Intersectional Perspectives on Technology-Facilitated Sexualized Violence: A Mixed-Methods Investigation of Postsecondary Institution Materials

This article examines the role of gender in policy implementation within the health and education sectors in Georgia. Through a comprehensive analysis of policy documents, interviews, surveys, and focus group discussions, this study aims to uncover the gender dynamics influencing policy processes and outcomes. The findings reveal persistent gender disparities in access to services, representation in decision-making, and the effectiveness of gender-sensitive policies. The article underscores the importance of integrating gender perspectives into all stages of policy development and implementation to promote equity and ensure inclusive and sustainable development in Georgia. By shedding light on the intersection of gender and policy implementation, this research contributes to the broader discourse on gender equality and sustainable development. It calls for a concerted effort from all stakeholders to create a more just and inclusive society where gender does not dictate access to opportunities and resources in the health and education sectors.

The present paper aims at describing the current status of nutrition policy in the WHO European Region and to discuss the implications for public health. The stages of policy development in the Region are illustrated and achievements in specific aspects of food and nutrition policy are highlighted. The analysis is based on a WHO survey on nutrition policies in the WHO European Region in 2005 with information from forty-eight out of fifty-three countries in the Region. Based on the findings, countries were categorized according to their stage in policy development. Additionally, fifty policy documents related to nutrition and published by a national body were analysed according to certain criteria of food and nutrition policy. Most Member States (n 46) have available a policy document related to nutrition and forty have a mechanism to implement it. Collaboration between sectors is taking place in thirty-one countries. Implementation tools, such as food-based dietary guidelines and monitoring and surveillance systems, are in place in twenty-seven countries. The analysis of policy documents revealed that actions addressing the individual with information or education are well developed. Actions addressing environmental determinants, such as food availability, affordability and accessibility, are indicated in only a few policies. Food and nutrition policies appear to have developed successfully in the past decade. However, implementation of the policies seems to be a major challenge due to lack of funds, political commitment and coordination. More support should be given to the implementation and evaluation of policies and a shift towards stronger environmental approaches is needed.

A policy framework for solid waste management is embedded in the Kenyan Constitution 2010. This is designed to ensure that citizens enjoy the right to a clean and healthy environment. Even though the policies are considered adequate to guarantee proper solid waste management in Kenya, county governments grapple with solid waste management. Available policy frameworks have not translated to improved solid waste management in major cities and municipalities such as Wajir Municipality. This study, therefore, assessed the effect of stakeholder involvement on successful execution of SWM policies in the Municipality of Wajir. The study was anchored on the integrated sustainable waste management model. It adopted an explanatory study design. The study population was all 404 employees of the Municipality of Wajir at all management levels. Sample size was 201 employees from this municipality. Both descriptive and inferential analysis were used to examine the data. The study found that involvement of stakeholders in the implementation of these policies had a positive and significant impact. In particular, the frequency of municipal dialogue and consultative meetings with important solid waste management stakeholders, the frequency of stakeholder education and awareness campaigns on solid waste management, and the prompt feedback given to these stakeholders for their participation in solving key problem areas. The study concluded that stakeholder involvement is a pertinent institutional determinant of the implementation of solid waste management policies in Wajir Municipality. The study recommended the need for regular and sustained stakeholder education and awareness campaigns on solid waste management.

This article presents a framework to be used in studying public policy development and implementation in children's mental health. It particularly focuses on policy related to the establishment of community-based systems of care.The framework is based on a review of the literature on policy development and implementation. It focuses on four dimensions: the stages of policy development and implementation, the relationships among different levels of government, the relationships among different service sectors, and variables that affect the likelihood that a policy will achieve its intended effect.

BackgroundIn 2016–17, the government of British Columbia (BC) enacted a mandatory policy outlining Active Play Standards (AP Standards) alongside a capacity building initiative (Appetite to Play) focused on implementing policies and practices to support physical activity in childcare centres. We aimed to identify factors at the provider and organizational levels as well as attributes of the Standards hypothesized to influence implementation (i.e., changes in policies and practices).MethodsWe conducted surveys before (2016–2017) and after (2018–2019) enforcement of the AP Standards among 146 group childcare centres across BC. The 2018–19 surveys measured theoretically based constructs associated with implementation of policies and practices (9 childcare- and 8 provider- level characteristics as well as 4 attributes of the licensing standards). Characteristics that were associated in simple regression models were entered in multivariable regression models to identify factors associated with policy and practice changes related to fundamental movement skills (FMS), screen time, total amount of active play (AP) and total amount of outdoor AP from baseline to follow-up.ResultsIn multivariable analyses, higher staff capacity (OR = 2.1, 95% 1.2, 3.7) and perceived flexibility of the standards (OR: 3.3, 95% 1.5, 7.1) were associated with higher odds of a policy change related to FMS. Higher staff commitment to the AP standards was associated with a higher odds of policy changes related to screen time (OR = 1.6, 95% CI: 1.1, 2.4) and amount of AP (OR: 1.5, 95% 1.0, 2.3). Higher institutionalization of PA policies was associated with a higher odds of policy changes related to the amount of AP (OR: 5.4, 95% CI: 1.5, 20). Higher self-efficacy was associated with a higher odds of policy changes related to outdoor AP (OR = 2.9, 95% 1.1, 7.8). Appetite to Play training was a positively associated with practice changes related to FMS (β = 0.5, 95% CI: 0.1, 0.9).ConclusionsA hierarchy of theoretically defined factors influenced childcare providers’ implementation of the AP Standards in BC. Future research should test the feasibility of modifying these factors to improve the implementation of PA policy and practice interventions in this setting.

