Anita Chandra

The End of the U.S. COVID-19 Public Health Emergency: Q&A with RAND Experts

We asked RAND experts to reflect on the past three years: What were the effects on the United States and around the world, what has changed, what are the most important takeaways, what was done right, and what was done wrong? At the same time, they looked ahead to what might be done to mitigate the health and geopolitical impacts of future pandemics.

Research Shows How Communities Are Prioritizing Health Equity

In partnership with RAND, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is tracking how communities are evolving their approaches to building a Culture of Health and advancing health equity. The research offers insights on how and why inequities develop, and more importantly, how communities change course and move towards health equity.

American Attitudes About Vaccine Globalism

Overall, American support for sharing vaccines with other countries was high even before the Omicron variant. This may reflect recognition of the need to proactively address the pandemic beyond U.S. borders to truly be on the path to recovery.

How Are the Kids Doing? The Well-Being of Children and the Nation's Potential

Today's children are growing up amid extraordinary challenges that could shape their health, development, and well-being for years to come. Investing in a new approach to measure their potential to flourish could promote national well-being in the long term.

How Have Communities Been Faring During COVID-19? And How Will Lessons Learned Inform Future Response and Planning?

As the United States emerges from the devastation of the pandemic, it may be time to examine the choices communities made during the last year to see how these approaches shape continued COVID-19 response and recovery and help build resilience for future pandemic response.

American Views on COVID-19 Health Risks, School and Economy Reopening

Much of the discussion about opening schools and the economy has focused on the educational and economic effects that closures may have on the most vulnerable groups. But some of these groups still remain wary of the increased health risks of opening.

What Communities Need to Thrive: Q&A with Anita Chandra

Anita Chandra, vice president and director of RAND Social and Economic Well-Being, focuses on issues of health, well-being, and equity. She is researching how to create a culture of health, how to address inequities in the U.S. health system, and disaster response and resilience, especially in the context of the pandemic.

Understanding Our Culture of Health Before the Pandemic Can Help Us Improve It Afterward

Measuring health and the social and economic factors that influenced it before the pandemic helps us understand the kind of risks the United States faced previously. It can also inform how to move forward toward recovery.

How Much Do Americans Value Their Health During the Pandemic?

Do Americans believe that limiting the spread of COVID-19 justifies the social and economic costs of physical-distancing measures? Researchers conducted a survey to better understand how Americans weigh health against other priorities.

Choosing a Different Path for a Healthier Future After COVID-19

Today, every American community is sitting at a crossroads, as local governments continue to address the health crisis of COVID-19 while grappling with the financial realities of maintaining operations. While some communities may take a more traditional route of only investing further in health care services, there is an opportunity to take a more holistic approach and address the multitude of factors that have contributed to the devastation of COVID-19.

Don't Waste This Crisis: How America Can Begin Building a System of Health

COVID-19 is shining a harsh spotlight on long-recognized but under-addressed gaps in the U.S. health system. There may never have been a more pressing time to think differently, broadening from health care services to a health-producing System of Health.

Reopening America—The Health and Economic Trade-Offs: Q&A with RAND Experts

Local and state officials are thinking through whether, when, and how to lift social-distancing restrictions. We asked three RAND researchers about the complex problem of reopening.

Rx Civic Engagement: Keeping the Public Engaged in Public Health

Civic engagement—activities like voting and volunteering—is essential for the health of democracy. A turn at the ballot box might also improve physical and mental health.

New Data on How We're Measuring a Culture of Health

We are seeing small but positive changes in the appreciation of the social determinants of health and the need for broader community health investments. People are expanding their views of what influences health and there have been some targeted improvements in health care and public health access. Yet, the critical systemic changes needed for more transformative health improvements have been slower to follow.

Measuring Progress Toward a Culture of Health... at the Library

Libraries can provide much more than books and internet access. Libraries across the United States are evolving to play a bigger role in community health. Many offer nutrition programs, mental health support, and even free bike-shares.

Local Development of a Culture of Health: Learning from Sentinel Communities

The Culture of Health project focuses on making health a priority in communities. As the United States grapples with health care spending and changing demographics, the Sentinel Communities project will illuminate stories from local communities and paint a picture of the ways communities strive to improve population health.

What Hurricane Katrina Taught Us About Community Resilience

Hurricane Katrina left a path of destruction, death, and suffering in its wake. Its recovery, halting and incomplete as it has been, has taught us valuable lessons about resiliency.

Wellbeing Project to Weave Science Into Government Decisions

Wellbeing is about individuals having the skills and opportunity to live a meaningful life. There are countless things that cities do that either contribute or detract from that sense of meaning. Santa Monica's Wellbeing Project is working to fundamentally change how the government thinks about its citizens.

Here's to Our Health

Atop the new mayor's agenda should be improving the health and well-being of Pittsburgh residents. With an unassailable electoral mandate in hand, Mr. Peduto is positioned to take bold steps. And the best way to do that is by applying scientific and medical evidence to shape an integrated, citywide, health-policy framework.

Translating Policy Into Action to Build Community Resilience

The philosophy and motivation surrounding community resilience has strongly resonated with community leaders but there remains a divide between how experts articulate resilience policy and how that policy translates to on-the-ground implementation. Building Community Resilience: An Online Training addresses that tension.

