California Survey Research Articles

Differences in health behaviors and health outcomes among non-Hispanic Whites and Arab Americans in a population-based survey in California

BackgroundFew population-based studies of Arab American health behaviors and outcomes exist outside of Michigan. We aimed to provide prevalence estimates of health behaviors and outcomes for Arab Americans and compare them to non-Hispanic Whites in California.MethodsWe used data from the 2003–2016 California Health Interview Surveys. We determined Arab American ethnicity using an algorithm that considered place of birth of the respondent or parent and use of Arabic language at home. Survey-weighted frequencies, chi-squared statistics, and logistic regression analyses were used to compare Arab Americans and non-Hispanic Whites on socioeconomic indicators, health behaviors and health outcomes. Multivariable models were adjusted for age, education level, and insurance status.ResultsArab Americans had higher prevalence of no insurance, living below the federal poverty level, and home ownership than non-Hispanic Whites despite high levels of education and low unemployment prevalence. Arab Americans had reduced odds of alcohol consumption (OR: 0.33, 95% CI: 0.24, 0.45), binge drinking (OR: 0.28, 95% CI: 0.19, 0.40), and suicidal ideation (OR: 0.41, 0.25, 0.66) when compared to non-Hispanic Whites in multivariable models. Arab Americans had decreased odds of hypertension (OR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.50, 0.83) and increased odds of diabetes (OR: 2.03, 95% CI: 1.23, 3.34) when compared to non-Hispanic Whites in multivariable models.ConclusionsArab Americans in California participate in less risky health behaviors and have better health outcomes than non-Hispanic Whites, except with regards to diabetes. Future work aiming to understand the health of Arab Americans should allow for self-identification and less reliance on country of origin and language use at home for sample selection.

Prevalence of Escherichia coli O157 and Salmonella spp. in solid bovine manure in California using real-time quantitative PCR.

The occurrence of Escherichia coli O157 and Salmonella spp. in solid bovine manure was investigated through a multi-county survey in California. Solid bovine manure samples (n=91) were collected from 13 dairy farms located in multiple counties in California between June 2016 and August 2017. To quantify pathogens, DNA was extracted from bacteria in manure samples. Afterwards, the prevalence and levels of E.coli O157 and Salmonella spp. in solid bovine manure were determined by real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR). The prevalence of E.coli O157 and Salmonella spp. in solid bovine manure was 15·4 and 6·6% respectively. Escherichia coli O157 and Salmonella spp. levels in positive samples ranged from 3·1 to 5·3 log CFU per g and from positive (the population was <3 log CFU per g) to 5·2 log CFU per g respectively. Surface samples of manure piles had higher prevalence and levels of E.coli O157 and Salmonella spp. than subsurface samples, while no seasonal effects on pathogen occurrence were observed. Our results indicated that solid bovine manure is a source of E.coli O157 and Salmonella spp. and the application of untreated manure as biological soil amendments may pose potential risks to public health. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: Our findings suggested that the presence of Escherichia coli O157 and Salmonella spp. in solid bovine manure may pose potential risks if untreated manure is applied as biological soil amendments. Considering the large-scale sampling used in this study, the observations provide a holistic assessment in terms of pathogen prevalence in solid bovine manure.

Speech-language pathologists' collaboration with interpreters: Results of a current survey in California

One of the challenges of bilingual speech and language assessment, intervention, and conferencing is the effective collaboration with interpreters in such interpreted interactions when the professional does not share the same spoken language with the client. A survey of California speech-language pathologists who were members of the California Speech-Language-Hearing Association (CSHA) was performed to obtain information on their training to collaborate with, experiences with, and opinions of interpreters. In addition, these professionals were surveyed about the training of the interpreters and suggestions for improvement in interpreted interactions. Findings from 229 participants indicated that: (a) Most of the speech-language pathologists had had instruction, either through university coursework and/or postgraduate presentations, about collaborating with interpreters; (b) Generally, the speech-language pathologists were satisfied with the quality of interpretation/translation; (c) Most interpreters had been trained by their work of employment and/or the speech-language pathologists; but (c) Most of the speech-language pathologists had had to work with family or family friend interpreters at some point, including some who had had to work with family members who were minors.

