Boston University School Research Articles

Integration of ADEI Competencies in the Specialized Practice of Social Work Students and in the Act of Professionalization of Social Work

Considering the set of key competencies supported by social work organizations in the development of the social work profession at the global level, we aim to analyze from a theoretical point of view those competencies that presuppose the involvement in professional practice of attitudes and behaviors that support non-discrimination, cultural diversity, equity and inclusion in the training of social work students. The student in the field of social work here can be both the one who benefits from training and continuing education, and the one who in turn perpetuates future practices and balanced client-professional relationships, after being integrated into specific social work organizations. The analysis starts from how the professionalization of future social workers is correlated with their guidance and involvement in practices based on anti-racism/non-discrimination, equity, equal opportunities, cultural diversity and inclusion. The objective of this paper is to draw, at a theoretical level, lines of connection between professionalization practices at the international level - as formulated by the Boston University School of Social Work in agreement with the Council on Social Work Education, the national association that represents education of social work from the United States, with Romanian national norms - adopted from European and international practices - the National College of Social Workers in Romania (NCSWR/ CNASR - the acronym in Romanian language), in agreement with UNICEF and ISCO.

Comparison of faculty and student perceptions of sexual and gender minority content in a preclerkship medical curriculum

BackgroundSexual and gender minority (SGM) persons experience stark health disparities. Efforts to mitigate disparities through medical education have met some success. However, evaluations have largely focused on subjective perspectives rather than objective measures. This study aimed to quantify Boston University School of Medicine’s sexual and gender minority (SGM) education through surveys of course directors (CDs) and medical students regarding where SGM topics were taught in the preclerkship medical curriculum. Responses were compared to identify concordance between faculty intention and student perceptions regarding SGM education.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was distributed to preclerkship CDs and current medical students in Spring 2019 and 2021, respectively, regarding where in the mandatory preclerkship curriculum CDs deliberately taught and where first- and second-year students recalled having learned 10 SGM topic domains.Results64.3% of CDs (n = 18), 47.0% of the first-year class (n = 71), and 67.3% of the second-year class (n = 101) responded to the surveys. Results indicate that, as anticipated, deliberate SGM teaching correlates with greater student recall as students recalled topics that were reported by CDs as intentionally taught at a significantly higher rate compared to those not intentionally taught (32.0% vs. 15.3%; p < 0.01). Students most commonly recalled learning SGM-related language and terminology, which is likely partly but not entirely attributed to curricular modifications and faculty development made between distribution of the faculty and student surveys, indicating the importance of all faculty being trained in appropriate SGM terminology and concepts. Discordance between faculty intention and student recall of when topics were taught reveals opportunities to enhance the intentionality and impact of SGM teaching.ConclusionsStudents perceive and recall SGM content that is not listed as learning objectives, and all faculty who utilize this material in their teachings should receive foundational training and be thoughtful about how information is framed. Faculty who intentionally teach SGM topics should be explicit and direct about the conclusions they intend students to draw from their curricular content.

PAARI: Police helping, not arresting, drug users and their families

Last week's annual summit of PAARI (Police Assisted Addiction &amp; Recovery Initiative) featured police chiefs, judges and others talking about how the organization, now eight years old and with more than 651 police department members in 40 states, is helping drug users. Co‐founder and CEO John Rosenthal opened that meeting, hosted by the Boston University School of Public Health, by noting that PAARI departments have now placed more than 30,000 people into treatment “through non‐arrest pathways.” Many drug users do find treatment through the coercive pathway of “go to treatment or [go to] jail,” which is not effective. Furthermore, it just deters people from asking for help. “You can't arrest yourself out of a public health crisis,” said Rosenthal.

India ink to 3D imaging: The legacy of Dr. Deepak "Dee" N. Pandya and his influence on generations of neuroanatomists.

Dr. Deepak "Dee" Pandya spent his career as an internal medicine physician as well as in his respective laboratories at the Bedford, Massachusetts Veterans Administration Hospital and at Boston University School of Medicine. His achievements mapping out the cytoarchitecture and connectivity of areas all over the nonhuman primate brain and small mammals are unparalleled. Dee made numerous discoveries and created painstakingly detailed reports, which impacted the field of neuroanatomy and expanded our perceptions of the many diverse inputs and suggestive functions of specific brain regions. The "old school" methods employed from microscopic work to detailed analyses yielded a product that was accurate and exciting all at the same time. We will all miss Dee's smile and tender manner, but more so, we will miss his wonderful and patient mentorship during the precious time we all spent with him. His mentorship resulted in all of his trainees becoming better scientists and left us with the understanding that people like Dee only come by once in a lifetime. In this tribute article for this special issue in the Journal of Comparative Neurology (JCN), the authors describe some of the tedious methods that were used to present our work as a way to provide insight into the extraordinary time and effort it took to produce and publish our articles with Dee in JCN. Dee's work with his colleagues set the stage for more modern methods of counting and mapping neuronal populations presented here, paving the way for such technologies as artificial intelligence and light sheet imaging to advance the field forward to reach new and exciting discoveries.