Planning for Superstorms, Wildfires, and Deep Uncertainty

The path to climate change preparedness should start at the intersection of resilience and robustness — that is, building resilient communities with the individuals and organizations within those communities making robust decisions, ones designed to work well over a wide range of ever-changing conditions.

'New Normal' Requires New Ways to Support Social and 'Human' Recovery

Recent global disasters vividly illustrate that recovery entails more than simply restoring physical infrastructure such as roads and buildings; it is also a long process of restoring the social infrastructure—the daily routines and networks that support the physical and mental health and well-being of the population, write Anita Chandra and Joie Acosta.

Why Aren't Americans Listening to Disaster Preparedness Messages?

Given the recent spate of highly publicized disasters, why don't more Americans pay attention to the advice of public health officials? The messages they are getting are largely based on unverified assumptions, not hard evidence. Equally concerning, these assumptions may inadvertently hinder preparedness.

A Month After the Earthquake: Opportunities Slipping Away

Previous efforts by the international community to stabilize Haiti have met with little or only short-term success. This time, following the earthquake, the U.S. response could actually leverage the response and recovery opportunities into a broader international plan, write Agnes Gereben Schaefer and Anita Chandra.

Human Side of Katrina Recovery Still Needs Work

Four years after Hurricane Katrina, many people in the Gulf Coast region are still "just surviving," write Anita Chandra and Joie Acosta.

Journal Article

Climate Change-Related Mass Migration Requires Health System Resilience

Mass migration driven by climate change-related shocks and stresses is already occurring. We argue for a need for resilient health systems to ensure migration is adaptive, not detrimental, to health.

Journal Article

Preparing for the Next Pandemic: Has COVID-19 Changed American Attitudes?

This study explores how personal experiences of Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic, attitudes about institutions (government and business), and views of social change could either pose challenges or help with planning for the next pandemic.

Journal Article

Capacities of Health Systems in Climate Migrant Receiving Communities: Insights in the US Gulf Coast

This report examines how health care delivery systems in receiving communities meet the needs of climate migrants in three case study sites in the US Gulf Coast.

Commentary

Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Outbreak: Preventing and Managing Future Pandemics

This collection of essays describes missteps made and lessons of critical importance learned during the global and U.S. response to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, with the goal of improving preparedness and preventing future pandemics.

Journal Article

Advancing a Well-Being Narrative: Expanding How Decision-Makers Think About Progress in Order to Transform Priorities and Actions, and Appendix

We developed a summary of research on well-being narrative testing, which has not yet been pursued in this way in the U.S., along with ideas for experimentation and early action.

Journal Article

Equity as a Guiding Principle for the Public Health Data System

This article examines what it means to use equity as a guiding principle throughout the components and functions of a modern public health data system.

Journal Article

The Issues of Interoperability and Data Connectedness for Public Health

The article summarizes some of the challenges around data sharing and reuse and identifies where the technology and data sectors can contribute to fill current gaps to promote interoperability and data stewardship.

Journal Article

Technology and Data Implications for the Public Health Workforce

The article identifies where the technology and data sectors can contribute skills, expertise, and assets in support of innovative workforce models and augment the development of public health workforce competencies.

Journal Article

What Data Should Be Included in a Modern Public Health Data System

The article summarizes what data should be included in the public health data system and identifies where the technology and data sectors can contribute to fill current gaps to measure equity, positive health, and well-being.

Journal Article

The Gross Developmental Potential (GDP2): A New Approach for Measuring Human Potential and Wellbeing

The Gross Developmental Potential (GDP2) is proposed as a new capabilities-based framework for assessing threats to thriving and understanding progress in achieving lifelong health and wellbeing.

Report

COVID-19 and the Experiences of Populations at Greater Risk: Description and Top-Line Summary Data — Wave 4, Fall 2021

This report summarizes descriptive findings from the last of four waves of a survey on how Americans' health views and values have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on populations deemed vulnerable or underserved.

Journal Article

Transforming Public Health Data Systems: White Papers to Inform Commission

RWJF commissioned RAND to produce a series of white papers that describe the current landscape, emerging innovations, and opportunities for transforming and transitioning to a new public health data system.

Journal Article

What If Progress Meant Well-Being for All? U.S. Innovators Use Global Insights to Shift the Narrative and Surface Opportunities Ahead

In many countries, progress is sharply defined only as economic growth. What if that narrative shifted and progress were defined as well-being for all people?

Report

Assessing Health and Human Services Needs to Support an Integrated Health in All Policies Plan for Prince George's County, Maryland

This report describes a health and human services needs assessment of Prince George's County, Maryland. Findings from this report can inform Prince George's County's pursuit of a Health in All Policies approach to policymaking.

Journal Article

Addressing America's Crisis of Despair and Economic Recovery: A Call for a Coordinated Effort

This policy paper proposes a new federal interagency task force to address our nation's crisis of despair as a critical first step to sustainable economic recovery.

