Abstract:
Ida B. Wells-Barnett, born enslaved in Holly Springs in 1862, was a journalist, educator and civil rights and women’s rights activist. The project supports the research phase for the creation of an Ida B. Wells Commemorative Tour, which will chronicle the early life of Wells-Barnett and use the existing landscape to tell more inclusive public history narratives. The tour also will enhance local youth and community education, bring attention to Wells-Barnett and promote local economic development through reconciliation tourism.
Current status:
Completed. Researchers piloted a tour of four sites related to Ida B. Wells-Barnett’s early life as part of a “Voices of Reconstruction” symposium. The symposium included a public presentation, “Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Sherwood Bonner in Conversation,” partially based on research through the grant. In addition to the tour pilot, researchers submitted a draft article to the Fall 2020 issue of the Southern Cultures journal, and Skipper received a 2019 Diversity in Community Engagement Award, which has allowed researchers to utilize part of the historical research on Wells to develop a permanent exhibit on slavery and railroads.
Growing Healthy Minds, Bodies, and Communities
Abstract:
The project is a new and innovative standards-based curriculum that combines yoga and mindfulness, gardening and nutrition, social-emotional competencies, and anti-bullying and anti-bias to support the well-being of Mississippi’s children. The curriculum will be piloted within early childhood programs across Mississippi to address the major challenges faced in the state. The proposed curriculum integrates strategies to promote physical, social, emotional and intellectual health while cultivating community engagement that has the potential to boost children’s overall well-being.
Current status:
Completed. A web-based platform was created to host the curriculum, materials, yoga videos and lesson submissions for the pilot teachers to use. The site includes lesson plans such as videos, guides and mindfulness videos, along with other instructional resources.
Community Political Empowerment Assessment Project
Abstract:
This project uses fuzzy cognitive mapping and community focus groups to identify the key barriers to political empowerment and participation, as well as identifying resources for overcoming those barriers. This information will be used to work with local stakeholders to hold informational sessions around barriers and develop a voter empowerment brief to inform local, state and national leadership on issues being faced by these rural, marginalized communities.
Current status:
The research team for the Voter Empowerment Indexing project is currently wrapping up qualitative interviews as a follow-up to surveys completed in October and November of 2018. Students in the research and direct study courses will be analyzing data and compiling community reports based on the data throughout the semester. Additionally, using this primary data as a guide for the types of barriers to voting, students will work with larger secondary data sets to develop county profiles for all 82 Mississippi counties to reflect their relative ranking regarding these barriers.
Helping Communities Uncover the Link between Water Quality and
Health in Jackson, Mississippi
Abstract:
This award supports the efforts of the Jackson Water Coalition to improve water quality and infrastructure in Jackson. The project team is working on an information briefing for the coalition that provides an overview of the connections between water quality and health and infrastructure challenges. The team also is partnering with the coalition and other stakeholders to organize a series of drinking water and water body sampling events.
Current status:
Since receiving seed funding from the Community Wellbeing Constellation in September 2018, the project team attended a kick-off meeting with community partners in Jackson, Mississippi; developed a service-learning course offered through the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College in the spring of 2019; initiated discussions with the City of Jackson Public Works Department and Jackson Public Schools regarding their water sampling efforts; and held two community lead in drinking water awareness and sampling events. Forty-two sample bottles have been distributed to date from events held in partnership with Rosemont Missionary Baptist Church on Jan. 23, 2019, and the Mississippi Urban League’s Sipps Baby Café on Feb. 7. The Rosemont participants returned 95 percent (20 of 21) of the bottles, and the Baby Café partners are due to return bottles soon.
A story map has been created on the water quality challenges in Jackson. It is available here. The story map covers drinking water and wastewater challenges, including boil-water notices, lead and contact advisories.
