Systemic racism is pervasive in US society and disproportionately limits opportunities for education, work, and health for historically marginalized and minoritized racial and ethnic groups, making it an urgent issue of social justice. Because systemic racism is a social determinant of health prevalent across multiple social and institutional…

The clustered observational study (COS) design is the observational study counterpart to the clustered randomized trial. In a COS, a treatment is assigned to intact groups, and all units within the group are exposed to the treatment. However, the treatment is non-randomly assigned. COSs are common in both education and health services research. In…

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, many health services were withdrawn from people with learning disabilities, with negative impacts on people's health. What has happened to people's health and healthcare as we move beyond the pandemic? Methods: Access to health services and health status were tracked for 550 UK adults…

Special Olympics promotes the health of their athletes year-round and offers their athletes options to obtain free health screenings. Following screening events, athletes often have difficulties finding needed referral care. Obstacles to finding a healthcare provider (HCP) for a referral is what necessitates the need for a state-wide HCP referral…

Background: Nurses have a critical role to play in the delivery of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services to adolescents and young people. Nurses' interactions with adolescents and young people can shape sexual and reproductive behaviours and outcomes, including willingness to access and engage with healthcare services. However, little…

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease contribute significantly to societal and individual impact globally. High-quality management of these long-term health conditions is important to prevent deterioration of health, although potentially more complex for patients with intellectual…

Previous research indicates that youth exhibiting antisocial behavior are at risk for utilizing a disproportionate amount of health services compared to youth without these problems. The present study investigates whether being processed by the juvenile justice system and showing callous-unemotional (CU) traits independently predict health service…

Background: Long-term care services are funded primarily by Medicaid long-term services and support in the United States, where eligibility is based on care needs of the individual with intellectual and developmental disability alone. Impact of Medicaid waiver services on self-reported caregiver needs is not well understood. Method: Caregivers (n…

Background: In 2012, Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Department of Public Health partnered together to create the Chicago School-Based Vision Program (CSBVP). This ongoing, city-wide program provides school-based vision services (eye examinations, eyeglasses provision, and eye care referrals) to students with limited access. Methods:…

Traditionally, anatomy was one of the basic pillars of medical training. However, due to the expansion of medical science and medical knowledge in general, anatomy teaching has steadily declined and the way anatomy is taught has changed. These changes go hand in hand with growing literature about a perceived and proven lack of anatomical…

This study proposed a robot-assisted digital storytelling approach to reduce hospitalized children's anxiety about intravenous injections and to improve their therapeutic communication and therapeutic engagement. In order to verify the effectiveness of the robot-assisted digital storytelling approach, a randomized controlled study was implemented.…

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a large-scale move to remote delivery of healthcare services. However, little research has directly explored telehealth experiences of autistic adults, a population strongly affected by health inequalities and care access barriers. This study sought telehealth experiences of 11 autistic adults (aged 27-67 years),…

As a popular tenant underpinning paediatric health service provision, the ability of health professionals to achieve Family-Centred Care (FCC) is often questioned. A major factor has been the judgmental attitudes and behaviour of health professionals. According to expectancy-value theory, individuals' behavioural decisions are based on their…

Millions of people worldwide have experienced abrupt and traumatic disruption in the flow of their personal life story as a result of stroke and the onset of aphasia. For each one who survives and embarks on the journey toward recovery, their unique and evolving narrative yields gems of wisdom borne of the experience. This wisdom is shared with…

Despite increasing reliance on licensed practical nurses (LPNs) to provide health services in schools, we do not know whether this is a cost-effective prevention strategy against student absenteeism. Therefore, we evaluated the costs and effectiveness of an LPN-based school nursing program for improving attendance and chronic absenteeism at a…