Recovering from an Epidemic of Teen Pregnancy: The Role of Rural Faith Leaders in Building Community Resilience

Abstract

Climate change is likely to limit water availability and drought intensity in the future. The objective of this study was to assess the impacts of water restriction on the health of beef cattle. Four groups of cattle (n = 461) over the course of two years were water restricted with the use of the Insentec System. Baseline water intakes were calculated over a 70-day baseline phase, which was used to step animals down by 10% increments until animals were consuming 50% of their ad libitum intakes. Data collected included feed and water intake, blood samples, treatment records, respiration rates, and weather data. White blood cell (WBC) counts were higher during the restriction in the two winter groups in comparison to the summer groups (P < 0.05). The neutrophil: lymphocyte in the winter groups were also greater than the summer groups (P < 0.05). Hematocrit values were greater during the early restriction in all groups than during baseline (P < 0.05). Animals that had been treated at any point in the study had overall higher WBC than animals that were never treated (P < 0.05); however, there were no significant differences in hematocrit between the healthy and morbid animals. Animals that consumed higher amounts of water as percent of body weight had higher WBC than other intake categories while being stepped down (P < 0.05), but there was no difference during 50% restriction. While animals were able to handle the water restriction without increasing sickness, immunosuppression was evident at the 50% restriction and may leave animals more susceptible to increased illness. v

Rural College Students’ Amenability Toward Using At-Home Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Sexually Transmitted Infection Testing Kits

“…10,14,15 These concerns are amplified within rural communities where social norms related to sex and sexuality are increasingly restrictive and access to sexual health care is largely lacking. 7,9,10,15,21 Most participants perceived themselves to be at low risk for HIV/STI acquisition, as found in other research. [22][23][24] Specifically, previous work demonstrates discordance between college students' perceived risk and their reported sexual behavior, wherein students are less likely to use condoms for oral, anal, and vaginal sex within primary and nonprimary partners.…”

“…These results are not surprising given the numerous testing barriers facing rural and urban students, such as accessing screening during non–business hours, embarrassment related to requesting a test, confidentiality concerns, and discomfort associated with disclosing sexual behaviors to health care providers 10,14,15 . These concerns are amplified within rural communities where social norms related to sex and sexuality are increasingly restrictive and access to sexual health care is largely lacking 7,9,10,15,21 …”

A Look at the First Quarantined Community in the USA: Response of Religious Communal Organizations and Implications for Public Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…In addition to the responsibility of religious leaders, it behooves public health officials to form public health partnerships with local religious institutions/leaders to promote wellness and prevent the spread of COVID-19. The instrumental role that religious leaders can play in public health efforts has been well documented (Taylor et al 2019), and public health partnerships between religious leaders and health care have been used in a variety of health promotions programs to varying degrees of success (Darnell et al 2006;Miller 2018;Welch and Hughes 2020). Religious organizations should be viewed as valuable community partners in disseminating and supporting public health messaging.…”

“…We also explore ways in which community institutions functioned as a support system during the earliest weeks of the pandemic. Previous research has recognized the importance of religious institutions, and specifically the role of religious leaders, in promoting health and communicating health messages through credibility in their communal positions and knowledge of their constituents (Anshel and Smith 2014;Taylor et al 2019). To our knowledge, however, this type of dissemination has not been directly compared to messages delivered through public health authorities and has certainly not been examined in the midst of a global pandemic.…”

A look at the first quarantined community in the United States: Response of religious communal organizations and implications for public health during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…We also explore ways in which community institutions functioned as a support system during the earliest weeks of the pandemic. Previous research has recognized the importance of religious institutions, and specifically the role of religious leaders, in promoting health and communicating health messages through a position of credibility and knowledge of their constituents (Anshel & Smith, 2014;Taylor, Croff, Story, & Hubach, 2019). To our knowledge however, this type of dissemination has not been directly compared to messages delivered through public health authorities, and has certainly not been examined in the midst of a global pandemic.…”