Learning about HIV Risk and Resilience among African-American Adolescents through Storytelling
Abstract:
This exploratory project identified barriers and inroads to STD/HIV prevention among rural African-American adolescents. A graduate research methods class, a Ronald E. McNair Program scholar and an interdisciplinary health communication class assisted the research team in facilitating expressive writing, creative role play, in-depth interviews, and a women’s focus group in Charleston. Findings informed the development of a culturally sensitive information campaign and behavioral intervention opportunities within rural faith communities.
Focus group and in-depth interview participants were all African-American men and women in Charleston who worked with local youth in various roles. In addition, the health communication class designed prototype community health campaign strategies and materials, teen focus group protocols and a teen pilot intervention. Finally, the researchers refined the focus group moderator guides and pilot intervention for facilitating conversation among rural adolescents.
Prevention barriers included inadequate or nonexistent sex education in rural communities, a vague awareness of STDs at school but not how to protect themselves, conflicting abstinence-only vs. safe sex messages, conflicting messages about sexual behavior from church and peers along with the fear of being judged if they are honest, and the fear of older boys “messing with” them if they participated in outreach activities outside of school.
Inroads included training mothers and extended family members to serve as nonjudgmental resources of information and support for teens; embedding prevention messages in everyday activities such as outside outreach events and media channels such as YouTube videos, Instagram and video games; regular in-person or virtual after-school activities for teens who spend a lot of time in an empty house; and opportunities for local adult mentors to develop relationships with teens by teaching them everyday skills such as sewing, car repair, cooking, hair styling and hoops.
In light of the Health Belief Model, perceived severity, threat, susceptibility and self-efficacy appear to be low among rural African-American teens, but these attitudes appear to be rooted in lack of basic knowledge about safe sex and conflicting cues to action, not disinterest or resistant beliefs.
Current status:
Completed. Researchers conducted this qualitative, exploratory study to identify specific barriers and inroads to HIV/STD prevention among African-American adolescents in the Mississippi Delta. They first conducted an in-depth focus group of African-American women in Charleston who all worked with local youth in different roles and then analyzed this data in fall 2018. Then, in spring 2019, students in a health communication class designed prototype community health campaign materials, focus group protocols and a pilot intervention. In summer 2019, researchers worked with a Ronald E. McNair Program scholar to help conduct and analyze a series of in-depth interviews in Charleston. In fall 2019, researchers developed focus group moderator guides to conduct with four groups of youth in spring 2020.
Student-Centered Outcomes Research Experience, or SCORE — Pilot
Abstract:
Project SCORE is engaging Mississippi high school students from communities with significant health disparities in the development of relevant health behavior research questions by partnering with graduate students in the health sciences to train them in basic research methodology. The project is aiding the development of student-conducted research projects to explore student-driven research questions related to health behavior and develop a student-centered prevention and wellness research agenda to address student-identified needs.
Current status:
Project SCORE successfully recruited a cohort of 18 high school students to serve as Project SCORE Research Scholars and 10 health sciences graduate students from five different fields to serve as Project SCORE Research Fellows. The project hosted the first workshop in the fall and will finish the workshop series this spring.
Telehealth and Satellite Connectivity: Comparing Bolivia and Mississippi
Abstract:
This project examines the rollout and impact of two ambitious telehealth projects in Bolivia and Mississippi. Both locations employed similar rationale in implementing telehealth – in a resource-poor and dominantly rural context, with significant health disparities, telehealth might provide basic coverage to people who otherwise would be left without access to care. Yet in critical ways the projects in Bolivia and Mississippi differ; most notably in that Bolivia has a centralized national health system and a socialist government, while also maintaining significant health disparities between rural (often indigenous) populations and their urban counterparts. This project asks what is gained by examining technological approaches to health in the Global South, broadly defined, and asks what is the impact of telehealth on health disparities in poor and rural areas? How is telehealth being utilized in the two areas and what can we learn from the different ways the technology is employed? It utilizes a mixed-methods approach that incorporates fine-grain ethnography with statistical and clinical analysis.
