Minority Institutions Research Articles

Implementation of social partnership technology in the prevention of family disadvantages

Currently, there are different types of dysfunctional families: conflictual, immoral, pedagogically untenable, asocial. The causes of family disadvantages may be crisis phenomena in the socio-economic sphere, disorder of intra-family relations between parents and children, physically or mentally ill parents, unfavorable heredity in children, or presence of children or adults with disabilities in the family. Prevention of family disadvantages implies a set of measures to work with parents and children in order to form and maintain normal family relations, focus on a healthy lifestyle, and revive the institution of family and marriage. There are various ways to organize effective work in this direction, but the most effective is the implementation of social partnership technology. Such a partnership can be implemented through the interaction of various social institutions, such as social protection management bodies and social protection institutions, education management bodies and educational institutions, commissions for minors and for protection of their rights, special institutions for minors in need of social rehabilitation, guardianship and custody authorities, health management bodies and health care institutions, internal affairs bodies, bodies, institutions, and public associations, implementing measures to prevent neglect and juvenile delinquency, etc. Within the framework of social partnership technology, specialists of these institutions can ensure the prevention of family disadvantages more successfully and effectively by creating a unified concept of joint actions in relation to a particular family. Also, the implementation of social partnership technology will allow for the exchange of information characterizing the situation of families and children in the subordinate territory that is necessary for carrying out activities in their interests with authorities, state and non-governmental institutions, organizations and services.

HISTORICAL PREREQUISITES, LEGAL STATUS AND PECULIARITIES OF ACTIVITIES OF CHILDREN’S COLONIES FOR MINORS IN THE USSR

The article reveals the historical preconditions for the creation and development of children’s colonies for minors in the USSR, their place in the process of combating child homelessness and neglect. Since the establishment of children’s colonies in 1918, their main task has been to organize the educational process for minors, although in practice the main emphasis was on labor education and the involvement of homeless children. Formally, such institutions for minors became institutions for the socialization of homeless and neglected children released from colonies. It was established that the detention of juveniles in labor colonies was intended, first, to isolate them from the influence of adult criminals, especially recidivists; secondly, through work and the educational process to form full members of society. Legally, the first legal act approving the legal status of juvenile colonies was the Correctional Labor Code of October 16, 1924. In accordance with the provisions declared in it, all juveniles in child labor colonies were divided into several categories, respectively to the age gradation that operated in the receivers-distributors. Moral and pedagogical abilities were also taken into account. Children’s colonies were part of the general system of correctional facilities, which were regulated by the Correctional Labor Code, but differed in different types of regime in which they operated. Children’s colonies differed from classical prisons in their education and labor education. Self-sufficient citizens aware of their rights and responsibilities were formed in the colonies. It is the labor colonies for juveniles that have become the main type of places for juveniles and homeless and neglected children. These facilities were not only to teach juvenile prisoners labor skills, but also to educate them according to their social status, age, mental and psychological abilities. Children’s labor colonies became part of the Gulag. As of 1939, there were 50 juvenile colonies in this system. It was established that children’s labor colonies stationed in the territory of the Ukrainian SSR were differentiated both in terms of terms of imprisonment for serious crimes and in terms of isolation of juvenile “recidivists” and violators of the regime. The formation of the network of children’s labor colonies was conditioned both by the desire to combat juvenile delinquency and by the attempt to apply educational measures to persons deprived of parental care, while using them as cheap labor.

Modernization on Empty Coffers: Polish Minority Institutions in Early Soviet Ukraine

After the Civil War, the Bolshevik government planned to mobilize the Soviet population on a voluntary basis and installed opportunities for local self-administration. Rural soviets were the most promising initiative. National minorities received particular attention. Western Soviet Ukraine with its Polish communities provides case studies for the practical impact of these ‘affirmative action’ policies. This article explores three configurations of Polish minority institutions: (a) neighbouring rural soviets close to an urban centre, (b) neighbouring rural soviets far from any urban centre and (c) isolated rural soviets far from any larger urban centre. Whereas small and poor Polish rural soviets could not function properly, bigger and financially better-equipped ones could improve their communal life by well-equipped community centres and minority schools. Yet despite the affirmative action propaganda, the state and party institutions drained the local self-administration of their financial surplus. With a few exceptions, they did not plan to invest sparse state funds into the development of a particular Soviet Polish culture. This lack of financial commitment combined with the Polish communities’ resilience against atheist initiatives from above led the communist organizations within the rural soviets such as KNW, Komsomol, and the Pioneers to complete failure. The subsequent disappointment within the party paved the way for ideas of forced collectivization.