From the Editors.

From the Editors.

The Role of Gender-Concordant Mentorship in Women Premedical Students’ Perception and Pursuit of Surgical Careers

Evaluate the impact of a 6-month structured mentorship program between women premedical student mentees paired with women medical students and surgical residents on mentees' interests and perceptions of surgical careers. Prospective qualitative and quantitative study. This study took place at the Boston University School of Medicine, a single institution tertiary care hospital. Self-identified women premedical students at Boston University were eligible for inclusion in this program (n=90). Participants were recruited and grouped with self-identified women medical student (n=52) and resident (n=19) mentors. Participants were provided with a monthly curriculum to guide discussions. Mentees completed pre- and postprogram surveys with 5-point Likert scale questions regarding interest and exposure to surgery, role models and mentorship, and effect of COVID-19 on their career interests. Pre- and postprogram responses were compared using a Wilcoxon rank sum test. Of the 90 mentees, 63 (70%) completed preprogram surveys, and 53 (59%) completed postprogram surveys. Survey respondents indicated statistically significant increased exposure to positive role models (preprogram mean 3.15, postprogram mean 4.06, p=0.0003), increased exposure to women role models (preprogram 2.30, postprogram 3.79, p<0.0001), increased access to dedicated mentors (preprogram 2.11, postprogram 3.75, p<0.0001), and increased availability of support persons to answer their questions and concerns about careers in surgery (preprogram 3.03, postprogram 3.85, p=0.001). There was also a statistically significant increase in the reported effect that exposure to gender-concordant role models in surgery had on participants' decisions to consider a surgical career (preprogram 3.58, postprogram 4.23, p=0.001). This 6-month structured mentorship program for undergraduate premedical students increased mentees' exposure to positive women role models and mentors, and increased mentee's interest in pursuing a surgical career. This emphasizes the need for structured gender-concordant mentorship programs early in women's careers to encourage pursuit of surgical careers in an otherwise men-dominated field.

Introduction to the Compendium on Early Cardiovascular Disease.

Introduction to the Compendium on Early Cardiovascular Disease.

Enhancing behavioral health competencies for senior center staff through workforce development and training

ABSTRACT Increases in the numbers of older adults with mental health and substance use concerns compel us to identify best practices in training to address these issues. Senior Centers are an ideal location for behavioral health education programs as they are the go-to place for many older adults. This paper describes an online certificate program in Behavioral Health and Aging offered by the Center for Aging and Disability Education and Research at Boston University School of Social Work in collaboration with the National Council on Aging to increase senior center staff knowledge and skills. A total of 228 senior center staff in Illinois, Florida, and Wisconsin completed the online certificate program. There were statistically significant changes in key competencies for all courses based on pre-post assessment. We held key informant interviews to assess the impact of training and participants stated that their knowledge, skills, and behaviors were influenced by the program.

"The role of PTSD symptom severity and relationship functioning in male and female veterans' mental health service use": Correction.

Previous research has shown that difficulties in intimate relationships promote mental health treatment seeking for male veterans, but findings for female veterans have been mixed. The current study sought to further evaluate whether intimate relationship functioning is a motivator for mental health treatment seeking for male and female veterans and examine the impact of different types of trauma exposure on this association. Using data from a longitudinal study, we examined whether intimate relationship functioning mediated the association between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity and mental health service use (0 = no mental health services, 1 = any mental health services) in male and female veterans (N = 1,200). We used multiple groups path analysis to examine whether intimate relationship functioning mediated the association between PTSD symptom severity and mental health service use for male and female veterans. For male veterans, greater PTSD symptom severity was related to poorer intimate relationship functioning, which in turn explained increased likelihood of mental health service use (R² = .18). This mediation effect was not significant for female veterans. Our findings suggest that targeting intimate relationship functioning in treatment for male veterans may be beneficial because difficulties in these relationships appear to be a motivating factor for treatment seeking. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Ralph L. Sacco, 65, Dies: Stroke Expert With a Talent for Architectural Design.