Current status: Looking for collaborators
New Pathways to Health and Opportunity
Abstract:
This initiative is focused on introducing youth and young adults to academic enrichment, health professions, and the importance of addressing the region’s health care workforce shortage. Collaboration is between the Dreyfus Health Foundation (DHF) of the Rogosin Institute, Mississippi Hospital Association Foundation, Tri-County Workforce Alliance, and the Aaron E. Henry Community Health Services Center, Inc., with funding provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Rogosin Institute. The University of Mississippi Center for Population Studies assists with community-based research and program development. Notably, the New Pathways program draws from the DHF’s Problem Solving for Better Health methodology developed through practice across 32 different countries. The Mississippi work entails collaboration with partners in New York and the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands.
Current status:
Ongoing, open to new collaborators
Right! from the Start
Abstract:
Conducted with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and in collaboration with the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi and Women and Children Health Initiatives, Inc., this initiative is focused on using a combination of statistical data analyses and participatory public engagement processes and strategies to inform health care and social service providers with information about maternal-child health concerns, especially poor birth outcomes and breastfeeding. It was expanded to include a multi-year pilot breastfeeding research and social support program in partnership with the Aaron E. Henry Community Health Services Center, Inc., Delta Health Center, and the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), assisting families with their breastfeeding education and support needs for babies born at low weights. Scholars from the University of Mississippi Center for Population Studies, Department of Pharmacy Administration, and Department of Social Work are involved in research, evaluation, and development.
Current status:
Ongoing, open to new collaborators
Assessing the Effectiveness of Community-Based Research Strategies to Analyze Risk of Lead Contamination in Public Water Supplies in the Mississippi Delta
Abstract:
Led through a collaborative partnership between the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy Division of Environmental Toxicology, the National Sea Grant Law Center, and the Center for Population Studies, this initiative is focused on connecting families, community organizations, and researchers to collect and analyze water samples in their social and environmental contexts. Families are able to have their water tested for lead while also contributing to the development of a dataset to help pinpoint areas of concern. Household lead concentrations will be connected with information derived from primary surveys and data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Mississippi Department of Health’s Drinking Water Watch. Initial pilot funding was provided by the University of Mississippi Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, and external funding is provided by the Mississippi Water Resources Research Institute.
Current status:
Ongoing, open to new collaborators
State of the South: Constructing Sustainable Futures by Integrating Production, Processing, and Marketing Systems
Abstract:
Led by Delta Land and Community, Inc., this multi-state and multi-institutional collaborative initiative is built on analysis of secondary data and a survey of agricultural producers and resource professionals combined with case studies. The purpose is to identify successes, challenges, and recommendations for improvements in the sustainable agriculture infrastructure for the southeastern United States by addressing the conceptualization, measurement, and monitoring of resilient local food systems. The University of Mississippi Center for Population Studies provides assistance with research design, data management, and analysis for the Local Agrifood System Sustainability/Resilience Index. This program has been funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program.
Current status:
Ongoing, open to new collaborators
Evaluation of the Mississippi Farm to School Network
Abstract:
This initiative is focused on bringing together food system and nutrition, health, and economic development efforts by connecting farmers, other food producers, and schools together. Building on local-level successes around the state, the network’s efforts are contributing to the development of infrastructure and capacity to improve the health and well-being of Mississippi children. The University of Mississippi Center for Population Studies provides research and evaluation assistance on this program with support from a range of organizations, including the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Current status:
Ongoing, open to new collaborators
Mississippi Health and Hunger Atlas
Abstract:
This initiative is focused on using the best available public data to map and analyze patterns of hunger, food insecurity, and associated health outcomes at the county level across the state. The purpose is to inform community, regional, and statewide initiatives and policy. The effort is led by the University of Mississippi Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Center for Population Studies, with collaborators in the Department of Nutrition and Hospitality Management as well.
