Which is better method for non-specialist researchers to use to create local population health estimates from real-world data?

Recent Pop Center Research Fellow Laura Yasaitis, PhD, Visiting Scientist Mariana Arcaya, ScD, and Faculty Member SV Subramanian (Subu), PhD, have authored a paper published in the international journal Health & Place that offers a rare side-by-side comparison of methods to create local population health estimates (in this case, acute myocardial infarction rates) from administrative data (Medicare claims data in California).

Brain scans lead to hopeful findings on ability of abused children to regulate mood

Harvard RWJF Health & Society Scholar program alumnae Katie McLaughlin, PhD, and Margaret Sheridan, PhD, are co-authors on a study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry that found that individuals who had been abused as children could successfully learn and apply techniques to regulate their emotional reactions to “very stimulating emotional situations.” Learn more in this newseveryday.com article.

Children who are physically abused or witness domestic violence at increased risk of higher BMI as adolescents

Harvard Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society Program alumnae Margaret Sheridan, PhD,  and Katie McLaughlin, PhD, are co-authors on a study in Child Abuse & Neglect that finds that children who witnessed domestic violence had almost six times the odds of being overweight or obese as adolescents.

Gender norms at play in weakening female labor-force participation in India; gender quotas & training may help

Harvard Pop Center’s Executive Committee and faculty member Rohini Pande, PhD, has co-authored an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times that explores why female labor-force participation is down in India despite economic growth, increasing educational attainment for girls, and decreased fertility rates.

Unmet healthcare needs in adolescence is a predictor of poor adult health

A recent Pediatrics study co-authored by Pop Center Faculty Members Mark Schuster and Tracy Richmond showed that the odds of adverse adult health outcomes were higher among subjects who had reported unmet health care need in adolescence, compared with subjects with similar adolescent health outcomes, insurance coverage, and sociodemographic background but no unmet need. Importantly, the authors point out that lack of insurance isn’t the only barrier to meeting adolescent health…

Paper by INTREC student selected as Paper of the Month by UNAIDS Science

Sally Mtenga, lead author of a noted paper published in BMJ Sexually Transmitted Infections that explores how long-distance truck drivers and villagers in rural southeastern Tanzania think about heterosexual anal sex, started the paper while receiving training at the Harvard Pop Center as part of the INDEPTH Training and Research Centers of Excellence (INTREC) program.

Community-Based Participatory Research and the mental health of refugees

Theresa Betancourt was lead author and PI on a recent study examining disparities in the mental health of young Somali Bantu and Bhutanese refugees living in Massachusetts. The study used a Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach, which, “with its emphasis on respecting and privileging local knowledge and cultural context, [is] well suited for research on eliminating health disparities among marginalized groups.” Results appeared in the American Journal of Public Health.