Ralph L. Sacco, 65, Dies: Stroke Expert With a Talent for Architectural Design.

Ralph L. Sacco, 65, Dies: Stroke Expert With a Talent for Architectural Design.

Ralph L. Sacco, 65, Dies: Stroke Expert With a Talent for Architectural Design.

Does Platelet-Rich Plasma Have a Therapeutic Role in Hair Restoration?

The LaryngoscopeEarly View Triological Society Best Practice Does Platelet-Rich Plasma Have a Therapeutic Role in Hair Restoration? Marc Levin MD, Marc Levin MD orcid.org/0000-0002-2345-5222 Department of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaSearch for more papers by this authorJeffrey H. Spiegel MD, FACS, Corresponding Author Jeffrey H. Spiegel MD, FACS drspiegel@drspiegel.com orcid.org/0000-0001-9890-0653 Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA The Spiegel Center, Newton, Massachusetts, USA Send correspondence to Jeffrey H. Spiegel, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02459, USA. Email: drspiegel@drspiegel.comSearch for more papers by this author Marc Levin MD, Marc Levin MD orcid.org/0000-0002-2345-5222 Department of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaSearch for more papers by this authorJeffrey H. Spiegel MD, FACS, Corresponding Author Jeffrey H. Spiegel MD, FACS drspiegel@drspiegel.com orcid.org/0000-0001-9890-0653 Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA The Spiegel Center, Newton, Massachusetts, USA Send correspondence to Jeffrey H. Spiegel, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02459, USA. Email: drspiegel@drspiegel.comSearch for more papers by this author First published: 13 January 2023 https://doi.org/10.1002/lary.30564 Editor's Note: This Manuscript was accepted for publication on December 18, 2022. The authors have no funding, financial relationships, or conflicts of interest to disclose. Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Early ViewOnline Version of Record before inclusion in an issue RelatedInformation

A comparison of academic and clinical assessments between endodontic residents receiving in-person versus virtual instruction.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all modes of instruction were moved to virtual teaching for the matriculating endodontic residents at Boston University (BU) School of Dental Medicine (2020-2021). As dentistry is a very hands-on profession, the switch to virtual teaching comes with its own issues of concept retention, zoom fatigue, and limited interaction/lack of engagement between residents and faculty. There has already been a steady decline in the attendance of live lectures by medical and dental students, with students underscoring the ease of watching online lectures/recorded lectures and learning at their own pace. This study took a mixed method observational research approach, with one group receiving the standard in-person (IP) teaching the previous year, and the other group receiving the new intervention of virtual teaching the subsequent year via the zoom platform. The two groups received the same curriculum in its entirety. End-of-semester written and oral exams were compared between the two cohorts along with their clinical assessment forms. One focus group was conducted individually with each class for the qualitative portion of this study. The class of residents receiving IP instruction scored higher in both written and oral components of the end-of-semester exam. There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in their clinical performance and both groups improved in their exams and clinical performance over time. Focus groups highlighted themes emphasizing the importance of social connectedness and interactions, engagement, individual learning styles and motivating factors, zoom fatigue, and the need for a hybrid model of education. Although there was a difference in an exam performance of residents receiving IP versus virtual instruction, there was no impact on their clinical performance. However, subjectively, the lack of social connectedness impacted the overall learning experience.

Phenotyping of lenses from eyes of P301S tau mice

AbstractBackgroundWe previously discovered that Aβ accumulates in the supranuclear region of the lens in the eyes of people with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) (Goldstein et al., 2003) and Down Syndrome (DS; (Moncaster et al., 2010) and also in the Tg2576 APP swedish mutation AD mouse model (Moncaster et al., 2022). Aβ interacts with crystallin proteins in the lens to create light scattering aggregates that eventually manifest as cortical cataracts. Tau has previously been reported to be expressed in the lens of the eye (Bai et al., 2007; Zhao et al., 2013). Here we investigated whether cataracts may develop in the P301S tau model.MethodP301S mice were bred and maintained at Boston University School of Medicine. Breeder mice were purchased from Jackson Laboratories, Bar Harbor, ME. Male and Female transgenic and non‐transgenic mice (n = 5‐6 per group) were sacrificed at ages 12‐13 months. This timepoint was chosen as it is the limit of lifespan for P301S transgenic mice. Mice were perfused with phosphate buffer saline, lenses were isolated and then imaged under two different sources of light using a D70 digital Nikon camera and a custom‐adapted Zeiss stereophotomicroscope.ResultThere was no overt difference in lens phenotype between the P301S transgenic and non‐transgenic mice. No cataracts were observed in these lenses at 12‐13 months of age.ConclusionThere was no overt difference in lens phenotype between the P301S transgenic and non‐transgenic mice. Based on our current and previous results, the data suggests that Aβ may play a more significant role in lens pathology in AD than tau.