Journal Article

COVID-19 Community Response: Emerging Themes Across Sentinel Communities

Since the onset of COVID-19, RAND researchers contributed to four reports on the impact and response in nine communities (Finney Co., Harris Co., Milwaukee, Mobile, San Juan Co., Sanilac Co., Tacoma, Tampa, and White Plains) and four cross-community reports.

Journal Article

Rental Eviction and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Averting a Looming Crisis

This report recommends that the Executive Office of the President of the United States should consider establishing a task force to prevent rental evictions and mitigate housing instability caused by the pandemic.

Commentary

Adapting to Adversity amid a Global Pandemic: Stakeholder Insights About Progress and Next Steps for Taking Integrative Action to Build Resilient Systems

In 2020, the global pandemic and ongoing chronic stressors caused multiple shocks in the United States. The authors describe recommendations to advance an integrative resilience research and practice agenda based on recent stakeholder experiences.

Journal Article

Is Public Health's Multisectoral Mission Achieving Its Promise in the United States?

This chapter examines the progress and limitations of public health's current approach to cross-sector collaboration and offers insights about paths forward.

Report

COVID-19 and the Experiences of Populations at Greater Risk: Description and Top-Line Summary Data — Wave 3, Winter 2021

This report presents the results of the third of four surveys on how Americans' health views and values have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on populations deemed vulnerable or underserved.

Journal Article

Americans' View of the Impact of COVID-19: Perspectives on Racial Impacts and Equity

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a disparate effect on African Americans and Latino groups. But it is unknown how aware the public is of these differences, and how the pandemic has changed perceptions of equity and access to health care.

Journal Article

Drivers of Differential Views of Health Equity in the U.S. Is the U.S. Ready to Make Progress? Results from the 2018 National Survey of Health Attitudes

This study uses data from a nationally representative sample of American adults to examine the factors that people think drive health outcomes and their beliefs about the importance of health equity.

Report

COVID-19 and the Experiences of Populations at Greater Risk: Description and Top-Line Summary Data — Wave 2, Fall 2020

This report presents the results of the second of four surveys on how Americans' health views and values have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on populations deemed vulnerable or underserved.

Report

COVID-19 and the Experiences of Populations at Greater Risk: Description and Top-Line Summary Data — Wave 1, Summer 2020

This report presents the results of the first of four surveys on how Americans' health views and values have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on populations deemed vulnerable or underserved.

Journal Article

Integration of Well-Being with Resilience and Other Broad Scale Social Change

This book is a combination of scientific papers, case studies from the field, and excerpts from a lively, multidisciplinary discussion which intentionally connects issues of measurement to the imperative for action.

Report

Health and Social Services in Puerto Rico Before and After Hurricane Maria: Predisaster Conditions, Hurricane Damage, and Themes for Recovery

This overview of health and social services in Puerto Rico includes 31 courses of action to better recover from health crises, build a more resilient system to future disasters, and actively promote health and well-being.

Report

The Education Sector in Puerto Rico After Hurricane Maria: Predisaster Conditions, Hurricane Damage, and Themes for Recovery

Presenting a strategic approach to aid Puerto Rico's recovery from Hurricanes Irma and Maria, the report details prestorm conditions, assesses damage and recovery needs, and describes courses of action for the Education sector.

Journal Article

Advancing Community Resilience Research and Practice: Moving from "Me" to "We" to "3d"

In this article, we provide a rationale for moving research and practice towards an adaptive systems framework, drawing on the cascading challenges that Gulf of Mexico coastal communities have endured since the 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill disaster.

Journal Article

Factors Related to Health Civic Engagement: Results from the 2018 National Survey of Health Attitudes to Understand Progress Towards a Culture of Health

Health civic engagement may help improve conditions that influence health and well-being for all. Focusing on individuals' sense of community and highlighting investments in community health may be associated with increased health civic engagement and improved community and population health.

Journal Article

Promoting Youth Well-Being Through Health and Education: Insights and Opportunities

Although well-being frameworks that integrate education and health exist, few of them have been examined rigorously to reveal how both educational and health outcomes can be achieved together.

Report

Examining Civic Engagement Links to Health: Findings from the Literature and Implications for a Culture of Health

This report summarizes a structured review to understand what the current scientific literature indicates about whether health is a cause of civic engagement, a consequence of it, or both.

Report

2018 National Survey of Health Attitudes: Description and Top-Line Summary Data

This report describes the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's National Survey of Health Attitudes, part of the foundation's efforts to build a Culture of Health in America, and provides the survey text and summary statistics.

Journal Article

Building and Measuring Community Resilience: Actions for Communities and the Gulf Research Program

This report summarizes the existing portfolio of relevant or related resilience measurement efforts and notes gaps and challenges associated with them.

Report

Measuring Barriers to Mental Health Care in the Military: The RAND Barriers and Facilitators to Care Item Banks

This report summarizes the findings of a study to construct item banks of barriers and facilitators to mental health care for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Report

Toward an Initial Conceptual Framework to Assess Community Allostatic Load: Early Themes from Literature Review and Community Analyses on the Role of Cumulative Community Stress

Understanding extant stress levels within a community can help inform how it responds to acute or traumatic events. This report presents a framework that could be used to develop a concept for determining the allostatic load on a community.

