UNASSIGNED: Despite the universal nature of postpartum vaginal bleeding after childbirth and the importance of managing vaginal bleeding in the postpartum period to monitor health status, little is known about the information or products that birthing individuals are provided. Investigating current practices may offer insights to enacting more supportive and equitable postpartum care.
UNASSIGNED: To evaluate the patterns and content of vaginal bleeding counseling provided to birthing parents while on a postnatal inpatient unit.
UNASSIGNED: Observational study of inpatient postpartum care. Birthing parents and their companions consented to video and audio recording of themselves, their infants, and healthcare team members during their postnatal unit stay.
UNASSIGNED: Following IRB approval and in coordination with clinicians at a tertiary hospital in the southeastern United States, data were collected with 15 families from August to December 2020. A multidisciplinary team coded video and audio data from each family from 12 h before hospital discharge. This analysis evaluates patterns of vaginal bleeding counseling timing, content, and language concordance and thematic content of this communication.
UNASSIGNED: Birthing parent participants were self-identified Hispanic White (n = 6), non-Hispanic Black (n = 5), non-Hispanic White (n = 3), and non-Hispanic multi-race (n = 1). Six were Spanish-speaking and eight had cesarean section births. The timing, content, and language concordance of vaginal bleeding communication varied, with these topics mainly addressed in the hour preceding discharge. Twelve of the 15 birthing parents had communication on these topics between 2 and 5 times, 2 had one exchange, and 1 had no counseling on postpartum bleeding observed. Four of the six Spanish-speaking birthing parents had counseling on these topics that was not language concordant. Postpartum vaginal bleeding management involved the themes of access to products, patient safety, and meaningful counseling. There was a lack of adequate access, variation in accurate and respectful care, and a busy clinical environment with differences in information provided.
UNASSIGNED: Findings suggest that there are opportunities to strengthen clinical practices for more consistent, proactive, and language concordant vaginal bleeding and subsequent menstrual care postpartum. Menstrual equity is an important part of dignified and safe care.
Video analysis of when and what information on vaginal bleeding was shared between people who just gave birth and their healthcare team at the hospital.Why did we do the study? After birth, people must take care of vaginal bleeding. It is important for people in the hospital to recognize warning signs for too much bleeding, have access to pads, and feel supported by their healthcare team before discharging to home. There has been little research on experiences with inpatient counseling on postpartum vaginal bleeding—a part of the reproductive life cycle—for new parents. We wanted to watch and listen in hospital rooms so we could think about the best ways for healthcare providers to talk about vaginal bleeding. What did we do? We asked 15 people who just gave birth, people staying with them at the hospital, and their healthcare team if we could video and sound record in their hospital rooms. They could start and stop recording anytime. We only recorded people who agreed to be in the study. What did we learn? We watched recordings of the last 12 hours at the hospital before each family went home. We found that most of the time, the healthcare workers did not talk about vaginal bleeding. People who spoke Spanish did not always have someone interpreting into their language. Sometimes family members had to translate and ask for pads. Some people did not have enough pads or underwear and had to wait after asking for more. What does it mean? We found ways to improve teaching about vaginal bleeding after birth. We recommend always having an interpreter when needed, giving people enough pads and underwear in their rooms, including companions in the teaching, and having enough healthcare workers to answer requests. These ideas would improve the counseling and give everyone the support needed after giving birth.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate sociodemographic factors associated with self-reported COVID-19 infection.
METHODS: The study population was a prospective multicenter cohort of adult volunteers recruited from healthcare systems located in the mid-Atlantic and southern United States. Between April 2020 and October 2021, participants completed daily online questionnaires about symptoms, exposures, and risk behaviors related to COVID-19, including self-reports of positive SARS CoV-2 detection tests and COVID-19 vaccination. Analysis of time from study enrollment to self-reported COVID-19 infection used a time-varying mixed effects Cox-proportional hazards framework.
RESULTS: Overall, 1,603 of 27,214 study participants (5.9%) reported a positive COVID-19 test during the study period. The adjusted hazard ratio demonstrated lower risk for women, those with a graduate level degree, and smokers. A higher risk was observed for healthcare workers, those aged 18-34, those in rural areas, those from households where a member attends school or interacts with the public, and those who visited a health provider in the last year.
CONCLUSIONS: We identified subgroups within healthcare network populations defined by age, occupational exposure, and rural location reporting higher than average rates of COVID-19 infection for our surveillance population. These subgroups should be monitored closely in future epidemics of respiratory viral diseases.