California Nurse Practitioners Are Positioned To Fill The Primary Care Gap, But They Face Barriers To Practice.

Nurse practitioners are well prepared to help fill care gaps arising from shortages of primary care physicians in California. This article reports findings from a survey of California nurse practitioners that examined their employment and practice barriers. The number of nurse practitioners per capita varies across California counties and is positively correlated with the number of physicians per capita. Hispanic and Filipino nurse practitioners are more likely to live in underserved areas. Nurse practitioners and their education programs are concentrated in the same counties that have high physician-to-population ratios. In these counties, recently graduated nurse practitioners are more likely to report that they plan to relocate to another state in the next five years. Expanding education programs in underserved areas, increasing the diversity of the nurse practitioner workforce, and ensuring that nurse practitioners feel empowered to fully use their skills are necessary to meet both current and future primary care needs.

The Optimum Slash Pile Size for Grinding Operations: Grapple Excavator and Horizontal Grinder Operations Model Based on a Sierra Nevada, California Survey

The processing of woody biomass waste piles for use as fuel instead of burning them was investigated. At each landing of slash pile location, a 132 kW grapple excavator was used to transfer the waste piles into a 522 kW horizontal grinder. Economies of scale could be expected when grinding a larger pile, although the efficiency of the loading operation might be diminished. Here, three piles were ground and the operations were time-studied: Small (20 m long × 15 m wide × 4 m high), Medium (30 × 24 × 4 m), and Large (35 × 30 × 4 m) piles. Grinding the Medium pile was found to be the most productive at 30.65 bone dry tons per productive machine hour without delay (BDT/PMH0), thereby suggesting that there might be an optimum size of slash pile for a grinding operation. Modeling of the excavator and grinder operations was also examined, and the constructed simulation model was observed to well-replicate the actual operations. Based on the modeling, the productivity of grinding at a landing area of 710 m2 of slash pile location was estimated to be 31.24 BDT/PMH0, which was the most productive rate.

Civic seeds: new institutions for seed systems and communities—a 2016 survey of California seed libraries

Seed libraries (SLs) are institutions that support the creation of semi-formal seed systems, but are often intended to address larger issues that are part of the “food movement” in the global north. Over 100 SLs are reported present in California. I describe a functional framework for studying and comparing seed systems, and use that to investigate the social and biological characteristics of California SLs in 2016 and how they are contributing to alternative seed systems based on interviews with 45 SL managers. At a minimum, SLs function as new seed distribution institutions founded and overseen by dedicated, values-driven individuals and groups with goals including education, seed access, local adaptation, biodiversity conservation, community-building, and human health. Annually about 4776 people borrow seeds from, and 238 people return seeds to the SLs in this study, that operate through over 17,000 hours of work/year. These SLs distribute approximately 6456 packets of seed annually, mostly of commercial seeds from small seed companies, but some SLs emphasize local and culturally meaningful seeds. The significance of a 6% seed return rate depends on SL goals and can be investigated once appropriate indicators for those goals are identified and documented. Beyond distribution, the seed system functions accomplished by SLs differ, and all can have consequences for the processes shaping the diversity and adaptation of their crops. The SLs engaged in seed system functions beyond distribution are new forms of socially-motivated community science, poised to develop biological and social innovations reflecting their values and interests.

Neighborhood Characteristics and Adolescent Suicidal Behavior: Evidence from a Population-based Study.

Research on the relationship between neighborhood characteristics and adolescents' risk of nonfatal suicidal behavior is scarce. We used California survey data to examine associations between measures of objective neighborhood quality (levels of violent crime, property crime, and socioeconomic disadvantage) and subjective neighborhood quality (perceptions of neighborhood safety and social cohesion) and adolescents' self-reported suicidal ideation and suicide attempt. Objective measures of neighborhood quality were unrelated to adolescents' risk of suicidal behavior. However, adolescents who perceived their neighborhoods to be less safe and less cohesive were 20%-45% more likely than nonsuicidal peers to report suicidal ideation and attempt.