Journal Article

Evaluating Community Partnerships Addressing Community Resilience in Los Angeles, California

This study measured a key characteristic of community resilience: the growth of organizational networks and partnerships over time. Information from this research may be useful to local health departments interested in applying a community resilience framework to disaster preparedness.

Report

Charting Progress: U.S. Military Non-Medical Counseling Programs

This chartbook summarizes findings from an evaluation of two programs offered by the DoD that provide solution-focused counseling for common personal and family issues to members of the active and reserve components of the U.S. military and their families.

Research Brief

Boosting Disaster Resilience Among Older Adults

Older adults are particularly vulnerable to natural disasters. Collaborations between public health departments and organizations that promote aging in place could improve disaster resilience among older populations.

Tool

Building Older Adults' Resilience by Bridging Public Health and Aging-in-Place Efforts: Toolkit

This toolkit contains information and activities that can bring together those involved in aging-in-place support and those involved in disaster resilience efforts to improve the resilience of older adults to natural and human-caused disasters.

Report

Improving Disaster Resilience Among Older Adults: Insights from Public Health Departments and Aging-in-Place Efforts

This report uses interview data from public health departments and aging-in-place efforts to explore how alignment between these entities can strengthen the disaster resilience of older adults and identify promising programs or new collaborations.

Infographic

Helping Military Families: A Look at Non-Medical Counseling Programs in the U.S. Military

A recent evaluation of the military's non-medical counseling programs suggests that they help military personnel and their families. Participants gave the programs favorable ratings, and most reported improvement over a three-month period.

Journal Article

Can Measures Change the World?

The purpose of this article is to start a dialogue about how one can better use measurement to promote large-scale system change.

Journal Article

How Do Communities Use a Participatory Public Health Approach to Build Resilience? The Los Angeles County Community Disaster Resilience Project

Los Angeles County Community Disaster Resilience (LACCDR) coalitions implemented community resilience by anchoring it in preparedness, embracing diversity, engaging while educating, and building reciprocity in partnerships.

Report

An Evaluation of U.S. Military Non-Medical Counseling Programs

This report evaluates two programs offered by the U.S. Department of Defense that provide solution-focused counseling for common personal and family issues to members of the active and reserve components of the U.S. military and their families.

Research Brief

U.S. Military Non-Medical Counseling Programs Demonstrate Benefits for Participants

RAND's evaluation of Military and Family Life Counseling and Military OneSource, based on participant surveys, suggests that these programs are largely effective for service members and families who have used these services.

Report

Resilience Dividend Valuation Model: Framework Development and Initial Case Studies

This report describes the development of the Resilience Dividend Valuation Model, a complementary framework designed to help communities estimate the resilience dividend from resilience projects or investment.

Report

How Cultural Alignment and the Use of Incentives Can Promote a Culture of Health: Stakeholder Perspectives

This report draws on interviews with Culture of Health stakeholders whose work focused on culture, incentives, or both to learn how organizations are addressing and leveraging culture and incentives to promote health and well-being.

Report

An Agenda to Advance Integrative Resilience Research and Practice: Key Themes From a Resilience Roundtable

Presents recommendations for an integrated agenda to promote transdisciplinary resilience research and practice, drawing on proceedings from a 2016 Resilience Roundtable and a supplementary literature review.

Research Brief

Exploring America's Role in a Turbulent World: Strategic Rethink

This brief outlines the Strategic Rethink project and describes research documented in the final volume of the project, focusing on three different strategic orientations to satisfy the greatest number of U.S. interests and objectives.

Report

Strategic Choices for a Turbulent World: In Pursuit of Security and Opportunity

This report is the last of a series in which RAND explores the elements of a national strategy for the conduct of U.S. foreign policy, in this new era of turbulence and uncertainty. Three alternative strategic concepts are presented.

Journal Article

Beyond Disaster Preparedness: Building a Resilience-Oriented Workforce for the Future

Deepening the field of resilience will require a trained and capable resilience-oriented workforce, but optimal strategies for developing such a workforce have yet to be realized.

Journal Article

Towards More Nuanced Classification of NGOs and Their Services to Improve Integrated Planning Across Disaster Phases

Categorizing NGO disaster services as either "core"-critical to fulfilling an organizational mission-or "adaptive"-based on community needs during a disaster-will strengthen resilience-building efforts.

Journal Article

Drivers of Health as a Shared Value: Mindset, Expectations, Sense of Community and Civic Engagement

A shared understanding of health as a cultural value is key to achieving an equitable health system and a culture of health.

Journal Article

Cross-sector Collaborations and Partnerships: Essential Ingredients to Help Shape Health and Well-Being

Policies that support collaboration between the formal health system and organizations in partner sectors--housing, education, and transportation--are key to achieving a culture of health.

Journal Article

Creating Healthier, More Equitable Communities by Improving Governance and Policy

Political and governance considerations should play a central role in the national conversation about improving health and health equity.

Journal Article

Preparing for Deployment: Examining Family and Individual-Level Factors

Deployment can be a significant source of stress for military families. Understanding how families prepare in the face of such stress, and which families are less likely to prepare, is a priority of the Department of Defense.