Deyatel'nost' vospitatel'no-­ ispravitel'nyh uchrezhdenij dlya nesovershennoletnih pravonarushitelej: cherez proshloe v nastoyashche­e

The article discusses the features of the activities of educational and correctional institutions for minors who have committed offenses. The authors reveal the peculiarities of the education of this category of persons in the colonies-shelters of the Russian Empire of the late 19th - early 20th centuries and at the present time. Past experience is considered by the example Storozynski transitional shelter Smolensk province through the analysis of historical materials found in the State archive of the Smolensk region (ASR). It is worth pointing out that education included various types of influence on juvenile offenders, which led to the correction of the latter.

Female minority students-plight of staying alive in education during an unending pandemic!

Abstract COVID-19 pandemic laid bare deep inequalities and inequities. Disruptions brought to light by the ongoing pandemic are exacerbating risks and vulnerabilities both within education careers and personal lives. Widespread economic, sociological, and psychological damage has challenged female minority students in education more than their male counterparts. We surveyed female minority students as compared to male students at Chicago State University and found mixed ideas and opinions. The concerns on top of the list were fear of contracting COVID-19, existential epiphanies, and poor study conditions. More women, conditioned to design their lives around education are not enrolling for educational opportunities. One reason is that they can’t find childcare; another is they struggle with education/life balance. It's not one cause but the pandemic has made it complex and multi-faceted. For other students, the pandemic offered many new opportunities that were practically never heard off. Some of the most common perks were, i.e., the ability to study remotely from anywhere, cutting out big city commutes, being able to give peak time to family, and greater flexibility in setting daily chores. A common theme for most of the surveyed students was that changes forced by the current pandemic are playing out a new social justice awakening on college campuses especially minority institutions like Chicago State University. Overarching suggestion was that right decisions made today in the context of a pandemic will have long-term consequences for the future of education. Overwhelming minority students proposed a faculty mentor and a peer-mentor to address the academic advising as well as personal guide to facilitate upheavals in pandemic situations.

A small molecule inhibits pancreatic cancer stem cells

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth highest cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, with a projected 60,430 new cases diagnosed and 48,220 patients dying in 2021. We employed a small chemical, N-(6-Chloro-2-enzothiazolyl)-3, 4-dimethoxy-benzene propanamide (KY-02111), to target suppression of tumori-sphero-genesis of PANC1ORGRCD19+31+45+133+, to propose a novel therapeutic strategy against drug registrant pancreatic cancer stem cells (PANC1ORGRCD19+31+45+133+). According to our findings, the pancreatic stem cell indicators (CD19+31+45+133+) are found to be more strongly expressed in pancreatic cancer tissues than in normal pancreatic tissues.The flow cytometry, immunoblot and immunofluorescence analysis showed that the expression ofthese markers (CD19+31+45+133+) in PANC1ORGR spheroid cells was lowered by treatment of our new therapeutic approach. Therefore, this study identified the significant relationship of inhibition of tumori-sphero-genesis of PANC1ORGR with associated novel biomarkers (CD19+31+45+133+) which could be target candidates in designing drugs against pancreatic cancer. Further investigation and funding areneeded to find the molecular mechanism of inhibition of tumori-sphero-genesis by this small molecule. This work was partly used the financial support from award money of 2017 Translational Research Award, Society of Toxicology and 2018 AACR Minority and Minority-Serving Institution Faculty Scholar award of Dr. Jayanta K. Das.