UNASSIGNED: Behavioral and mental health conditions present significant challenges in the United States where access to care is limited. Family medicine physicians play a crucial role in addressing these challenges, often serving as frontline clinicians for behavioral and mental health conditions.
UNASSIGNED: This study examined the current behavioral and mental health system in a predominantly rural 10-county region in the Southeastern United States through gap analysis in addition to a survey of preparedness and barriers among family medicine physicians in the region.
UNASSIGNED: Gap analysis results indicated that (1) stigma and lack of accessible education about behavioral and mental health, (2) fragmented resources, (3) inaccessible care, and (4) workforce shortage and burnout were primary drivers of poor outcomes in the region. Survey results indicated that physicians feel prepared to treat anxiety and depression but feel less prepared to manage bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and substance use disorders. Respondents disagreed that there are adequate local resources and referral options for patients with behavioral and mental health conditions. Lack of timely access, distance, cost/insurance status, were all cited by respondents as barriers to appropriate care.
UNASSIGNED: Findings underscore the importance of supporting family medicine physicians to enhance behavioral and mental healthcare outcomes. Behavioral health integration in primary care settings is a promising strategy to improve care accessibility and clinician preparedness. Bridging gaps in health care outcomes requires collaborative efforts, enhanced training, and policy advocacy within the family medicine community to ensure comprehensive and equitable behavioral and mental healthcare delivery.

UNASSIGNED: No clear process exists for categorizing social risks in a way that informs effective social risk screening and intervention development.
UNASSIGNED: To investigate social risk profiles and associations of those profiles with clinical outcomes in adults with diabetes using latent profile analysis.
UNASSIGNED: For this cross-sectional study, a latent profile analysis was conducted using data for adults with type 2 diabetes collected at 2 primary care clinics in the Southeastern US from 2013 to 2014. Data were analyzed from November to December 2023.
UNASSIGNED: Participants completed validated questionnaires for 26 social risk factors within 5 domains of social determinants of health: socioeconomic, neighborhood, education, food, and social and community context. In addition, participants completed questions that assessed psychological risk and behavioral risk. A 3-step latent profile analysis was used to identify different subgroups within the sample. Profiles were then regressed on outcomes of hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), blood pressure, and quality of life.
UNASSIGNED: A total of 615 participants (mean [SD] age, 61.3 [10.9] years; 379 men [61.6%]) were included. Five latent class profiles were identified. The lowest risk group had significantly higher mental health-related quality of life compared with a group with higher neighborhood risk (β, 1.11; 95% CI, 0.67 to 1.55). The second group had low economic risk but high neighborhood risk and served as the reference group. The third group had high economic and neighborhood risk and had significantly higher blood pressure (β, 8.08; 95% CI, 2.16 to 14.01) compared with the reference. The fourth group had high psychological and behavioral risks but low socioeconomic and neighborhood risks. This group had significantly higher HbA1c (β, 0.47; 95% CI, 0.01 to 0.92) and lower mental health-related quality of life (β, -1.83; 95% CI, -2.41 to -1.24) compared with the reference. The highest risk group indicated high risk in all domains, had significantly higher HbA1c (β, 1.07; 95% CI, 0.50 to 1.63), and had lower mental health-related quality of life (β, -2.15; 95% CI, -2.87 to -1.42) compared with the reference.
UNASSIGNED: These findings suggest that social risk profiles can be identified according to social, psychological, and behavioral risk domains and the health outcome of concern among adults with diabetes. Future work should consider the use of social risk profiles in intervention development and testing.