Commentary

What Role Does the Private Sector Have in Supporting Disaster Recovery, and What Challenges Does It Face in Doing So?

This perspective examines key issues confronting the private sector in disaster recovery financing, the roles that private-sector entities have played, and where there has been successful integration or leadership of these organizations.

Tool

ENGAGED Toolkit: Improving the Role of Nongovernmental Organizations in Disaster Response and Recovery

The toolkit assists public health and emergency planners and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) stakeholders in determining the capacity and capability of particular NGOs for disaster response and recovery.

Report

Building a National Culture of Health: Background, Action Framework, Measures, and Next Steps

In 2013, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) began its Culture of Health initiative. To implement the primary Culture of Health outcome of improved population health, well-being, and equity, RWJF worked with RAND to develop an action framework.

Report

Development of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation National Survey of Health Attitudes: Description and Top-Line Summary Data

This report describes the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's National Survey of Health Attitudes, part of the foundation's Culture of Health strategy. It describes the survey development and provides the survey text and summary statistics of the data.

Report

Stakeholder Perspectives on a Culture of Health: Key Findings

RAND engaged stakeholders to support development of an action framework and measurement strategy for Robert Wood Johnson's Culture of Health vision, in which "everyone in our diverse society leads healthier lives now and for generations to come."

Report

The Urban Child Institute CANDLE Study: Methodological Overview and Baseline Sample Description

This report describes the study design and summary data from the first year of data collection for the Urban Child Institute Conditions Affecting Neurocognitive Development and Learning in Early Childhood Study.

Journal Article

Youth Resilience Corps: An Innovative Model to Engage Youth in Building Disaster Resilience

This study describes the development of a Youth Resilience Corps, or YRC (i.e., a set of tools to engage young people in youth-led community resilience activities) and the findings from a small-scale pilot test.

Journal Article

Developing a Tabletop Exercise to Test Community Resilience: Lessons from the Los Angeles County Community Disaster Resilience Project

A tabletop exercise can be used to stress and test resilience-based capacities.

Journal Article

Partnerships for Community Resilience: Perspectives from the Los Angeles County Community Disaster Resilience Project

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Tool

Partnerships for Recovery Across The Sectors (PRACTIS) Toolkit

The Partnerships for Recovery Across The Sectors (PRACTIS) toolkit employs a survey, a quality improvement guide, and a recovery exercise to strengthen disaster recovery partnerships between local health departments and community-based organizations.

Tool

Community Resilience: Learn and Tell Toolkit

This toolkit is intended to teach people about community resilience so that they can then teach others. It has information and exercises, which individuals and organizations can use to communicate with their staff and service populations.

Tool

The Hungrier Games: Disaster Resilience Skills for Youth

This guide contains an introduction to the key principles of community resilience. It is intended for high school youth (ages 14--18). The introduction is presented through youth-friendly talking points and the use of a scavenger hunt game.

Tool

Off To A Good Start: Social and Emotional Development of Memphis' Children

Drawing on national, state, and local data, the Urban Child Institute partnered with RAND to explore the social and emotional well-being of children in Memphis and Shelby County, Tenn.

Journal Article

Quantifying 'Problematic' DIF Within an IRT Framework: Application to a Cancer Stigma Index

This paper introduces two metrics for IRT DIF evaluation that can discern potentially problematic DIF among items flagged with statistically significant DIF.

Infographic

Building Blocks for a Resilient City

This infographic illustrates how communities can withstand and recover from disasters by building resiliency.

Journal Article

The Los Angeles County Community Disaster Resilience Project: A Community-Level, Public Health Initiative to Build Community Disaster Resilience

This paper provides a detailed description of the theoretical rationale, intervention design and novel evaluation of the Los Angeles County Community Disaster Resilience Project (LACCDR), a public health program for increasing community disaster resilience.

Journal Article

Developing a Global Cancer Stigma Index

The cancer stigma index can be used to inform initial cancer education efforts, identifying overall stigma levels in a country or community and particular issue areas requiring intervention.

Infographic

Road to Resilience: Building Stronger, More Sustainable Communities

This infographic illustrates how communities can become more resilient as they plan ahead for potential disasters.

Report

The Deployment Life Study: Methodological Overview and Baseline Sample Description

The report provides a deeper understanding of military family readiness, describing the measures used in the baseline assessment, data-collection design and procedures, sampling and recruiting procedures, and the baseline sample of military families.

Journal Article

Implementing Psychological First-Aid Training for Medical Reserve Corps Volunteers

Psychological first-aid (PFA) training is a promising approach to improve surge responder confidence and competency in addressing postdisaster needs.

Tool

2013 Interactive Community Health Needs Assessment

This interactive web tool draws attention to specific findings in the community health needs assessment in a format that is user friendly and can help to inform the public.

Journal Article

Household Preparedness Is Not Enough: The Challenges and Opportunities in Assessing Community Readiness for Disasters

This study aimed to identify existing measures of partnership, self-sufficiency, and social connectedness, as well as gaps and opportunities in the measurement of community preparedness and resilience.

Tool

Building Resilient Communities: An Online Training

This easy-to-use, self-guided online training shows organizations and communities how to strengthen their resilience.