Beyond the Pain Scale: Provider Communication and Staffing Predictive of Patients’ Satisfaction with Pain Control

This paper examined hospital characteristics, staffing, and nursing care factors associated with patient perception of poor pain control by conducting a secondary analysis of the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Health Care Providers Systems (HCAHPS) survey in California, Massachusetts, and New York hospitals. Analysis of variance was used to analyze the relationship between nurse, hospitalist, physician, and resident staffing and patients' perception of pain control. Twenty-one factors correlated with patients' reports of pain control were included in the stepwise linear regression analysis. Patients' perception of pain control significantly improved with higher numbers of registered nurses (p = .045), nursing staff (p = .005), and hospitalists (p = .035) and worsened with higher numbers of residents or interns (p = .010). Six predictors explained 79% of the variance in patients' self-reports of pain control. Four factors increased the likelihood that patients reported their pain was poorly controlled: (1) patients did not receive help as soon as they wanted (p < .001), (2) poor nurse communication (p < .001), (3) poor medication education (p < .001), and (4) teaching hospitals (p < .001). Two factors decreased the likelihood that patients reported their pain was poorly controlled: (1) higher numbers of nursing staff (p = .001) and (2) nonprofit hospitals (p = .001). Nurse staffing and nurse-patient communication are highly predictive of patients’ perception of pain management. In teaching hospitals, with rotating intern/resident assignments, patients reported less satisfaction with pain management. This study provides new evidence for the importance of continuity of care in controlling the pain of hospitalized patients.

Method for Gauging Usage Opportunities for Partially Automated Vehicles with Application to Public Travel Survey Data Sets

Vehicle automation has garnered a significant amount of interest in recent years. When the automated driving (AD) capability of a vehicle is assessed, it is important to distinguish between full automation, in which no human driver is required, and partial automation, in which a human driver may be required to intervene or take control of the vehicle occasionally for portions of the trip. This paper presents a method for assessing usage opportunities of partial AD in light-duty vehicle fleets. Key assumptions are that ( a) the longer the time fraction of driving in which AD is active, the better, and ( b) drivers will value having longer contiguous sections of AD-active time over having to frequently regain vehicle control. Given second-by-second records of real-world driving trips, the method uses a fuzzy inference system to estimate the fraction of driving time at a certain quality-of-use level. Performing the quality-of-use assessment for all trips and vehicles in a representative data set can then provide insight into the fraction of the population that would likely find partial AD desirable. To demonstrate the proposed method, data on vehicle trips from public travel surveys in California (California Household Travel Survey) and Atlanta, Georgia (Atlanta Regional Commission Travel Survey), were used along with simplified prototypical models for partial AD. Simulation results were generally in agreement with common perceptions but showed a wide range of possibilities, which could have been narrowed down further when more detailed trip data became available.

Optimizing Variance-Bias Trade-off in the TWANG Package for Estimation of Propensity Scores.

While propensity score weighting has been shown to reduce bias in treatment effect estimation when selection bias is present, it has also been shown that such weighting can perform poorly if the estimated propensity score weights are highly variable. Various approaches have been proposed which can reduce the variability of the weights and the risk of poor performance, particularly those based on machine learning methods. In this study, we closely examine approaches to fine-tune one machine learning technique (generalized boosted models [GBM]) to select propensity scores that seek to optimize the variance-bias trade-off that is inherent in most propensity score analyses. Specifically, we propose and evaluate three approaches for selecting the optimal number of trees for the GBM in the twang package in R. Normally, the twang package in R iteratively selects the optimal number of trees as that which maximizes balance between the treatment groups being considered. Because the selected number of trees may lead to highly variable propensity score weights, we examine alternative ways to tune the number of trees used in the estimation of propensity score weights such that we sacrifice some balance on the pre-treatment covariates in exchange for less variable weights. We use simulation studies to illustrate these methods and to describe the potential advantages and disadvantages of each method. We apply these methods to two case studies: one examining the effect of dog ownership on the owner's general health using data from a large, population-based survey in California, and a second investigating the relationship between abstinence and a long-term economic outcome among a sample of high-risk youth.