Gender based violence (GBV) has had distinct and disproportionate impact on the health and wellbeing of migrant women in Canada. Currently, there is dearth of documented information concerning the inclusion of migrant women in GBV-related public policies in Canada. The present study examines the extent to which Canadian public policies reflect and address the needs of migrant women who have experienced GBV. We conducted a policy review of publicly available documents at federal and provincial (British Columbia and Ontario) levels. Migrant women’s visibility in the Canadian policy landscape remains limited, as their unique needs are often grouped into broader categories such as ‘newcomers, or visible minorities’. This approach fails to acknowledge their distinct lived experiences. Regardless of the federal and provincial efforts in developing policies targeted at GBV prevention, several significant policy gaps came to light. These include the absence of well-defined protective measures for migrant women in precarious employment as well as the hurdles posed by immigration restrictions that pose a significant challenge for those seeking to leave abusive relationships, particularly in cases of dependent migration status. The highlighted policy gaps have negative impact on migrant women’s social functioning, including limiting access to services and opportunities, and this has adverse effects on their overall health and wellbeing. To ensure the effectiveness and significance of GBV policies, it is imperative that policymakers acknowledge and target the distinct vulnerabilities and needs of migrant women who experience GBV. The inclusion of an intersectional perspective in the formulation and implementation of policies is essential, as it facilitates the recognition of the distinct needs of migrant women. Failure to acknowledge these varying needs and the real-life experiences of this diverse group can jeopardize the comprehensive and successful implementation of GBV response policies, not only in Canada but also worldwide. Prioritizing this aspect is crucial.

State-level structural sexism and adolescent sexual violence victimization in the US

In March 2020, British Columbia, Canada, became the first jurisdiction globally to launch a large-scale provincewide safer supply policy. The policy allowed individuals with opioid use disorder at high risk of overdose or poisoning to receive pharmaceutical-grade opioids prescribed by a physician or nurse practitioner, but to date, opioid-related outcomes after policy implementation have not been explored. To investigate the association of British Columbia's Safer Opioid Supply policy with opioid prescribing and opioid-related health outcomes. This cohort study used quarterly province-level data from quarter 1 of 2016 (January 1, 2016) to quarter 1 of 2022 (March 31, 2022), from British Columbia, where the Safer Opioid Supply policy was implemented, and Manitoba and Saskatchewan, where the policy was not implemented (comparison provinces). Safer Opioid Supply policy implemented in British Columbia in March 2020. The main outcomes were rates of prescriptions, claimants, and prescribers of opioids targeted by the Safer Opioid Supply policy (hydromorphone, morphine, oxycodone, and fentanyl); opioid-related poisoning hospitalizations; and deaths from apparent opioid toxicity. Difference-in-differences analysis was used to compare changes in outcomes before and after policy implementation in British Columbia with those in the comparison provinces. The Safer Opioid Supply policy was associated with statistically significant increases in rates of opioid prescriptions (2619.6 per 100 000 population; 95% CI, 1322.1-3917.0 per 100 000 population; P < .001) and claimants (176.4 per 100 000 population; 95% CI, 33.5-319.4 per 100 000 population; P = .02). There was no significant change in prescribers (15.7 per 100 000 population; 95% CI, -0.2 to 31.6 per 100 000 population; P = .053). However, the opioid-related poisoning hospitalization rate increased by 3.2 per 100 000 population (95% CI, 0.9-5.6 per 100 000 population; P = .01) after policy implementation. There were no statistically significant changes in deaths from apparent opioid toxicity (1.6 per 100 000 population; 95% CI, -1.3 to 4.5 per 100 000 population; P = .26). Two years after its launch, the Safer Opioid Supply policy in British Columbia was associated with higher rates of safer supply opioid prescribing but also with a significant increase in opioid-related poisoning hospitalizations. These findings will help inform ongoing debates about this policy not only in British Columbia but also in other jurisdictions that are contemplating it.