Journal Article

Applying Community Engagement to Disaster Planning: Developing the Vision and Design for the Los Angeles County Community Disaster Resilience Initiative

A steering council used community-partnered participatory research to support workgroups in developing CR action plans and hosted forums for input to design a pilot demonstration of implementing CR versus enhanced individual preparedness toolkits.

Journal Article

Building Community Disaster Resilience: Perspectives from a Large Urban County Department of Public Health

Using the example of the Los Angeles County Community Disaster Resilience Project, we discuss our experience and perspective from a large urban county to better understand how to implement a community resilience framework in public health practice.

Journal Article

Getting Actionable About Community Resilience: The Los Angeles County Community Disaster Resilience Project

The findings highlighted opportunities for engaging communities in disaster preparedness and informed the development of a community action plan and toolkit.

Report

District of Columbia Community Health Needs Assessment

Analyzes existing demographic, health status, and hospital service use data for the District of Columbia, as well as current stakeholder perspectives, health policy, and investment priorities.

Journal Article

Harnessing a Community for Sustainable Disaster Response and Recovery: An Operational Model for Integrating Nongovernmental Organizations

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are important to a community during times of disaster and routine operations. However, their effectiveness is reduced without an operational framework that integrates response and recovery efforts.

Journal Article

Nongovernmental Resources to Support Disaster Preparedness, Response, and Recovery

Although recent emergencies or disasters have underscored the vital role of nongovernmental (NGO) resources, they remain not well understood or leveraged.

Journal Article

The Promise and Pitfalls of Community Resilience

This commentary describes the potential promise and pitfalls of the concept of community resilience and recommends strategies to overcome its limitations.

Journal Article

Building Community Resilience: What Can the United States Learn from Experiences in Other Countries?

Community resilience (CR) is emerging as a major public policy priority within disaster management and is one of two key pillars of the Dec. 2009 US National Health Security Strategy.

Report

Assessing Operation Purple: A Program Evaluation of a Summer Camp for Military Youth

To help fill the gap in the research on the effectiveness of military family support programs, a RAND study explored the curriculum, themes, and outcomes of Operation Purple, a free weeklong summer camp program for youth with a deployed parent.

Journal Article

Citizen Preparedness for Disasters: Are Current Assumptions Valid?

Despite extensive messaging about the importance of citizen preparedness and countless household surveys purporting to track the preparedness activities of individuals and households, the role individual Americans are being asked to play is largely based on conventional wisdom.

Periodical

RAND Review: Vol. 36, No. 1, Spring 2012

Stories cover Iran's nuclear threat, social security in Mexico, programs for veterans, crime costs, U.S. efforts in Afghanistan, the health insurance mandate, legal defense, marijuana legalization, global education, and Louisiana's coastal planning.

Research Brief

How Do Soldiers' Deployments Affect Children's Academic Performance and Behavioral Health?

With regard to Army families, the study examines the effects of long and frequent parental deployments on children’s academic performance as well as their emotional and behavioral well-being in the school setting.

Journal Article

Mixed-method Approach to Understanding the Experiences of Non-Deployed Military Caregivers

Caregivers affiliated with the National Guard and those with more months of deployment report significantly poorer emotional well-being, and more household and relationship hassles.

Report

Source Materials for the Healthy Communities Toolkit: A Resource Guide for Community and Faith-Based Organizations

Provides content for a toolkit that will prepare community and faith-based organizations to take advantage of opportunities presented in the Affordable Care Act and engage faith and community leaders in promoting health in their communities.

Report

Effects of Soldiers' Deployment on Children's Academic Performance and Behavioral Health

With regard to Army families, the study examines the effects of long and frequent parental deployments on children's academic performance as well as their emotional and behavioral well-being in the school setting.

Report

The Nongovernmental Sector in Disaster Resilience: Conference Recommendations for a Policy Agenda

This report summarizes findings from a conference intended to generate a national policy agenda for better engaging nongovernmental organizations in disaster response and recovery.

Research Brief

Building Community Resilience to Disasters: A Roadmap to Guide Local Planning

Examines ways in which communities can improve their ability to withstand and recover from adversity.

Report

Building Community Resilience to Disasters: A Way Forward to Enhance National Health Security

Provides a roadmap for federal, state, and local leaders who are developing plans to enhance community resilience for health security threats and describes options for building community resilience in key areas.

Research Brief

Views from the Homefront: How Military Youth and Spouses Are Coping with Deployment

Reports the results of a longitudinal study of youth from military families and their caregivers concerning their emotional well-being and how well they are coping with servicemembers' extended deployments.

Draft

The Experience of Outdoor Education at Operation Purple® Camp: Findings from a Sample of Youth Participants

Examine the benefits of outdoor education activities in Operation Purple® camps, which are free camps for youth from military families.

Report

Views from the Homefront: The Experiences of Youth and Spouses from Military Families

Examines the behavioral and emotional well-being of a sample of military families over a year as they cope with the stress of war and deployment, using surveys and in-depth interviews with youth and their nondeployed caregivers.

Journal Article

Developing National Standards for Public Health Emergency Preparedness with a Limited Evidence Base

National performance standards for public health preparedness can be developed based on existing evidence, but would be helped immensely by a stronger evidence base.