Climate change and increasing extreme temperatures present unique challenges to persons experiencing homelessness (PEH), including heightened physical and psychological harm. While green and urban infrastructure has emerged as one possible mitigation strategy, homeless populations are rarely included in municipal disaster planning or infrastructure research. This study used in-depth interviews with PEH (N = 42) during the summers of 2022 and 2023. Questions were designed around phenomenological methods to explore the individuals\' firsthand descriptions of the lived experience of coping during extreme temperatures within a mid-size city in the Southeastern United States. Our findings highlight how social exclusion within the built environment reduces PEH\'s adaptive capacity and increases the physical and psychological risks of extreme temperatures, namely through limiting and policing scarce resources and restricting the mobility of PEH. In contrast, public transit provided relief from extreme temperatures. Implications from our findings include the need for attention on inclusive green urban infrastructure, including increased placement and access to shade, public water, mixed-use daytime sheltering models, and the installation of lockers to increase capacity to maintain supplies and gear necessary for enduring extreme temperatures. Findings also highlight the challenges of designing inclusive green infrastructure and the importance of de-stigmatizing homelessness and building more housing and income support to increase adaptive capacity for an entire community in the context of a rapidly warming climate.

OBJECTIVE: The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness, version 2 (MAIA-2) is a commonly utilized self-report instrument to assess individuals\' ability to perceive bodily sensations. The MAIA-2 has displayed variable psychometric properties across samples. Thus, we examine the psychometric properties of the MAIA-2 in a Southeastern United States college sample.
METHODS: Our studies consisted of 710 (study 1) and 66 (study 2) college students.
METHODS: Study 1 used a cross-sectional research design where we investigated the factor structure, and measurement invariance (e.g., measured similarly across genders). Study 2 examined the test-retest reliability across a three-week period.
RESULTS: The MAIA-2 displayed adequate to good internal consistencies and factor loadings, strict invariance, and questionable temporal stability.
CONCLUSIONS: The MAIA-2 demonstrates adequate psychometric properties in this college sample that were similar to the original MAIA sample characteristics. Contextual and cultural factors may influence the subjective experience of interpreting bodily sensations.

UNASSIGNED: The second victim phenomenon describes the distress frequently experienced by health care providers after an unintentional medical error or unexpected adverse event. However, few health care institutions have initiatives that proactively address this phenomenon. The pilot project discussed in this article aimed to create a peer support program for health care providers experiencing the second victim phenomenon. The project team validated the need for such a program among health care providers in the perioperative departments of two facilities within a large health care organization in the southeastern United States. To do this, they used a survey, the Second Victim Experience and Support Tool. Among survey respondents in the two departments, 80% and 87.6% indicated a strong desire to discuss their emotional challenges with a respected peer colleague after a traumatic event. The project team then developed and implemented a peer support program in three phases to 1) educate staff across the facility on second victimization, 2) recruit and train volunteer peer supporters, and 3) launch the pilot program by embedding these peer supporters in the two perioperative departments. A survey completed by participants in the pilot program showed that 80% of respondents found the peer support extremely beneficial, 20% found it very beneficial, and 100% would recommend peer support to a colleague. This successful pilot project could inform the establishment of peer support programs at other institutions to assist health care providers experiencing the second victim phenomenon.

BACKGROUND: Transgender men (TGM) are underrepresented in genital microbiome research. Our prospective study in Birmingham, AL investigated genital microbiota changes over time in TGM initiating testosterone, including the development of incident bacterial vaginosis (iBV). Here, we present lessons learned from recruitment challenges encountered during the conduct of this study.
METHODS: Inclusion criteria were assigned female sex at birth, TGM or non-binary identity, age ≥18 years, interested in injectable testosterone but willing to wait 7 days after enrollment before starting, and engaged with a testosterone-prescribing provider. Exclusion criteria were recent antibiotic use, HIV/STI infection, current vaginal infection, pregnancy, or past 6 months testosterone use. Recruitment initiatives included community advertisements via flyers, social media posts, and referrals from local gender health clinics.
RESULTS: Between February 2022 and October 2023, 61 individuals contacted the study, 17 (27.9%) completed an in-person screening visit, and 10 (58.8%) of those screened were enrolled. The primary reasons for individuals failing study screening were having limited access to testosterone-prescribing providers, already being on testosterone, being unwilling to wait 7 days to initiate testosterone therapy, or desiring the use of topical testosterone. Engagement of non-White TGM was also minimal.
CONCLUSIONS: Despite robust study inquiry by TGM, screening and enrollment challenges were faced including engagement by TGM not yet in care and specific study eligibility criteria. Excitement among TGM for research representation should be leveraged in future work by engaging transgender community stakeholders at the inception of study development, particularly regarding feasibility of study inclusion and exclusion criteria, as well as recruitment of TGM of color. These results also highlight the need for more clinical resources for prescribing gender-affirming hormone therapy, especially in the Southeastern US.