African American College Women’s Preferences for Sexual Health Intervention: A Qualitative Analysis

Sexually transmitted infections among college students are a major public health concern and disproportionately impact minority students. The purpose of this study is to examine perceptions, expectations, and preferences for university-based interventions to increase condom negotiating skills among African American college women. One hundred women attending an urban minority institution participated in a qualitative study. A content data analysis allowed for emerging themes across the aggregated data collected from thirteen focus groups. Findings revealed several suggestions to reduce the stigma that cluster around three themes including condom distribution, sexual health education, and women-centered culturally competent health care. The burden of sexual and reproductive health challenges among young adults involves the need for effective prevention and interventions.

John C. Swanson. Tangible Belonging: Negotiating Germanness in Twentieth-Century Hungary.

John C. Swanson. <i>Tangible Belonging: Negotiating Germanness in Twentieth-Century Hungary.</i>

County-Level Social Determinants of Health and COVID-19 in Nursing Homes, United States, June 1, 2020-January 31, 2021.

Nursing homes are a primary setting of COVID-19 transmission and death, but research has primarily focused only on factors within nursing homes. We investigated the relationship between US nursing home-associated COVID-19 infection rates and county-level and nursing home attributes. We constructed panel data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) minimum dataset, CMS nursing home data, 2010 US Census data, 5-year (2012-2016) American Community Survey estimates, and county COVID-19 infection rates. We analyzed COVID-19 data from June 1, 2020, through January 31, 2021, during 7 five-week periods. We used a maximum likelihood estimator, including an autoregressive term, to estimate effects and changes over time. We performed 3 model forms (basic, partial, and full) for analysis. Nursing homes with nursing (0.005) and staff (0.002) shortages had high COVID-19 infection rates, and locally owned (-0.007) or state-owned (-0.025) and nonprofit (-0.011) agencies had lower COVID-19 infection rates than privately owned agencies. County-level COVID-19 infection rates corresponded with COVID-19 infection rates in nursing homes. Racial and ethnic minority groups had high nursing home-associated COVID-19 infection rates early in the study. High median annual personal income (-0.002) at the county level correlated with lower nursing home-associated COVID-19 infection rates. Communities with low rates of nursing home infections had access to more resources (eg, financial resources, staffing) and likely had better mitigation efforts in place earlier in the pandemic than nursing homes that had access to few resources and poor mitigation efforts. Future research should address the social and structural determinants of health that are leaving racial and ethnic minority populations and institutions such as nursing homes vulnerable during times of crises.

Examining the Relationship Between Food Insecurity and Academic Performance: Implications for Diversity and Equity in Higher Education

In recent years, researchers have increasingly focused on the experience of food insecurity among students at higher education institutions. Most of the literature has focused on undergraduates in the eastern and midwestern regions of the United States. This cross-sectional study of undergraduate, graduate, and professional students at a Minority Institution in the southwestern United States is the first of its kind to explore food insecurity among diverse students that also includes data on gender identity and sexual orientation. When holding other factors constant, food-insecure students were far more likely to fail or withdraw from a course or to drop out entirely. We explore the role that higher education can play in ensuring students’ basic needs and implications for educational equity.

Skeptics and Believers: Examining the Role of Extroversion and Skepticism in Paranormal Beliefs

Prior research has identified inconsistencies in relations between extroversion and paranormal beliefs, particularly in the context of a direct association between skepticism and paranormal beliefs. Thus, the current study investigates the role of skepticism and extroversion on the paranormal beliefs of individuals. Participants were 384 students from an accredited postsecondary minority institution enrolled in a Skepticism and Pseudoscience Psychology class. All participants completed a set of online questionnaires that examined their personality traits (i.e., extroversion and neuroticism), skepticism, and paranormal beliefs. A 2x2 analysis of variance indicated that extroverted individuals exhibited greater belief in the paranormal than their less extroverted counterparts. No association was found between skepticism and paranormal beliefs. However, for less extroverted individuals, belief in the paranormal was higher for those with high skepticism relative to those with low skepticism. The limitations and implications of these findings are discussed.

