Suburban US Research Articles

Turnover intentions of police officers: Influence of burnout, supervisor support, and job satisfaction

Abstract Public service employees are often those in front-line positions, and face stress due to their boundary spanning job requirements. During the Covid 19 pandemic, additional strain was felt by these front-line workers as they were required to continue close contact with others. For police officers, stress may lead to psychological effects such as burnout, lower levels of job satisfaction, and higher levels of turnover intentions. Additionally, some occupational groups such as policing are at a higher risk of developing mental health problems. This is becoming increasingly important for many cities and their police department budgets, as increasing labor costs for staffing and turnover has become a major concern. This study seeks to better understand how these specific factors influence turnover intentions for police officers in a mid-size suburban US police department, how organizations can help address mental health, and make practical suggestions on how to impact these staffing decisions.

Effectiveness of face mask mandates in 4 suburban US communities during the SARS-CoV2 Omicron surge

Effectiveness of face mask mandates in 4 suburban US communities during the SARS-CoV2 Omicron surge

Prevalence and Predictors of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Serum Levels among Members of a Suburban US Volunteer Fire Department.

Background: Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), are ubiquitous pollutants associated with adverse health outcomes. High PFAS levels have been demonstrated among career firefighters; less is known about PFAS levels among volunteer firefighters who comprise two-thirds of US firefighters. Methods: Volunteer fire department members completed a survey and provided blood samples. We calculated geometric means and 95% CIs for PFAS reported by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). We compared PFAS distribution and levels among non-Hispanic white adult male study participants to those in the 2015–2016 and 2017–2018 NHANES cycles. We assessed associations between PFAS serum levels and years of firefighting controlling demographics and occupation using linear regression. Results: Participant’s average age was 46.6 years (sd. 17.1). Perfluorododecanoic acid (PFDoA) was detected in almost half study but <3% of NHANES participants; serum levels of PFDoA, perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), and perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA) were elevated among participants compared with NHANES. Serum levels of both PFDA and PFDoA were positively associated with years of firefighting. Conclusions: Volunteer firefighters may have a different serum profile and levels of PFAS than the general population. Future work in this area should include volunteer firefighters from other geographic locations and assess sources of PFAS exposure.

Opposition to housing development in a suburban US County: Characteristics, origins, and consequences

Local opposition to new housing is a well-known phenomenon, but the degree to which it characterizes planning debates or influences outcomes, relative to more supportive stances, is less understood. This paper investigates public comments recorded at public hearings regarding housing-related rezoning cases in order to quantify the amount of comments that can be characterized as oppositional, as well as the sources and effects of this opposition. We conducted a survey of comments made over three decades by 994 individuals appearing at planning commission hearings concerning 330 rezoning cases in Henrico County, Virginia (USA). We find that the overwhelming majority (85.8%) of individuals expressed negative sentiments, that this negativity was consistent throughout the study period, and that this negativity was most often stated in terms of anxieties over traffic, flooding, road connections and access, proposed development density, and property values. Using logistic regression analysis, we find that larger rezonings, the incorporation of multi-family or zero lot-line housing, higher census tract populations, increases in homeownership, increasing population density, and increasing racial diversity are all significantly associated with higher levels of opposition. Opposition in the case study county contributes to the adoption of numerous zoning conditions related to traffic, drainage, and site design, but more commonly to restrictions on density and increased floor areas.

Endless Mourning: Racial Melancholia, Black Grief, and the Transformative Possibilities for Racial Justice in Education

In this article, Justin Grinage investigates how black youth experience and contest racial trauma using racial melancholia, a psychoanalytic conception of grief, as a framework for understanding the nonpathologized endurance of black resistance to racism. Examining data from a yearlong ethnographic study, Grinage engages the notion that melancholia is needed for mourning to take place, a crucial distinction that engenders agency in relation to the constant (re)production of racial oppression in the lives of five black twelfth-grade students at a multiracial suburban US high school. Grinage illustrates how racial melancholia structures racial trauma and analyzes its effects on black identity, dismissing pathologizing definitions of racial injury while centralizing the importance of asset-based, healing-centered approaches for enacting racial justice in education.

How common are cognitive errors in cases presented at emergency medicine resident morbidity and mortality conferences?