Research on racial oral health inequities has relied on individual-level data with the premise being that the unequal distribution of dental diseases is an intractable problem. We address these insufficiencies by examining the relationships between structural racism, structural sexism, state-level income inequality, and edentulism-related racial inequities according to a structural intersectionality approach. Data were from two sources, the 2010 survey of the U.S. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, and Patricia Homan et al.'s (2021) study on the health impacts from interlocking systems of oppression. While the first contains information on edentulism from a large probabilistic sample of older (65+) respondents, the second provides estimates of racism, sexism, and income inequality across the US states. Taking into account a range of individual characteristics and contextual factors in multilevel models, we determine the extent to which structural forms of marginalization underlie racial inequities in edentulism. Our analysis reveals that structural racism, structural sexism, and state-level income inequality are associated with the overall frequency of edentulism and the magnitude of edentulism-related racial inequities, both individually and intersectionally. Coupled with living in states with both high racism and sexism (but not income inequality), the odds of edentulism were 60% higher among non-Hispanic Blacks, relative to Whites residing where these structural oppressions were at their lowest. These findings provide evidence that racial oral health inequities cannot be disentangled from social forces that differentially allocate power and resources among population groups. Mitigating race-based inequities in oral health entails dismantling the multifaceted systems of oppression in the contemporary U.S. society.

Quality education promotes gender-responsive policies. Yet, this is not always the case in developing countries like the Philippines. There are gaps in policy implementation, and safety issues faced by LGBTQIA+ learners persist. Purpose. This study focuses on teachers’ and learners’ perception of Gender-Responsive Basic Education Policy (GRBEP) implementation and the safety of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and expanding identities (LGBTQIA+) learners in public and private schools. Hence, it determined the GRBEP implementation level and LGBTQIA+ learners' safety level. No significant correlation between policy implementation and learners’ safety, and no significant difference between public and private schools’ policy implementation and learners’ safety were assumed. The minimal studies and the urgent need to ensure a gender-responsive and safe learning environment underscore the significance of this research. Methodology. Validated questionnaires were distributed to 744 learners and teachers: 401 from private schools and 343 from public schools. The data collected were analyzed using mode, percentage, Pearson’s product-moment correlation, and independent samples test. Results. Learners and teachers perceived a “high level of implementation” of GRBEP in schools. LGBTQIA+ learners were generally “safe” in schools. The implementation level of Gender-Responsive Basic Education Policy correlates with the safety level of LGBTQIA+ learners in school, as it was statistically significant (p=.026 &lt; α=0.05). There is no substantial evidence of a difference between public and private schools’ implementation level of GRBEP (p = 0.544 &gt; α=0.05). There is not enough evidence of a significant difference between public and private schools’ safety levels of LGBTQIA+ learners (p = 0.188 &gt; α=0.05). Conclusion. An efficient GRBEP implementation by schools ensures a working educational policy. LGBTQIA+ learners are safe in the learning environment. Public and private schools must strengthen awareness campaigns, address misconceptions and overlooked realities, conduct real-time monitoring, evaluation, and feedback mechanisms, as well as foster partnerships and linkages to uphold a safe space for every learner. With these actions, policymakers and school administrators can work towards creating a true quality and inclusive education that supports the well-being and success of all learners, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.

We applied a structural intersectionality approach to cross-sectionally examine the relationships between macro-level systems of oppression, their intersections, and access to oral care in the United States. Whether and the extent to which the provision of government-funded dental services attenuates the emerging patterns of associations was also assessed in the study. To accomplish these objectives, individual-level information from over 300,000 respondents of the 2010 US Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System was linked with state-level data for 2000 and 2010 on structural racism, structural sexism, and income inequality, as provided by Homan et al. Using multilevel models, we investigated the relationships between systems of oppression and restricted access to oral health services among respondents at the intersections of race, gender, and poverty. The degree to which extended provision of government-funded dental services weakens the observed associations was determined in models stratified by state-level coverage of oral care. Our analyses bring to the fore intersectional groups (e.g., non-Hispanic Black women and men below the poverty line) with the highest odds of not seeing a dentist in the previous year. We also show that residing in states where high levels of structural sexism and income inequality intersect was associated with 1.3 greater odds (95% confidence interval, 1.1–1.5) of not accessing dental services in the 12 mo preceding the survey. Stratified analyses demonstrated that a more extensive provision of government-funded dental services attenuates associations between structural oppressions and restricted access to oral health care. On the basis of these and other findings, we urge researchers and health care planners to increase access to dental services in more effective and inclusive ways. Most important, we show that counteracting structural drivers of inequities in dental services access entails providing dental care for all.