The Freedom of Religious Institutions and Human Flourishing in India: A Present and Future Research Agenda

In this paper, I explore how India’s complex regime of control and management of religious institutions and communities—ironically, particularly Hindu institutions—influences the capacity of these institutions to promote various dimensions of human flourishing and socio-economic uplift among the most marginalized. In addition, I provide an overview of India’s highly varied landscape when it comes to the freedom of religious institutions from state control, and in particular discuss how some minority religious institutions experience fewer government constraints on some aspects of their freedom to self-identify and self-govern, especially when compared to some majority institutions, such as Hindu temples. Although some minority institutions still face constraints on certain aspects of their operations, the freedom they have to manage their internal affairs can, at times, translate into greater agility and the ability to innovate and flourish in the context of 21st-century India.

The Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Consortium: A Blueprint for Inclusive Excellence.

The Research Centers in Minority Institutions, (RCMI) Program was established by Congress to address the health research and training needs of minority populations, by preparing future generations of scientists at these institutions, with a track record of producing minority scholars in medicine, science, and technology. The RCMI Consortium consists of the RCMI Specialized Centers and a Coordinating Center (CC). The RCMI-CC leverages the scientific expertise, technologies, and innovations of RCMI Centers to accelerate the delivery of solutions to address health disparities in communities that are most impacted. There is increasing recognition that the gap in representation of racial/ethnic groups and women is perpetuated by institutional cultures lacking inclusion and equity. The objective of this work is to provide a framework for inclusive excellence by developing a systematic evaluation process with common data elements that can track the inter-linked goals of workforce diversity and health equity. At its core, the RCMI Program embodies the trinity of diversity, equity, and inclusion. We propose a realist evaluation framework and a logic model that integrates the institutional context to develop common data metrics for inclusive excellence. The RCMI-CC will collaborate with NIH-funded institutions and research consortia to disseminate and scale this model.

Community Engagement Practices at Research Centers in U.S. Minority Institutions: Priority Populations and Innovative Approaches to Advancing Health Disparities Research.

This paper details U.S. Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Community Engagement Cores (CECs): (1) unique and cross-cutting components, focus areas, specific aims, and target populations; and (2) approaches utilized to build or sustain trust towards community participation in research. A mixed-method data collection approach was employed for this cross-sectional study of current or previously funded RCMIs. A total of 18 of the 25 institutions spanning 13 U.S. states and territories participated. CEC specific aims were to support community engaged research (94%); to translate and disseminate research findings (88%); to develop partnerships (82%); and to build capacity around community research (71%). Four open-ended questions, qualitative analysis, and comparison of the categories led to the emergence of two supporting themes: (1) establishing trust between the community-academic collaborators and within the community and (2) building collaborative relationships. An overarching theme, building community together through trust and meaningful collaborations, emerged from the supporting themes and subthemes. The RCMI institutions and their CECs serve as models to circumvent the historical and current challenges to research in communities disproportionately affected by health disparities. Lessons learned from these cores may help other institutions who want to build community trust in and capacities for research that addresses community-related health concerns.

Strengthening and Sustaining Inter-Institutional Research Collaborations and Partnerships.

Inter-institutional collaborations and partnerships play fundamental roles in developing and diversifying the basic biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research enterprise at resource-limited, minority-serving institutions. In conjunction with the Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Program National Conference in Bethesda, Maryland, in December 2019, a special workshop was convened to summarize current practices and to explore future strategies to strengthen and sustain inter-institutional collaborations and partnerships with research-intensive majority-serving institutions. Representative examples of current inter-institutional collaborations at RCMI grantee institutions are presented. Practical approaches used to leverage institutional resources through collaborations and partnerships within regional and national network programs are summarized. Challenges and opportunities related to such collaborations are provided.

Building a Diverse Workforce and Thinkforce to Reduce Health Disparities.

The Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Program was congressionally mandated in 1985 to build research capacity at institutions that currently and historically recruit, train, and award doctorate degrees in the health professions and health-related sciences, primarily to individuals from underrepresented and minority populations. RCMI grantees share similar infrastructure needs and institutional goals. Of particular importance is the professional development of multidisciplinary teams of academic and community scholars (the “workforce”) and the harnessing of the heterogeneity of thought (the “thinkforce”) to reduce health disparities. The purpose of this report is to summarize the presentations and discussion at the RCMI Investigator Development Core (IDC) Workshop, held in conjunction with the RCMI Program National Conference in Bethesda, Maryland, in December 2019. The RCMI IDC Directors provided information about their professional development activities and Pilot Projects Programs and discussed barriers identified by new and early-stage investigators that limit effective career development, as well as potential solutions to overcome such obstacles. This report also proposes potential alignments of professional development activities, targeted goals and common metrics to track productivity and success.