Research Brief

Lessons Learned from Disaster Case Management in Louisiana

Louisiana implemented a disaster case management pilot program five years after the 2005 hurricanes. Challenges in client identification, interagency communication, and invoice approval led to delays; half the expected number of cases were opened.

Report

National Evaluation of Safe Start Promising Approaches: Assessing Program Implementation

Documents the implementation of 15 programs across the country that provide interventions for families in which children have been exposed to violence, with the goal of building knowledge about the effectiveness of specific intervention strategies.

Report

Navigating the Road to Recovery: Assessment of the Coordination, Communication, and Financing of the Disaster Case Management Pilot in Louisiana

Researchers assessing a disaster case management pilot recommend that future efforts establish better ways to find affected residents, consider needs/vulnerabilities in planning, and ensure continuity of services before, during, and after disaster.

Report

Bridging the Gap: Developing a Tool to Support Local Civilian and Military Disaster Preparedness

This report describes the current policy context for domestic all-hazards risk-informed capabilities-based planning by local military and civilian authorities and provides a framework for a local planning support tool for their use.

Testimony

Children on the Homefront: The Experiences of Children from Military Families

Testimony presented before the House Armed Services Committee, Subcommittee on Military Personnel on March 9, 2010.

Research Brief

The Teen Depression Awareness Project: Building an Evidence Base for Improving Teen Depression Care

Presents findings from the Teen Depression Awareness Project, which explored how depression affects teens, the factors that influence teens' readiness to seek treatment for depression, and the barriers that teens and parents face when seeking care.

Draft

Understanding Community Resilience in the Context of National Health Security: A Literature Review

This review lays a foundation for upcoming analyses that will provide a working definition of community resilience, identify activities for building resilience, and offer associated metrics.

Report

Toolkit for Adapting Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS) or Supporting Students Exposed to Trauma (SSET) for Implementation with Youth in Foster Care

Assists school-based mental health professionals, school personnel, and child welfare social workers in adapting two school-based interventions for use with youth in foster care who have symptoms of distress following exposure to trauma.

Journal Article

Children on the Homefront: The Experience of Children from Military Families

Although studies have begun to explore the impact of the current wars on child well-being, none have examined how children are doing across social, emotional, and academic domains.

Journal Article

Disaster Recovery Also Involves Human Recovery

This commentary argues that unless the U.S. examines and plans for the psychological consequences of disasters such as Katrina and the recent oil spill, communities will be struggling to address acute and chronic health issues while trying to rebuild.

Journal Article

The Impact of Parental Deployment on Child Social and Emotional Functioning: Perspectives of School Staff

Studies the effect of parental deployment on the well-being of children, and whether and how parental deployments affect the behavioral, social, and emotional outcomes of youth in the school setting.

Research Brief

Children's Health in Washington, D.C. Access and Health Challenges Despite High Insurance Coverage Rates

Assesses children's health issues in Washington, D.C., including the health care delivery system and neighborhood health environments.

Report

The Role of Nongovernmental Organizations in Long-Term Human Recovery After Disaster: Reflections From Louisiana Four Years After Hurricane Katrina

Lessons learned and challenges faced by Louisiana NGOs in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina serve to inform potential policy changes and future research directions to improve long-term human recovery efforts following future disasters.

Report

Health and Health Care Among District of Columbia Youth

Assesses health and health care use among youth in Washington, D.C., using a unique combination of survey, administrative, and focus group data, and offers recommendations for addressing District children's health needs.

Tool

Enhancing Public Health Emergency Preparedness for Special Needs Populations: A Toolkit for State and Local Planning and Response

Presents a toolkit and a Web-based Geographic Information Systems tool meant to help state and local public health agencies improve their emergency preparedness activities for special needs populations.

Journal Article

Perceived Barriers to Treatment for Adolescent Depression

Adolescent depression is common, disabling, and is associated with academic, social, behavioral, and health consequences. Teens with depression were significantly more likely to perceive barriers to care compared with nondepressed teens. Parents were less likely to report barriers than their teens; perceived stigma and concern about family member response were among the significant teen barriers. Teen perceived barriers scores were negatively associated with any use of antidepressants, use of antidepressants for at least 1 month and any psychotherapy or antidepressant use at 6 months.

Draft

Analysis of Risk Communication Strategies and Approaches with At-Risk Populations to Enhance Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery: Final Report

Analyzes risk communications and public health messaging strategies and approaches with at-risk populations to enhance emergency preparedness, response, and recovery.

Journal Article

Impact of Teen Depression on Academic, Social, and Physical Functioning

This study aimed to determine the impact of teen depression on peer, family, school, and physical functioning and the burden on parents.

Journal Article

Improving Treatment Seeking Among Adolescents with Depression: Understanding Readiness for Treatment

To examine readiness for treatment among adolescents with depression in primary care.

Journal Article

Racial/ethnic Differences in Teen and Parent Perspectives Toward Depression Treatment

Latino and African American teens had lower average scores on antidepressant knowledge and counseling knowledge than white teens.

