis and Sort and Sift, Think and Shift, with participants supporting theme development. Narratives revealed multi-level mental health impacts: at the individual level, caregiving overload, compounded grief, and constant vigilance; at the interpersonal level, invisibility, racial misreading, and everyday racism that intensified distress and made help-seeking itself a labor of confronting providers’ biases; at the community level, trauma from witnessing racial violence and pandemic loss; and structural factors such as inequity, food insecurity, and policing as primary drivers of mental health strain. Participants employed healing as resistance through faith, nature, sister circles, and culturally concordant care. Black women’s mental health during the dual pandemics is inseparable from structural racism and gendered labor; healing is individual and collective, and crisis preparedness requires system-level change driven by Black communities. Full article

Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) are vital to the STEM pathways of Latine/x and other minoritized students, and experiential learning (ExL) is a high-impact practice shown to support postsecondary STEM success. The purpose of this paper is to understand how these intersect by conducting a systematic literature review on servingness in STEM ExL at HSIs, highlighting a growing body of research and policy efforts emphasizing intentionality in serving Latine/x students. Key findings center on the types of ExL HSI STEM students engage in along with structures for serving, including (1) intentional recruitment and engagement; (2) culturally responsive and sustaining STEM practices; (3) institutional and external support and resources; (4) facilitating interactions and engagement with faculty, staff, and industry professionals; (5) and institutional collaborations. We also identified important academic and non-academic outcomes associated with involvement in STEM ExL initiatives. Insights from this review underscore existing structures within HSIs that support more inclusive STEM ExL, while identifying potential opportunities for transforming STEM education within HSI organizations and systems through institutional, industry, and community capacity-building partnerships. Implications for future work on Latine/x servingness and intentionality in HSI STEM ExL are discussed. Full article

Introduction: COVID-19 affected nearly every aspect of people’s lives worldwide. In the United States, the consequences of closures and quarantine increased stress, worry, isolation, and mental health and substance use problems, leading to behavioral health (BH) problems. These conditions were exacerbated among Black and Latinx populations by language barriers, lack of mental health access, shortage of mental health providers, inadequate or lack of insurance coverage, and the health care system’s unfamiliarity with Black and Latinx cultures and consequent Black and Latinx distrust in it. Methods: The purpose of this project was to engage with Black and Latinx populations; connect with existing networks of community stakeholders, health providers, and researchers to co-learn about patient-centered outcomes research; and build partnerships with those that work with the communities. The engagement process involved regular focus group meetings and interviews with key stakeholders. Results: The key study’s outcomes resulted from an alliance of patients, caregivers, family members, community, and other stakeholders who learned about behavioral health issues of concern while prioritizing a research agenda. Discussion: The community-based participatory research approach from our study helped guide and build capacity for future patient-centered research among Black and Latinx communities. Full article

Background: Immigrant working women’s well-being is shaped not only by formal health and settlement services but also by everyday opportunities for rest, social connection, cultural expression, and participation in community life. This study examined how three community-based leisure activities were experienced by Farsi-speaking Iranian immigrant women aged 30 to 55 living in Ottawa, Canada. Methods: Organized in partnership with PAND Settlement Services, the activities included a group walk along the Rideau Canal, a Classical Persian dance workshop, and a group visit to the National Gallery of Canada. Data were drawn from 32 post-activity evaluation surveys, researcher field notes, and two follow-up semi-structured feedback sessions. Structured items were analyzed descriptively; open-ended responses and feedback sessions notes were analyzed thematically following Braun and Clarke’s six-phase approach. Results: Participants rated all three activities positively across enjoyment, accessibility, and social contact. Leisure was experienced as a meaningful break from routine, a source of emotional relief, an opportunity to meet other women, and a setting in which shared language and migration experience made participation easier and more comfortable. Sustained participation remained shaped by time pressure, caregiving demands, weather, transportation, cost, and access to clear and trusted information. Conclusions: Leisure activities contributed to the well-being and sense of belonging for the women who participated in the study. Full article

This study develops a theory of parental engagement by exploring the perspectives of both parents and practitioners within a socio-economically disadvantaged area in Dublin, Ireland. Using Constructivist Grounded Theory, data were generated through focus groups with participants involved in the family literacy programme Breakfast Buddies. Analysis resulted in the development of a substantive theory, The Dance of Engagement, which conceptualises parental engagement as a relational, non-linear, and co-constructed process. The findings identify three foundational tenets—safety, equality and trust—as essential conditions underpinning effective parental engagement. Four interconnected categories describe how engagement unfolds in practice: choosing to engage, co-creating engagement, connecting to engage and sharing. These categories illustrate how engagement is initiated, sustained and extended beyond programme settings into home and community contexts. The study demonstrates that personalised practitioner approaches, relational environments and shared ownership of engagement processes support greater parental confidence, sustained participation and reciprocal learning between parents and practitioners. The resulting theory challenges deficit-oriented and participation-based models of parental engagement by focusing on collaboration and contextual responsiveness. The Dance of Engagement offers a theoretically grounded framework with clear implications for policy and practice, particularly for designing inclusive family literacy practices to improve outcomes for children and families in disadvantaged communities. Full article

Digital exclusion compounds the challenges that migrant and refugee parents already face in supporting their children’s education. As schooling becomes increasingly digitally mediated, this shift can intensify existing inequalities, particularly when the school and home systems present contradictions that these parents must navigate simultaneously. Grounded in expansive learning theory, this study examines the experiences of 18 migrant and refugee parents in Western Sydney, Australia. It draws on interview data to illuminate the contradictions encountered when supporting their children’s home learning. Through this theoretical lens, we highlight how parents take agentic actions and work to develop solutions tailored to their families’ specific needs and circumstances. The findings identify three broad types of contradictions and the strategies parents employed to overcome barriers to supporting home learning. We argue for a co-construction approach in which schools, parents, and community actors collaborate to promote expansive learning, positioning migrant and refugee parents as active participants in the redesign of school–home–community partnership systems. Full article

Background/Objective: The Behavioral and Mental Wellness in Indigenous Communities (BMWIC) education program was created to address mental health (MH) resource gaps in the Fort Belknap Community (FBC). Designed to enhance MH literacy, task-shifting capacity, and MH care coordination skills, the FBC partnered with Johns Hopkins School of Nursing (JHSON) to co-develop a culturally aligned MH training program. This protocol outlines the development of the BMWIC curriculum. Methods: Steps 1–5 of the 6-step Collaborative Participatory Adaptation Model (CPAM) guided the development of the BMWIC, including collaboration, review of evidence-based models, cultural adaptation of materials, and the creation of a robust evaluation plan to be conducted. Four courses were ultimately developed on: historical trauma, culturally informed MH screening and care, risk and protective factors and health-related Tribal, state and federal legal jurisdiction in American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities. Discussion: The BMWIC development process serves as a prime example of translating community priorities into an educational intervention through a combination of best practices in health science education with Indigenous ways of knowing (IWK). Targeted training and task shifting, such as through the BMWIC, may have the potential to expand MH-related knowledge and strengthen the capacity of community health systems to identify psychological and behavioral concerns early, coordinate care more effectively, and improve access to MH care and resources at the community level. Conclusions: This protocol may be useful for academic-community partnerships creating culturally informed educational programs across disciplines and specialties in service to Indigenous communities. The next steps will involve piloting and evaluating the curriculum and collaborating with healthcare organizations to determine sustainable pathways for scaling the BMWIC where it is most needed. Full article