A study by Harvard Pop Center director Lisa Berkman, faculty members Ichiro Kawachi and Mauricio Avendano, and colleagues has revealed that both white and black students who attended majority-white schools were at higher risk of lifetime, non-medical use of prescription painkillers. Blacks who attended predominantly white schools were twice as likely to report misuse compared to blacks who attended predominantly black schools.
Study points to unmet need for social support among older women in rural South Africa
Researchers affiliated with the HAALSI research project have published a new study that found that older women in South Africa have weaker social network connections and are more socially isolated than men and younger women. Higher levels of widowhood and fewer connections outside of the family network are thought to explain this age- and gender-based difference.
Use of randomized control trials (RCTs) in social interventions not without challenges, but still valuable
Harvard Pop Center Director Lisa Berkman has authored a study published in European Journal of Public Health that finds that while RCTs can pose challenges for both social and biomedical interventions alike, they still can serve as a helpful way to identify causal relationships.
Lisa Berkman on public health challenge of our aging world in Harvard Chan podcast
Harvard Pop Center Director Lisa Berkman, along with Harvard Chan School Professor Albert Hofman and Dean Michelle Williams, discuss the social, health and economic challenges posed by the fact that we are living longer in this Harvard Chan podcast.
Can a good marriage help fight the battle of the (midlife) bulge?
Researchers have found that those who feel supported in their marriages were more likely to be at a healthier weight in the midlife years. Harvard Pop Center Director Lisa Berkman, and faculty members Ichiro Kawachi and Laura Kubzansky are authors on the study published in Health Psychology.
In South Africa, when HIV testing is not always possible, is self-reported status a viable, reliable alternative?
A team of researchers affiliated with the Harvard Pop Center and the Health and Aging in Africa: A Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa (HAALSI) has found that the self-reported HIV status of older adults was accurate enough that it could be considered as a routine first step to establish HIV status when testing is not possible. The study was published in JIAS (Journal of the International Aids…
What explains difference in heart rate recovery among those of varying levels of socioeconomic status?
Harvard Pop Center Director Lisa Berkman and colleagues, including recent visiting scientist Cathal McCrory, are authors on a paper published in The Journals of Gerontology Series A that links higher levels of educational attainment with better heart rate recovery, which is an important biomarker of cardiovascular health and predictor of mortality. Lifetime smoking was found to play a significant role in explaining some of the differences between the educational levels.
Companies with family-friendly policies may help retain & boost performance of professional women caregivers who have other caregiving duties
Professional women caregivers in long-term care facilities with double-duty (unpaid child care) and triple-duty (both unpaid child and elder care) responsibilities had better retention and engagement in their jobs when they felt more supported by their husbands. The WFHN researchers have published their findings in The Gerontologist.
Study reveals benefits, challenges of training health researchers in LMICs on how to better address health inequities
The INDEPTH Training & Research Centres of Excellence (INTREC) collaboration — an EU consortium led by Umeå Centre for Global Health Research in which Harvard participated — aimed at strengthening the capacities of health researchers in LMICs who assess social determinants of health is the subject of this study published in BMC Public Health.
Lisa Berkman receives 3rd Annual CAWF Mentoring Award at Harvard Chan School
Congratulations to our director Lisa Berkman on being honored with the Mentoring Award by the Committee on the Advancement of Women Faculty at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. Learn more in this featured news story on the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health website.