Current status:
Ongoing, open to new collaborators
Delta Directions Consortium
Abstract:
This multi-state and multi-institutional collaborative is focused on conducting and disseminating research to inform community and regional development, especially in relation to the links between health and economic development. Organizational partners include Mississippi State University, Harvard University, Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi, and the Winokur Family Foundation. The University of Mississippi is involved, especially through scholars in the Center for Population Studies and the School of Law.
Current status:
Ongoing, open to new collaborators
PaRTICIpate in Diabetes Self-Management: A Conference Series (Patient-centered research to improve community involvement)
Abstract:
Previous research shows that diabetes self-management can help improve the health of people with diabetes, and allow them to avoid the negative outcomes of this disease. However, doing self-management every day is difficult. This conference series intends to help patients, clinicians, payers, advocacy groups, government, and researchers come together to develop patient-centered research questions to improve the continued use of diabetes self-management strategies. The conference series will culminate in the development of the “PaRTICIpate in Diabetes Self-Management Research Collaborative,” which will provide the foundation needed to develop new knowledge about diabetes self-management that matters to people with this condition.
Project outcomes include the development and implementation of a curriculum for patient-centered outcomes research, comparative effectiveness research, community-based participatory research, and research question writing for patients and stakeholders from northern Mississippi to create patient-centered diabetes self-management research questions (all of these outcomes have been met; see project website (https://participate.squarespace.com) or contact Meagen Rosenthal for details). The final product of this project will be the PaRTICIpate in Diabetes Self-Management Research Collaborative, which will coordinate with team members from across northern Mississippi to develop funding proposals, and conduct research projects, initially based on the research questions from the PaRTICIpate meeting.
Current status:
Looking for collaborators to begin examining the patient-centered research questions that have been developed to date
Housing Insecurity in Rural Contexts
Abstract:
This research aims to advance knowledge of how housing insecurity manifests within rural contexts. Current scholarship on housing insecurity is conceptually inconsistent, overwhelmingly centers on the urban core, and simplifies or ignores the unique contexts of rural America. To remedy, this study first defines housing insecurity as the limited or uncertain availability, access to, or inability to acquire safe, stable, adequate, and affordable housing. With this definition in mind, this study focuses on one of the most socioeconomically disadvantaged areas in the country to bring into sharp relief the intersections of housing insecurity, poverty, racial segregation, and uneven development. This study will survey a Census-designated commuting zone (CZ) of six neighboring counties in northwest Mississippi to answer the following questions: (1) what individual, social, economic, and environmental factors contribute to housing insecurity among rural residents; and (2) what kind of resources, strategies, and practices do rural residents draw upon when responding to housing insecurity?
Current status:
Science Teaching Excites Medical Interest (STEMI)
Primary contacts: UMMC: Rob Rockhold, rrochold@umc.edu; UM: Marie Barnard, mbarnard@olemiss.edu
Abstract:
Science Teaching Excites Medical Interest (STEMI), a collaboration between University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) biomedical research experts, graduate students, Telehealth, and K-12 Mississippi school districts, seeks to initiate a technologically enhanced, teacher-centered Community of Health Learners focused on public health topics of critical local and national relevance, particularly core causes of obesity and associated cardiovascular disease (CVD). Working collaboratively and interactively, the STEMI community will develop, evaluate the efficacy of, and disseminate high school learning products that address the unacceptably high incidence rates of the obesity crisis now eroding public health across Mississippi and the nation. UMMC faculty experts in bioscience, anthropology, quantitative and qualitative data analysis, and program evaluation will guide teachers from participant schools, highly representative of the state’s diverse experiences and resources, as they develop, apply, and disseminate new technological approaches for engaging students in the overall STEMI focus: exploring causal relationships between low levels of health literacy, the state’s epidemic of obesity, and ensuing anatomic and functional pathophysiology. To accomplish this technologically facilitated, interactive extension of innovative school research practices to community health education needs, STEMI’s program faculty will recruit and mentor science teachers as they extend their teaching practices to include novel technologies and pedagogies.
Current status: