Partnering to Improve Public Health

Health Sciences Campus

ALBANY, N.Y. (June 23, 2022) - Faculty in our Department of Health Policy, Management and Behavior partner with government agencies, organizations, foundations, and businesses to develop, enhance, and evaluate important programs, and also serve as experts for community groups. Their work includes:

Understanding the Stress of Alzheimer’s on Family Caregivers

Associate Professor Julia F. Hastings works with the Alzheimer’s Association of the Capital Region to improve services for Black families impacted by Alzheimer’s Disease. Through her study, she learns more about the caregivers’ lives, their experiences with doctors and services, transitions they’ve made in their home, and more— and shares this information with the Alzheimer’s Association to make their services more equitable.

“A lot of Black families caring for Alzheimer’s Disease family members do not use the services such as respite care, that are freely available for many reasons,” Hastings explains. “Partnering with the Alzheimer’s Association has enabled me to learn more about the caregivers’ stress and ultimately find where we may be able to improve service utilization to Black communities.”

Hastings is actively recruiting Black caregiver participants through the Alzheimer’s Association at local church meetings and will examine how Alzheimer’s Disease has impacted the adult caregiver—physically, emotionally, mentally, and financially. She will also examine what it’s like for the teenagers in the household.

“They are often there, doing as much caregiving as the parents,” says Hastings. “We have to consider how that changes their social life and development. Some teens don’t invite friends over since the person they once knew as perhaps the kind grandmother might have had a 180 degree personality change because of Alzheimer’s. The stress on teens from caregiving needs to be better understood so that we help to create useful interventions.”

Providing Covid-19 Guidance for the Mandarin-Speaking Community

Associate Professor Feng (Johnson) Qian has conducted multiple media interviews in Mandarin throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, providing his expertise on timely topics such as vaccinations, surges in cases, booster shots, and protecting children. Qian notes that there have been a lot of challenges for Asian Americans throughout the pandemic, including a lack of public health interventions and information at the cultural level.

“Asian American is a huge umbrella term, but it consists of very different groups with very different cultures and social norms,” he explains. “From the public health perspective, we have different risk factors—for example, Chinese people are more likely to suffer from hypertension or stroke than other Asian populations. Because the groups are unique, it’s important to relay information in a manner that fits appropriately with what the specific group of people need and in a way that will yield results.”

Qian also worked with SUNY Downstate to film a YouTube video in Mandarin to address what to do if you or someone in your home gets sick with Covid-19.

Addressing Disparities for Rural New Yorkers

Professor Janine Jurkowski was contacted by AARP to assist in creating a report on addressing health disparities for rural New Yorkers over the age of 50. The report was shared with lawmakers, advocates, lobbyists, and foundations across New York State that work with the target population.

“To disrupt rural older adult health disparities, it is critical to address major social determinants of health that are distinct from urban areas of New York so that we curtail disability, morbidity, and mortality among the aging rural adult population in New York State,” says Jurkowski.

AARP had seen the UAlbany School of Public Health’s PhotoVoice Project, led by Jurkowski, and had reached out to secure her involvement for their report on rural New Yorkers.

“PhotoVoice is community-based participatory research approach in which community members take and submit photos around a public health topic and submit them along with a brief text,” Jurkowski explains. “The submissions are put on display, and the project aims to open a dialogue between community members and community stakeholders in the Capital Region of New York State."

Assessing Mental Health Response to Mental Health Crises

Associate Professor Tomoko Udo is working with Albany County and Carmen Morano from the School of Social Welfare on the Albany County Crisis Officials Responding and Diverting (ACCORD) program, a program launched in certain areas of the county in 2021 in which 911 calls deemed non-violent that have a behavioral health component are responded to by a team of social workers and paramedics instead of law enforcement, so individuals can be connected with services to help address underlying issues. The program should also decrease adverse interactions with law enforcement by individuals who experience behavioral health crisis. Udo and Morano are analyzing the program to determine its success and to make suggestions for improvement, helping to provide critical feedback as Albany County hopes to make the program available county-wide.

Udo and Morano also received ~$300,000 from New York State Health Foundation to complete their evaluation activities and share lessons learned with other communities that may be interested in adapting a similar program.

“A program such as ACCORD re-envisions the role of law enforcement in mental health crisis in the community while ensuring that those in crisis will be served by professionals who are trained to deal with mental health crisis. It is also important to make sure that the program is working as it is designed and is effective, which is where Dr. Morano and I come in. This is also a great example of successful collaboration between academic institution and local government,” says Udo.

Connecting Maternal and Child Health Academia to Practice

Associate Professor Christine Bozlak recently completed a fellowship with the Division of Maternal and Child Health Workforce Development at the Health Resources and Services Administration Maternal and Child Health Bureau, which supports and educates leaders in maternal and child health and provides leadership for state- and community-level programs to support the development of the maternal and child health workforce.

Bozlak, who co-directs UAlbany’s Maternal and Child Health program, completed a project to help the Division gain additional insight on how to connect university researchers working in maternal and child health to state Title V programs, which are partnerships between the federal government and the states that help support the health and well-being of mothers, children, and families. She conducted a literature review on partnerships and interviewed Title V professionals to better understand how academic professionals may be able to collaborate with the efforts of Title V programs— and ultimately presented her findings to staff at the Health Resources and Services Administration Maternal and Child Health Bureau.

“I am so grateful for the fellowship I completed with the HRSA Maternal and Child Health Bureau, and I think it gave me a better perspective on how to prepare our students to become maternal and child health professionals in the future, especially at the federal and state levels of government,” says Bozlak.