California's Historic Legacy For Landscape Change, the Wieslander Vegetation Type Maps

Abstract This paper presents the digitized edition of the Wieslander Vegetation Type Maps (VTMs). The VTMs were part of the first statewide systematic survey of California's vegetation, conducted 1928–1939. Under the direction of Albert Wieslander, crews recorded the patterns of vegetation that they observed from vantage points across the state. The survey covers 176,901 km2 including border and lake polygons and 165,652 km2 of landscapes that we describe in more detail. There are 251,541 polygons in the full extent of the maps, with 249,630 in the analysis extent. These polygons are annotated with codes indicating the dominant plant species, for which voucher specimens were collected. The maps contain 655 species codes, representing 535 species or sub-species in 229 genera, including 34 Arctostaphylos Adans. and 16 Quercus L. species. The 249,630 polygons contain 26,013 unique combinations of species and levels of disturbance. These can be classified into 525 vegetation alliances or provisional alliances...

Does Perception of Gas Tax Paid Influence Support for Funding Highway Improvements?

The issue for this research is whether perception of the rate and amount of fuel taxes paid by an individual influences his or her support for funding highway improvements from any source of revenue. A survey of likely California and Michigan voters demonstrates that they often overestimate the rate of their state’s gasoline excise tax and the subsequent amount they are likely to pay for this tax in a month. Regression analyses show that voter misperceptions concerning the magnitude of state fuel taxes affect their views regarding an increase in funding to support highway investment proposals. A reasonable policy implication is that the adoption of proposals to generate additional funds for highway investment is more likely if accompanied by a campaign identifying the existing rate of the state’s gasoline excise tax and the relatively small amount of this tax paid by the state’s typical driver.

Family Relationships, Social Connections, and Depressive Symptoms Among Chinese Older Adults in International Migrant Families

ABSTRACTThis study explored whether and how family relationships and social connections influence depressive symptoms of older migrants and older adults in transnational families using the data gathered from a cross-sectional survey in Los Angeles, California, United States, and Beijing, China. Regression results showed that the older migrants reported significantly higher levels of depression than the elders in transnational families. The findings highlight the importance of maintaining close family relations and having large friendship networks for older adults in international migrant families.

Hg concentrations in fish from coastal waters of California and Western North America

The State of California conducted an extensive and systematic survey of mercury (Hg) in fish from the California coast in 2009 and 2010. The California survey sampled 3483 fish representing 46 species at 68 locations, and demonstrated that methylHg in fish presents a widespread exposure risk to fish consumers. Most of the locations sampled (37 of 68) had a species with an average concentration above 0.3μg/gwet weight (ww), and 10 locations an average above 1.0μg/gww. The recent and robust dataset from California provided a basis for a broader examination of spatial and temporal patterns in fish Hg in coastal waters of Western North America. There is a striking lack of data in publicly accessible databases on Hg and other contaminants in coastal fish. An assessment of the raw data from these databases suggested the presence of relatively high concentrations along the California coast and in Puget Sound, and relatively low concentrations along the coasts of Alaska and Oregon, and the outer coast of Washington. The dataset suggests that Hg concentrations of public health concern can be observed at any location on the coast of Western North America where long-lived predator species are sampled. Output from a linear mixed-effects model resembled the spatial pattern observed for the raw data and suggested, based on the limited dataset, a lack of trend in fish Hg over the nearly 30-year period covered by the dataset. Expanded and continued monitoring, accompanied by rigorous data management procedures, would be of great value in characterizing methylHg exposure, and tracking changes in contamination of coastal fish in response to possible increases in atmospheric Hg emissions in Asia, climate change, and terrestrial Hg control efforts in coastal watersheds.