The 50 Most Cited Papers Pertaining to American Football: Analysis of Studies From the Past 40 Years

Bibliometric citation analyses have been widely used in medicine to help researchers gain foundational knowledge about a topic and identify subtopics of popular interest for further investigations. To identify the 50 most cited research publications related to American football. Cross-sectional study. The Clarivate Analytics Web of Science database was used to generate a list of publications relating to football. Articles were filtered by the total number of citations, and the top 50 most cited articles studying the sport of football were selected for this analysis. Articles were analyzed by author, publication year, country of origin, institution affiliation, journal, article type, main research topic area, competitive level, and the level of evidence. A total of 247 articles were reviewed to reach the top 50 articles. The most studied topic within the top 50 articles was concussion/chronic traumatic encephalopathy (n = 40). Collegiate football was the most studied level of competition (n = 25). The journal publishing the greatest number of top articles was Neurosurgery. Two institutions, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Boston University School of Medicine, produced over one-third of top 50 articles (n = 18). Our analysis indicated that most of the top 50 publications related to the sport of football focused on concussion and CTE, were observational, and were published during or after 2000. The most studied level of competition was collegiate football.

Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Legacy of Boston Personalism

Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Legacy of Boston Personalism

In 2020, Black Youth Experienced More Racial Discrimination Online

In 2020, Black Youth Experienced More Racial Discrimination Online

Caring for People Who Use Drugs: Best Practices for EMS Providers.

People who use drugs (PWUD) face stigmatizing treatment and substandard care during all stages of their health care journey, including in the prehospital setting by Emergency Medical Services (EMS) providers. Drawing on the professional and lived experience of the authors, we have developed a training with an intended audience of Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) and Paramedics in Massachusetts that will orient them to harm reduction philosophy. The training is delivered online through an asynchronous platform housed at Boston University School of Public Health and centers around several themes including the impact of fentanyl on the drug supply, the role of harm reduction in mitigating the impacts of drug criminalization, and ensuring that EMS providers have access to tools and best practices for improving overdose response, pain management, documentation, and respectful language. The training has been approved for Massachusetts Office of Emergency Medical Services (OEMS) continuing education credit and will be offered for free. We plan to evaluate changes in participant knowledge and attitudes and overall acceptability of the training among EMS providers in Massachusetts.

Removing the Graduate Record Examination as an Admissions Requirement Does Not Impact Student Success.

Background: The predictive validity of components of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) on student success is inconsistent, and the test itself has been shown to be a barrier for prospective students historically underrepresented in graduate programs. Policy Options and Recommendations: We analyzed three admissions cycles for the Master of Public Health degree at the Boston University School of Public Health before (2016, 2017, 2018) and after (2019, 2020, 2021) eliminating the GRE for diversity and quality of applications, student success, and employment outcomes. We observed increases in diversity (e.g., 7.1% and 7.0% self-identified as African American/Black and Hispanic before eliminating the GRE as compared to 8.5% and 8.2% after), but no loss of quality, as measured by undergraduate grade point averages (GPAs) (e.g., median undergraduate GPA before and after eliminating the GRE of 3.4). We also saw no difference in performance in required core courses (e.g., more than 93.5% of students earned passing grades in required courses before and 94.5% after eliminating the GRE) and graduate employment (i.e., 93.1% employed within 6 months of graduation before and 93.8% after eliminating the GRE). We recommend removing the GRE as an admission requirement for the MPH as a step toward diversifying the public health workforce. This change alone is necessary but insufficient. We also need to develop support programs, tailored specifically to the needs of our future students, to ensure their success. Conclusion: Eliminating the GRE as an admissions requirement for prospective students does not result in loss of student quality or worse program performance.

Beyond the Walls of a Hospital: Empowering Students and Surgeons to Incorporate the Social Determinants of Health into Clinical Care.

Boston University School of Medicine The authors report no conflicts of interest. [email protected], [email protected]