Journal Article

Substance Use and Delinquency Among Fifth Graders Who Have Jobs

Working for pay is associated with substance use and delinquency among older adolescents, although information is scant about younger youth who work. This study investigates associations between self-reports of having a job and substance use and delinquent behaviors in a sample of U.S. 5th graders.

Draft

A Baseline Assessment of the District of Columbia School Health Nursing Program

Describes findings from a baseline assessment of the District of Columbia School Health Nurse Program.

Research Brief

A Step Forward in Accountability for Public Health Emergency Preparedness: Developing Standards for Mass Antibiotic Dispensing

This fact sheet summarizes the results of a RAND initiative to develop performance standards for distributing antibiotics and other lifesaving medical countermeasures on a large scale within the critical first 48 hours of a public health emergency.

Research Brief

Exposure to Sex on TV May Increase the Chance of Teen Pregnancy

Offers some practical implications based on the first study to demonstrate a link between exposure to sexual content on TV and subsequently becoming pregnant or being responsible for a pregnancy before the age of 20.

Report

Recommended Infrastructure Standards for Mass Antibiotic Dispensing

This report presents recommended standards for points of dispensing (or PODs), locations where the public would receive life-saving antibiotics or other medical countermeasures during a large-scale public health emergency.

Draft

Enhancing Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Management for Vulnerable Populations: Task 4: Compendium of Risk Communications

To assist planning and response efforts for vulnerable populations, the authors created a compendium of communication, outreach, and education materials related to emergency preparedness, response, and recovery for those populations.

Draft

Enhancing Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Management for Vulnerable Populations: Task 3: Literature Review

Reports on a literature review concerning promising risk communication approaches and messaging strategies to address the communication limitations or barriers facing vulnerable populations before, during, and after a public health emergency.

Draft

Assessing Health and Health Care in the District of Columbia: Phase 2 Report

Provides recommendations for improving the health care delivery system in the District of Columbia.

Journal Article

Falling Short: Continued Challenges in Meeting the Mental Health Needs of Children with Special Health Care Needs

High levels of unmet need persist for children with special health care needs in the face of substantial resources that have been committed to improving their care, including the integration of behavioral health into Medicaid managed care.

Draft

Understanding the Impact of Deployment on Children and Families: Findings from a Pilot Study of Operation Purple Camp Participants

Reports the results of a survey of families attending a summer camp program that children with a deployed parent attend, to learn more about the functioning and well-being of children of deployed military personnel.

Draft

Assessing Health and Health Care in the District of Columbia

Study of health and the health care delivery system, including an assessment of emergency medical services, in the District of Columbia.

Journal Article

Barriers to Seeking Mental Health Care After Treatment for Orofacial Injury at a Large, Urban Medical Center: Concordance of Patient and Provider Perspectives

A substantial proportion of patients have unmet psychosocial needs after facial trauma.

Journal Article

Core Dimensions of Connectivity in Public Health Collaboratives

Uses network theory and social network analysis to outline the core dimensions of connectivity used to develop and measure progress in multiagency public health collaboratives between governmental and nongovernmental sectors.

Journal Article

Does Watching Sex on Television Predict Teen Pregnancy? Findings from a National Longitudinal Survey of Youth

Data from a national survey of teens were used to assess whether exposure to televised sexual content predicted subsequent pregnancy for girls or responsibility for pregnancy for boys. Exposure to televised sexual content predicted teen pregnancy.

Journal Article

Measuring the Performance of Telephone-Based Disease Surveillance Systems in Local Health Departments

Health departments can achieve optimal performance by consistently connecting a caller with an action officer in 30 minutes or less and may improve performance by using a disease surveillance phone system in which a live person answers at all times.

Draft

Enhancing Public Health Preparedness: Exercises, Exemplary Practices, and Lessons Learned, Phase III: Task E: Approaches for Developing a Volunteer Program to Respond to Public Health Emergencies

Lays out strategies and approaches for establishing or expanding a volunteer program to build workforce surge capacity in the event of a public health emergency.

Draft

Lessons Learned from the State and Local Public Health Response to Hurricane Katrina

Collects and synthesizes the public health lessons learned from the response to Hurricane Katrina so that public health agencies can learn from the experience and improve their preparedness.

Draft

Improving and Enhancing Telephone-based Disease Surveillance Systems in Local Health Departments

This report presents the findings of a project designed to identify system-level characteristics associated with consistently timely responses in telephone-based disease surveillance systems in local health departments.

Journal Article

Factors That Influence Mental Health Stigma Among 8th Grade Adolescents

In-depth interviews with 8th grade students in a suburban, mid-Atlantic community portray adolescent mental health attitudes and how these views are shaped.

Journal Article

Pediatricians' Perspectives Regarding Community Child Health: Training, Involvement, and Expectations According to Age

There are increasing opportunities for pediatricians to promote children's health through community involvement during and after residency training.

Report

Exploring Stress and Coping Among Urban African American Adolescents: The Shifting the Lens Study

Explore perceptions of stress, sources of social support, and use of coping strategies among urban African American ninth graders.

Journal Article

Stigma Starts Early: Gender Differences in Teen Willingness to Use Mental Health Services

To explore gender differences and the role of stigma in teen willingness to use mental health services.