Utilizing a Social-Ecological Health Promotion Framework to Engage Diverse Populations for Recruitment in the All of Us Research Program

In 2017, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) All of Us Research Program announced a funding opportunity for community partners to “educate, motivate, and facilitate enrollment” of volunteers. In response to this opportunity, four institutions from the Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Translational Research Network (RTRN) formed the Precision Medicine Research (PreMeR) Diversity Consortium. This multi-institutional collaboration proposed to employ evidence-based best practices to engage, recruit, and retain diverse populations in the All of Us program. The PreMeR approach was premised on the notion that engagement, recruitment, and retention strategies in community and biomedical research must be viewed as community-engaged public health interventions and utilize the same theoretical principles and approaches. To that end, social influence theories were key in conceptualizing approaches to engaging diverse populations in research, as they helped PreMeR members better understand how people’s beliefs and opinions could be modified to effect change and lead to action (Stokols, 1996). PreMeR adopted the social-ecological model (SEM) for health promotion (Dahlberg &amp; Krug, 2006) from Stokols (1996) and community-based participatory research (CBPR) models (Israel et al., 1998, 2005; Wallerstein &amp; Duran, 2010) to guide proposed engagement, recruitment, and retention strategies. The processes of contextualizing engagement strategies across the individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and policy spheres of influence necessitated the incorporation of multiple methods to reach diverse audiences. This article provides a model for applying a theory-driven approach to research engagement, recruitment, and retention.

Воспитательно-исправительные учреждения для несовершеннолетних женского пола в России во второй половине XIX – начале XX века

Воспитательно-исправительные учреждения для несовершеннолетних женского пола в России во второй половине XIX – начале XX века

Precision mentoring (PM): a proposed framework for increasing research capacity in health-related disciplines

ABSTRACT Problem Research productivity is expected of academic faculty, and mentoring can facilitate it. This paper presents a framework for using mentoring to develop researchers in health disciplines. Approach We utilized recent literature reviews, and experience developing researchers at an emerging research institution within the Research Centers for Minority Institutions (RCMI) program, to propose a precision mentoring (PM) framework for research development. Outcomes Although we cannot precisely determine how much improvement was due to the PM framework, over the 4 years of our program, the quality and quantity of pilot project proposals (PPP) has increased, the number of external proposals submitted and funded by PPP investigators has increased, and the number of faculty participating in our program has increased. Surveys distributed to our 2021–22 PPP applicants who did not receive funding (n = 5/6 or 86.7%) revealed that new investigators most frequently sought mentoring related to career guidance (e.g., institutional culture, pre-tenure survival strategies), grant proposal basics (e.g., working with funding agencies, reviewing aims, balancing priorities, and enhancing scientific rigor), and identifying funding opportunities. Next Steps We recommend shifting the mentoring paradigm such that: (a) mentees are pre-screened and re-screened for their current skill set and desired areas of growth; (b) mentoring occurs in teams vs. by individuals; (c) mentors are trained and rewarded, and (d) attention is paid to enhancing institutional culture.

Impact and Consequences of Covid-19 on the Functioning of Minority Institutions of the Slovene National Community in Austria

Abstract Crucial for the development and survival of minorities and persons belonging to them is that their situation and position are taken into account in the countries’ measures and policies and are not aggravated thereby. This is particularly relevant in times of crisis, such as the Covid-19 pandemic. Social interaction within the minority and the active contact of a national community with its kin-state - currently limited as a result of the measures to contain the coronavirus - are of the utmost importance for all minority national communities. Thanks to its organisational capacity, the Slovene national community in Austria was able to properly respond and adjust to the restrictions imposed, but the cancellation of traditional events and closure of bilingual schools raise questions among the community as to how its identity will survive if it cannot be expressed. There is concern that these consequences, especially since the epidemic continues unabated in the second wave, are likely to have a long-term impact on ethnic vitality.