Neighborhood Influences on Health

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RAND Video Highlights of 2021

The best RAND videos from the past year brought our research to life in new ways. From the sidewalks of Pittsburgh to preschools in the Middle East, see how people around the world are using RAND research to make their communities safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous.

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How RAND Applies an Equity Lens to Research and Analysis

RAND recognizes that serving the public good requires tackling the factors that contribute to inequities head-on. Current projects focus on such issues as environmental racism, mass incarceration, and anti-Asian violence.

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China's Ambitions, Origins of the Coronavirus, Income Inequality: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on China’s quest for global primacy, understanding the coronavirus origin story, how parents feel about sending their children back to school, and more.

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Stress Accumulates in Marginalized Communities, Generation After Generation

Psychologists and biologists have known for years that prolonged stress is toxic to the human body. A better understanding of how stress builds in communities—and the burden it puts on them—can lead to more effective policies to address it.

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How Pittsburgh Is Addressing Social and Economic Disparities

Pittsburgh has been taking a hard look at race, wealth, and opportunity. In partnership with RAND, the city has run and published its numbers on subjects ranging from police contacts to business ownership to graduation rates as part of a commitment to do better.

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Pittsburgh's Hill District Is Losing More Than a Supermarket

When the Shop 'n Save in Pittsburgh's Hill District closed its doors for good, residents lost the ability to go to a supermarket near their homes. But they also lost something less tangible: a symbol of hope, opportunity, and change for their neighborhood.

Tamara Dubowitz @TamaraDubowitz, La'Vette Wagner

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Military Spouses, Exercise Incentives, Libraries: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on a scholarship program for military spouses, a wellness program that uses the Apple Watch, how libraries can improve public health, and more.

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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.

Carolyn Miller, Anita Chandra

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Using Wearable Fitness Devices to Monitor More Than Just Fitness

Manufacturers could reinvigorate the market for personal health devices by incorporating measures of health and well-being beyond step counts. Wearables could gauge a neighborhood's air quality, safety, or its level of social connectedness.

Douglas Yeung @DouglasCYeung, Astrid Stuth Cevallos

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Good (Fast) Food as a Vehicle for Social Change

Neighborhood by neighborhood, a few dozen jobs at a time, two celebrity chefs are tackling complex, persistent public policy problems. They could succeed in their own way in communities where generations of government programs and charity have had limited impact.

Susan L. Marquis

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The Surprising Ways That a Supermarket Changed a Food Desert

The arrival of a new grocery store in a 'food desert' neighborhood delivered some obvious health benefits. But the benefits had nothing to do with whether the residents shopped there.

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Control Disease in a New York Minute

Legionella bacteria are ubiquitous in many warm-water environments, but outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease like the recent one in the South Bronx don't have to be. Effective public health policies and practices can help inhibit Legionella growth, minimize the occurrence and impact of outbreaks, and save lives.

Shoshana R. Shelton, Melinda Moore

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Sleepless in the City

An alarming number of American city dwellers face sleepless nights, followed inevitably by days of productivity-sapping fatigue and, ultimately, the possibility of more serious health consequences. There are some things they can do to better their chances of falling and staying asleep.

Wendy M. Troxel @wendytroxel

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Putting Health to the (Taste) Test

Researchers teamed up with a dozen Los Angeles lunch trucks to test healthier menu items—chicken breasts and grilled fish alongside the usual tacos and hamburgers.

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A New Year's Resolution: Target Practices That Undermine Weight Control

Many will vow to lose weight in the coming year, but most will inevitably fail, not from lack of motivation or knowledge but from insuperable forces undermining their best intentions. America should resolve to address obesity where it begins: the point of purchase.

Deborah A. Cohen

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Location, Location, Location: Does the Food Desert Narrative Hold Up?

There's little rigorous evidence to support the notion that 'food deserts' are driving the U.S. obesity epidemic. But this narrative has nearly become conventional wisdom. In response, stakeholders have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into bringing supermarkets to these neighborhoods.

Bonnie Ghosh-Dastidar, Tamara Dubowitz @TamaraDubowitz

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Women's Heart Disease Awareness

Friday is National Wear Red Day, when people are asked to wear red to raise awareness about the health risks women face from heart disease. Too little attention is devoted to preventing heart disease in women and improving the quality and outcomes of their care.

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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.

Tamara Dubowitz @TamaraDubowitz, Anita Chandra, et al.

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What's in a Name? Calling Obesity a Disease Could Help Improve Chronic Disease Outcomes

The American Medical Association officially designated obesity as a disease, hoping to help change the way doctors approach the issue with their patients, increase funding for research on effective treatments, spur insurers to cover prescription weight loss medications, and maybe even help de-stigmatize the condition.

Sydne J. Newberry

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Using the Power of Communities to Beat Depression

Under-resourced communities of color have limited access to programs that could improve recognition and treatment of depression. RAND and UCLA investigators applied an engagement model to determine how to better serve these communities.

Kenneth B. Wells, Loretta Jones

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Can “Fixing” Food Deserts Curb Obesity? The Jury Is Still Out

The obesity epidemic is a serious public health concern. What's less clear, however, is how our surroundings fit into the equation.

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What Happens When a 'Food Desert' Gets an Oasis?

In an era of budget constraints, policymakers confronting the U.S. obesity crisis need strong evidence from projects like PHRESH to inform decisions about where and how to invest, writes Tamara Dubowitz.

Tamara Dubowitz @TamaraDubowitz

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Bedside Manners: Obesity Is Not All Your Fault

We will be more successful at stemming the growing tide of obesity and improving our own health if everyone accepts their share of responsibility for the obesity epidemic, write Chloe E. Bird and Tamara Dubowitz.

Chloe E. Bird @ChloeBirdPhD, Tamara Dubowitz @TamaraDubowitz