Abstract Background Cognitive errors are a major contributor to medical error. Traditionally, medical errors at teaching hospitals are analyzed in morbidity and mortality (M&amp;M) conferences. We aimed to describe the frequency of cognitive errors in relation to the occurrence of diagnostic and other error types, in cases presented at an emergency medicine (EM) resident M&amp;M conference. Methods We conducted a retrospective study of all cases presented at a suburban US EM residency monthly M&amp;M conference from September 2011 to August 2016. Each case was reviewed using the electronic medical record (EMR) and notes from the M&amp;M case by two EM physicians. Each case was categorized by type of primary medical error that occurred as described by Okafor et al. When a diagnostic error occurred, the case was reviewed for contributing cognitive and non-cognitive factors. Finally, when a cognitive error occurred, the case was classified into faulty knowledge, faulty data gathering or faulty synthesis, as described by Graber et al. Disagreements in error type were mediated by a third EM physician. Results A total of 87 M&amp;M cases were reviewed; the two reviewers agreed on 73 cases, and 14 cases required mediation by a third reviewer. Forty-eight cases involved diagnostic errors, 47 of which were cognitive errors. Of these 47 cases, 38 involved faulty synthesis, 22 involved faulty data gathering and only 11 involved faulty knowledge. Twenty cases contained more than one type of cognitive error. Twenty-nine cases involved both a resident and an attending physician, while 17 cases involved only an attending physician. Twenty-one percent of the resident cases involved all three cognitive errors, while none of the attending cases involved all three. Forty-one percent of the resident cases and only 6% of the attending cases involved faulty knowledge. One hundred percent of the resident cases and 94% of the attending cases involved faulty synthesis. Conclusions Our review of 87 EM M&amp;M cases revealed that cognitive errors are commonly involved in cases presented, and that these errors are less likely due to deficient knowledge and more likely due to faulty synthesis. M&amp;M conferences may therefore provide an excellent forum to discuss cognitive errors and how to reduce their occurrence.

Risk behaviours exhibited by free-roaming cats in a suburban US town

Free-roaming cats may experience numerous hazardous encounters in the outdoor environment, including: vehicular accidents, aggression from other animals and exposure to infectious disease. This research quantitatively examined the outdoor activities...

Epidemiology of noninvasive mechanical ventilation in acute respiratory failure - a retrospective population-based study

BackgroundNoninvasive mechanical ventilation (NIV) is a front-line therapy for the management of acute respiratory failure (ARF) in the intensive care units. However, the data on factors and outcomes associated with the use of NIV in ARF patients is lacking. Therefore, we aimed to determine the utilization of NIV for ARF in a population-based study.MethodsWe conducted a populated-based retrospective cohort study, where in all consecutively admitted adults (≥18 years) with ARF from Olmsted County, Rochester, MN, at the Mayo Clinic medical and surgical ICUs, during 2006 were included. Patients without research authorization or on chronic NIV use for sleep apnea were excluded.ResultsOut of 1461 Olmsted County adult residents admitted to the ICUs in 2006, 364 patients developed ARF, of which 146 patients were initiated on NIV. The median age in years was 75 (interquartile range, 60–84), 48% females and 88.7% Caucasians. Eighteen patients (12%) were on Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) mode and 128 (88%) were on noninvasive intermittent positive-pressure ventilation (NIPPV) mode. Forty-six (10%) ARF patients were put on NIV for palliative strategy to alleviate dyspnea. Seventy-six ARF patients without treatment limitation were given a trial of NIV and 49 patients succeeded, while 27 had to be intubated. Mortality was similar between the patients initially supported with NIV versus invasive mechanical ventilation (33% vs 22%, P=0.289). In the multivariate analysis, the development of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and higher APACHE III scores were associated with the failure of initial NIV treatment.ConclusionsOur results have important implications for a future planning of NIV in a suburban US community with high access to critical care services. The higher APACHE III scores and the development of ARDS are associated with the failure of initial NIV treatment.

Discipline and diversity in the suburban US South

This study focuses on the perceptions and professional practice of Black and White teachers in a high poverty, predominately Latino elementary school in the suburban US South. The investigation explored how successful practitioners negotiated student disciplinary concerns within their classrooms. Race and gender gaps were documented in three of the four participants' classrooms as Black males were over-represented on behavioral sanctions in two classes while Asian and Hispanic males were disciplined at a disproportionately high rate in the third. When discipline gaps were documented, the disparities were associated with students' language status and grade level. The role of contextual factors in facilitating the study's findings is highlighted and implications for theory and educational practice are discussed.

Off the radar and ubiquitous: text messaging and its relationship to ‘drama’ and cyberbullying in an affluent, academically rigorous US high school

This mixed methods study explores text messaging in a suburban US high school. Survey questions were answered by students (mean age 16.0; SD = 1.23) regarding the prevalence of bullying and victimization via text messaging. Students and staff members responded to a survey item regarding perceptions of hostile text messaging. Both students and staff members participated in interviews or focus groups where they discussed bullying, student peer interactions, and social conflict. Prevalence for text messaging that was viewed as bullying was considerably lower than other published rates. Female students perceived more hostile text messaging than male students. Analysis of qualitative data suggests that texting contributes to conflict and to a phenomenon called ‘drama,’ and that conflict or ‘drama’ may lead to bullying.