In January 2020, the FDA announced an electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) flavor enforcement policy to restrict the sale of all unauthorized cartridge-based flavored e-cigarettes except tobacco and menthol flavors, which was implemented on 6 February 2020. This study aimed to understand the potential influence of this policy on one vaping behavior change—quitting vaping—using Twitter data. Twitter posts (tweets) related to e-cigarettes were collected between June 2019 and October 2020 through a Twitter streaming API. Based on the geolocation and keywords related to quitting vaping, tweets mentioning quitting vaping from the US were filtered. The demographics (age and gender) of Twitter users who mentioned quitting vaping were further inferred using a deep learning algorithm (deepFace). The proportion of tweets and Twitter users mentioning quitting vaping were compared between before and after the announcement and implementation of the flavor policy. Compared to before the FDA flavor policy, the proportion of tweets (from 0.11% to 0.20% and 0.24%) and Twitter users (from 0.15% to 0.70% and 0.86%) mentioning quitting vaping were significantly higher after the announcement and implementation of the policy (p-value < 0.001). In addition, there was an increasing trend in the proportion of female and young adults (18–35 years old) mentioning quitting vaping on Twitter after the announcement and implementation of the policy compared to that before the policy. Our results showed that the FDA flavor enforcement policy did have a positive impact on quitting vaping on Twitter. Our study provides an initial evaluation of the potential influence of the FDA flavor enforcement policy on user vaping behavior.

The number of degrees conferred by postsecondary institutions in an academic field reflects institutional priorities, public interest in a domain of human knowledge, and overall societal and economic demand for certain skills and abilities. Public postsecondary institutions, which are obligated to serve the public interest, and professional organizations, which are meant to reflect the values and interests of their members, should monitor degrees conferred, in part, to understand the career pathways of their graduates or members. The current report describes secular trends in degrees conferred in exercise physiology in the United States since 2002-2003. Data were obtained from spreadsheets published by the National Center for Education Statistics. The number of bachelor's degrees conferred in exercise physiology plateaued starting in 2017-2018 before increasing again in 2020-2021. In 2021-2022, 31,066 bachelor's degrees were conferred in exercise physiology, representing the highest yearly total on record (1.5% of all U.S. bachelor's degrees). The increase has been driven by female graduates (2021-2022: 58.9% women). The number of male graduates started plateauing in 2016-2017. The number of master's degrees conferred has continued to increase (2021-2022: 51.6% women), and doctorate degrees have numbered between 245 and 300 per year since 2013-2014 (2021-2022: 52.2% women). Moving forward, exercise physiology organizations are encouraged to monitor secular trends in degrees conferred and include these data in large-scale graduate destination reports. The plateauing of male exercise physiology graduates over the past 6 years and the significantly lower proportion of male than female graduates averaged across all academic fields warrant continued discussion.NEW & NOTEWORTHY The field of exercise physiology has experienced substantial growth at postsecondary institutions in the United States over the past 20 years. Growth has slowed in recent years, but the number of bachelor's degrees conferred in the field reached a record high in 2021-2022. The increase in bachelor's degrees conferred has been driven largely by increased numbers of female graduates (58.9% female). The number of male graduates plateaued starting in 2016-2017.

Fragmentation of policymaking within government structures and hierarchies can often impede the formulation and implementation of sustainable urban policy. This fragmentation is apparent in complex issues such as the remediation and redevelopment of brownfields. This paper addresses integration across multiple policy domains using brownfield regeneration as a vehicle. Building on the logic and principles of Environmental Policy Integration (EPI), we present a structured analytical tool (namely Policy Integration for Brownfields- PIB) to aid in a systematic analysis of brownfield policy across different regimes at different stages of policy development. We demonstrate the utility of PIB with examples from the USA, Europe, UK, Japan, and China to highlight the critical factors essential to ensure brownfield regeneration meets the overarching aim of making cities more sustainable. The findings suggest a need for balance between often conflicting environmental and non-environmental goals in multiple phases of brownfield policymaking and practice, both between levels of government (horizontally) and across sectoral interests (vertically).

This article advances the field by integrating insights from intersectionality perspectives with the emerging literatures on structural racism and structural sexism-which point to promising new ways to measure systems of inequality at a macro level-to introduce a structural intersectionality approach to population health. We demonstrate an application of structural intersectionality using administrative data representing macrolevel structural racism, structural sexism, and income inequality in U.S. states linked to individual data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to estimate multilevel models (N = 420,644 individuals nested in 76 state-years) investigating how intersecting dimensions of structural oppression shape health. Analyses show that these structural inequalities: (1) vary considerably across U.S. states, (2) intersect in numerous ways but do not strongly or positively covary, (3) individually and jointly shape health, and (4) are most consistently associated with poor health for black women. We conclude by outlining an agenda for future research on structural intersectionality and health.