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer treatment patterns and quality of care among patients experiencing incarceration are underexplored. This study examined associations between incarceration and breast cancer disease and treatment characteristics.
METHODS: This retrospective analysis was conducted at a tertiary center in the Southeastern United States that serves as the state\'s safety-net hospital and primary referral site for the state\'s prisons. All patients ≥18 years diagnosed with breast cancer between 4/14/2014-12/30/2020 were included. Incarceration status was determined through electronic health record review. Linear regression was used to estimate the association of incarceration with time to treatment. Unadjusted overall survival (OS) was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method with log-rank tests to compare groups.
RESULTS: Of the 4329 patients included, 30 (0.7%) were incarcerated at the time of diagnosis or treatment (DI) and 4299 (99.3%) had no incarceration history (NI). Compared to patients who were NI, patients who were DI were younger (p < 0.001), more likely to be unmarried (p < 0.001), and more likely to have family history of breast cancer (p = 0.02). Patients who were DI had an increased time from diagnosis to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (+47.2 days on average, 95% CI 3.9-90.5, p = 0.03) and from diagnosis to surgery (+20 days on average, 95% CI 6.5-33.5, p = 0.02) compared to NI patients. No difference in OS was observed (log-rank p = 0.70).
CONCLUSIONS: Patients who are incarcerated experienced significant delays in breast cancer care. While no differences in mortality were appreciated, these findings are concerning, as they indicate poorer care coordination for patients who are incarcerated. Further research is necessary to understand the full scope of these disparities and elucidate factors that contribute to them.

BACKGROUND: Tick-borne diseases are a growing public health threat in the United States. Despite the prevalence and rising burden of tick-borne diseases, there are major gaps in baseline knowledge and surveillance efforts for tick vectors, even among vector control districts and public health agencies. To address this issue, an online tick training course (OTTC) was developed through the Southeastern Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases (SECOEVBD) to provide a comprehensive knowledge base on ticks, tick-borne diseases, and their management.
METHODS: The OTTC consisted of training modules covering topics including tick biology, tick identification, tick-borne diseases, and public health, personal tick safety, and tick surveillance. The course was largely promoted to vector control specialists and public health employees throughout the Southeastern US. We collected assessment and survey data on participants to gauge learning outcomes, perceptions of the utility of knowledge gained, and barriers and facilitators to applying the knowledge in the field.
RESULTS: The OTTC was successful in increasing participants\' baseline knowledge across all course subject areas, with the average score on assessment increasing from 62.6% (pre-course) to 86.7% (post-course). More than half of participants (63.6%) indicated that they would definitely use information from the course in their work. Barriers to using information identified in the delayed assessment included lack of opportunities to apply skills (18.5%) and the need for additional specialized training beyond what the OTTC currently offers (18.5%), while the main facilitator (70.4%) for applying knowledge was having opportunities at work, such as an existing tick surveillance program.
CONCLUSIONS: Overall, this OTTC demonstrated capacity to improve knowledge in a necessary and underserved public health field, and more than half of participants use or plan to use the information in their work. The geographic reach of this online resource was much larger than simply for the Southeastern region for which it was designed, suggesting a much broader need for this resource. Understanding the utility and penetrance of training programs such as these is important for refining materials and assessing optimal targets for training.