Epidemiology of Critical Care Syndromes, Organ Failures, and Life-Support Interventions in a Suburban US Community

ICU services represent a significant and increasing proportion of medical care. Population-based epidemiologic studies are essential to inform physicians and policymakers about current and future ICU demands. We aimed to determine the incidence of critical care syndromes, organ failures, and life-support interventions in a defined US suburban community with unrestricted access to critical care services. This population-based observational cohort from January 1 to December 31, 2006, in Olmsted County, Minnesota, included all consecutive critically ill adult residents admitted to the ICU. Main outcomes were incidence of critical care syndromes, life-support interventions, and organ failures as defined by standard criteria. Incidences are reported per 100,000 population (95% CIs) and were age adjusted to the 2006 US population. A total of 1,707 ICU admissions were identified from 1,461 patients. Incidences of critical care syndromes were respiratory failure, 430 (390-470); acute kidney injury, 290 (257-323); severe sepsis, 286 (253-319); all-cause shock, 194 (167-221); acute lung injury, 86 (68-105); all-cause coma, 43 (30-55); and overt disseminated intravascular coagulation, 18 (10-26). Incidence of mechanical ventilation was invasive, 310 (276-344); noninvasive, 180 (154-206); vasopressors and inotropes, 183(155-208). Renal replacement therapy incidence was 96 (77-116). Of the cohort, 1,330 patients (91%) survived to hospital discharge. Short- and long-term survival decreased by the number of failing organs. In a suburban US community with high access to critical care services, cumulative incidences of critical care syndromes and life-support interventions were higher than previously reported. The results of this study have important implications for future planning of critical care delivery.

Neighbourhood Types, Travel and Body Mass: A Study of New Urbanist and Suburban Neighbourhoods in the US

Using an ecological framework, this paper examines the body mass index (BMI), physical activity and travel behaviour of household heads in a US new urbanist neighbourhood relative to household heads of comparable conventional suburban US neighbourhoods. Using a quasi-experimental design, a new urbanist neighbourhood and five conventional suburban neighbourhoods were matched on age of development, assessed property values and regional accessibility. Self-reported height, weight, physical activity and travel behaviours were obtained from the household heads in each neighbourhood type. No direct association was detected between neighbourhood type and BMI. However, household heads of single-family dwellings in the new urbanist neighbourhood have lower BMI partly due to the number of utilitarian trips made by walking or bicycling. This relationship is independent of physical activity time. Although small in magnitude, this association may have appreciable morbidity effects at the population level.

Finding the old in the new: on race and class in US charter school debates

This study examines how charter school advocates and district administrators in a suburban US school district work in concert, although not in unison, to create a public charter school that reinforces the interests of White, economically advantaged families. Drawing on ethnographic data, interviews, census data and charter school documents, we find that district administrators, charter school parents, and charter school officials at the US Department of Education have a tendency to ‘pass the buck’ for responsibility about enrollment and admissions. We also find that district administrators are caught within the social and political dynamics of a school system that in this case compels them to make decisions and enact policies that reinforce existing hierarchies. Our findings contribute to mounting evidence that rather than liberate students from the educational inequalities inherent within the regular public school system, charter schools hold the potential to reproduce racial exclusion and class stratification.

‘Color‐blind’ and ‘color‐conscious’ leadership: A case study of desegregated suburban schools in the USA

Leadership and diversity are invariably connected, as US schools are under pressure to educate an increasingly diverse population. Creating an inclusive school requires school leaders to respond to any intergroup conflict that may occur among an ethnically‐diverse group of schools’ participants. The study on which this article is based examined European–American and African–American administrators’ responses to intergroup conflict arising from cultural incongruities in desegregated suburban US schools. The researchers employed intergroup theory to understand how both African–American and European–American school leaders perceived and negotiated sources of intergroup conflict and how this affected their potential for creating an inclusive school environment.

Acute Rheumatic Fever

We undertook a retrospective analysis of the incidence of acute rheumatic fever (ARF) in Memphis-Shelby County during the five-year period from 1977 through 1981. Cases were identified by review of local hospital records and by mail and telephone communication with 327 primary care physicians and neurologists. Forty-one patients met the modified Jones criteria, of whom 16 had conditions that were diagnosed in Memphis but who resided elsewhere. The overall ARF incidence among Memphis-Shelby County residents was 0.64 cases per 100,000 population each year. The highest rate, 3.74, was found among blacks aged 5 to 17 years residing in the inner city, while white children in the suburban and rural areas had a rate of only 0.49. Current strategies for prevention and diagnosis of ARF must take into account the extraordinarily low level to which the incidence of the disease has fallen in certain suburban US populations.