Availability of Care Concordant With Patient-centered Medical Home Principles Among Those With Chronic Conditions: Measuring Care Outcomes.

Care delivery redesign in the form of patient-centered medical home (PCMH) is considered as a potential solution to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs, particularly for patients with chronic conditions. But studies of prevalence or impact at the population level are rare. We aimed to assess whether desired outcomes indicating better care delivery and patient-centeredness were associated with receipt of care according to 3 important PCMH principles. We analyzed data from a representative population survey in California in 2009, focusing on a population with chronic condition who had a usual source of care. We used bivariate, logistic, and negative-binomial regressions. The indicators of PCMH concordant care included continuity of care (personal doctor), care coordination, and care management (individual treatment plan). Outcomes included flu shots, count of outpatient visits, any emergency department visit, timely provider communication, and confidence in self-care. We found that patients whose care was concordant with all 3 PCMH principles were more likely to receive flu shots, more outpatient care, and timely response from providers. Concordance with 2 principles led to some desired outcomes. Concordance with only 1 principle was not associated with desired outcomes. Patients who received care that met 3 key aspects of PCMH: coordination, continuity, and management, had better quality of care and more efficient use of the health care system.

Do patient, hospital, and community characteristics predict variations in overall inpatient experience scores? A multilevel analysis of hospitals in California

The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine how patient, hospital, and community characteristics explain variations in overall inpatient experience with care. We used data from the Patients’ Evaluations of Performance in California survey, the American Hospital Association annual hospital survey, and the Area Resource File. The sample consisted of 24,887 adult patients who received either medical or surgical inpatient care in 173 hospitals located in 46 California counties. A null hierarchical linear model for overall inpatient experience showed that 96.17%, 3.24%, and 0.59% of the variations were within hospitals, between hospitals, and between communities, respectively. Conditional models showed that patient characteristics (sex, age, education, health status, and service line) explained 10.95% of the within-hospital variations; hospital characteristics (teaching status, registered-nurse staffing intensity, and resources directed to patient care) explained 34.12% of the between-hospital variations; and community characteristics (hospital competition, teaching hospitals, per-capita income, and percentage of minority population) explained 99.33% of the between-community variations. These findings suggest that multilevel variations need to be considered when patient experiences are compared across hospitals. Larger future studies are needed to understand how patient experience with care may vary based on patient health-care provider communication across patient subgroups.

Survey of management practices related to bovine respiratory disease in preweaned calves on California dairies

In the spring of 2013, a survey of California (CA) dairies was performed to characterize management practices related to bovine respiratory disease in preweaned calves, compare these practices across geographic regions of the state, and determine the principal components that explain the variability in management between herds. The questionnaire consisted of 53 questions divided into 6 sections to assess management practices affecting dairy calves from precalving to weaning. The questionnaire was mailed to 1,523grade A licensed dairies in CA and 224 responses (14.7%) were collected. Survey response rates were similar over the 3 defined regions of CA: northern CA, northern San Joaquin Valley, and the greater southern CA region. The mean size of respondent herds was 1,423 milking cows. Most dairies reported raising preweaned calves on-site (59.7%). In 93.3% of dairies, preweaned calves were raised in some form of individual housing. Nonsaleable milk was the most frequent liquid diet fed to preweaned heifers (75.2%). Several important differences were identified between calf-raising practices in CA and practices reported in recent nationwide studies, including herd sizes, housing practices, and sources of milk fed to heifers. The differences between the CA and nationwide studies may be explained by differences in herd size. Regional differences within CA were also identified. Compared with the 2 other regions, northern CA dairies were found to have smaller herds, less Holstein cattle, calves remained with dams for longer periods of time after calving, were more likely to be certified organic dairies, and raised their own calves more often. Principal component analysis was performed and identified 11 components composed of 28 variables (questions) that explained 66.5% of the variability in the data. The identified components and questions will contribute to developing a risk assessment tool for bovine respiratory disease in preweaned dairy calves.

The Evolution of Attitudes on Same-Sex Marriage in California and the U.S.

This article focuses on the impact of morality politics and issue framing on attitudes toward same-sex marriage. The comparative data come from California surveys by the Public Policy Institute of California and national surveys by the Pew Research Center and the National Opinion Research Center between 2005 and 2013.Issue framing has played a critical role in the debate on same-sex marriage. Same-sex marriage appears driven by issue framing about morality politics, which, unlike other policy arenas characterized by high information costs and limited access, features conflict over fundamental values. Much of the debate has turned on a conflict between traditional morality and equality. The rise of competitive issue frames suggests that political conflict and public attitudes toward same-sex marriage should reflect, at least in part, the factors noted by Haider and Markel: ideology, party competitiveness, and partisanship.Support for same-sex marriage has increased in both the U.S. and California, although support is stronger in California by about five percent. Using logistic regression, the strongest direct explanatory factors were similar to those at the U.S. level: partisanship, ideology, Protestant religious affiliation, and whether the respondent classified him or herself as born again. A range of demographic, political, social, regional, and time factors has also had a significant effect on support. The relevant influence of the factors was virtually identical in both California and at the national level with the correlation between the changes in odds ratios for the two analyses reaching 0.97. Overall, increased support for same-sex marriage appears to be a permanent shift in the political landscape and reflects a shift in the dominant issue frame of the policy debate.

Survey methodology of the geographic research on wellbeing (GROW) study.

BackgroundCausal inferences from survey research on health would benefit from population-based prospective survey designs. Because of decreasing survey response rates and residential mobility, however, loss to follow-up is of concern. The purpose of this paper is to describe the methodology of the geographic research on wellbeing (GROW) study and the resulting sample of women, their children, and their neighborhoods.ResultsGROW (2012–2013) was designed as a follow-up mail/telephone survey of postpartum women who completed the statewide-representative Maternal and Infant Health Assessment (MIHA) baseline survey (2003–2007) in California. GROW was completed in English or Spanish by mothers whose index child from MIHA were aged 4–10 years. Its research focus is on the role of neighborhood environments on behavioral risk factors for cancer. The survey was developed based on expert guidance and extensive pilot testing and includes in-depth information on women’s and children’s health and behaviors, socioeconomic and demographic factors, psychosocial characteristics, and neighborhood perceptions, linked to objective neighborhood characteristics. The sample size for GROW is 3016 women. Response rates were 33 % of the eligible sample and 75 % of the active sample (those able to be located). GROW appears to be highly representative of its target population and its respondents lived in similar types of neighborhoods compared with all California neighborhoods.DiscussionSurveyed 5–10 years after baseline, the GROW mixed-mode methodology produced a prospective, representative sample of women with young children in California, comparing both individual and residential characteristics. The methods have implications for the 40 states and New York City that participate in CDC’s Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, as well as other cross-sectional studies with participants’ contact information. Several recommendations for conducting similar follow-up studies with minimal loss to follow-up are provided.

Perceived efficacy of sustainability strategies in the US, Italian, and Spanish wine industries

Purpose– This purpose of this investigation is to compare the perceptions of competitive advantage through cost leadership and differentiation with sustainable practices of wineries from the USA, Italy and Spain.Design/methodology/approach– Data are collected via self-report web-based surveys in California, Tuscany and Catalonia in 2010-2011 during a severe economic downturn in the wine industry.Findings– Of the 260 respondents among the three country samples, over 75 per cent are family-owned and family-managed. Respondents indicate who has implemented a clear business case for an Environmental Management System (EMS) and who has not. Benefits and challenges of implementing sustainability practices are also addressed.Practical implications– A comparable percentage of respondents across the three countries indicated a “clear business case for EMS”. Wineries in all three countries perceive that they have competitive advantage through implementation of EMS and commitment to sustainable practices. Top perceived benefits for respondents from the USA and Italy are focused on cost reduction strategies, while top perceived benefits for Spanish respondents are focused on differentiation strategies.Originality/value– Activities that create competitive advantages for wine businesses in different countries are understudied; this research bridges that gap.