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Natural disasters and health emergencies disproportionally affect vulnerable populations causing disruptions to usual care and increasing chronic disease burden. Data and digital technologies are important tools to identify and mitigate indirect effects of emergencies. In this paper, we describe the methods used in the development of a series of digital emergency preparedness interventions to mitigate the direct and indirect consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in the veteran community in Australia. The case studies demonstrate the use of data for surveillance, patient phenotyping, data-driven decision support and stakeholder communication in primary care. The intervention successfully increased appropriate healthcare use by vulnerable individuals and could be expanded to other populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the recent rapid rise in Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) tools, it is imperative that we understand their impact on people with disabilities, both positive and negative. However, although we know that AI in general poses both risks and opportunities for people with disabilities, little is known specifically about GAI in particular. To address this, we conducted a three-month autoethnography of our use of GAI to meet personal and professional needs as a team of researchers with and without disabilities. Our findings demonstrate a wide variety of potential accessibility-related uses for GAI while also highlighting concerns around verifiability, training data, ableism, and false promises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will report findings from in-depth narratives of and research interviews with sexually victimized (prostituted and trafficked) teens and run away youth at high risk for such victimization. Research participants are teens interviewed in the U.S. in two large urban areas—Boston, MA and Washington DC. Narratives from the youth will form the basis of the paper that will present findings on factors (individual, family, peer, school, and community contexts) that increase the risk of involvement in commercial sexual exploitation, maintain and escalate such exploitation, and impede or empower exiting from commercial sexual exploitation (CSE). Factors that propel involvement in and victimization via prostitution vary for boys and girls and for youth across life course stages as each confronts different lifetime challenges, opportunities, and milestones. This paper will present the perspectives of teen boys' and girls' who have been prostituted or who are at risk for prostitution or CSE and make recommendations for justice system response. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social distancing and "lockdown" measures introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic created barriers to recruitment and engagement of community members in research activities. Information technology tools were quickly introduced to allow for virtual participation of stakeholders in research. Vulnerable populations, namely communities with limited access to resources or at a higher risk to experience bias or discrimination, were less likely to engage in such virtual research initiatives. Informatics tools have the potential to support these populations, but existing disparities require a careful consideration of engagement strategies. We discuss three case studies of ongoing research projects targeting vulnerable populations and highlight the role of informatics in facilitating engagement. Target populations include family caregivers of hospice patients, low-income older adults and patients with dementia and their families. We describe strategies to overcome unique challenges introduced by the pandemic, and ways to build a more resilient future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty and Crime: The Role of Public Assistance ReceiptStacy Wittrock, The University of IowaThe research literature clearly demonstrates that children living in poverty are at a higher risk for engaging in delinquent behavior (e.g. Peterson and Krivo 2005; Pratt and Cullen 2005). The family context plays an important role in child outcomes. Some scholars have argued that poverty affects delinquency by affecting family processes. Research has shown that poverty increases family stress (Larzelere and Patterson 1990). Family stress, in turn, affects parent-child interactions (Hanson 1997; Patterson et al. 1989; Sampson and Laub 1993). Public assistance programs were designed to buffer some the negative effects of poverty; however, there has been little research examining how public assistance receipt affects the relationship between poverty and delinquency. Specifically, research has not examined whether or not public assistance receipt ameliorates some of the negative effects of poverty on youths' delinquent behavior. Using the National Longitudinal Surveys' NLSY79 Mother, Child, and Young Adult data, biennially from 1986-2004, this paper will examine whether and how public assistance receipt plays a part in helping impoverished youth avoid delinquency. More specifically, I will examine whether the receipt of public assistance benefits reduces stress in families, thereby reducing delinquency. The results of this research help to disentangle the effects of socio-economic status and family interaction on delinquency, which has implications for both criminological theory and public policy.My preference is for a standard panel presentation. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stress has been implicated to be a key mechanism linking early life adversity to later life health. However, few studies have examined how exposure to recent stressful life events during adolescence and adulthood relate to diabetes. This study examines the relationship between stressors in adolescence and adulthood and diabetes among a nationally representative, longitudinal sample of adolescents who participated in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (1994-2008). Results from logistic regression analyses showed that participants who reported recent stress exposures during transitions from childhood to adolescence and from adolescences to adulthood were more likely to have diabetes or at risk for diabetes (pre-diabetes). Implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examine the role of attachment orientation as a boundary condition for the effects of situational changes in one's social engagement on retiree well-being, and hypothesize that one's ability to adjust to retirement depends on personality traits, situational factors and also the interaction between them. It further tested the hypotheses using longitudinal data collected from a sample of retired unionized workers previously employed in transportation, manufacturing, and construction sectors. It also states that the results of the analyses support the hypothesis, indicating attachment anxiety conditions the effect of changes in social engagement on well-being. populations at risk for experiencing difficulties in the adjustment process.

The positive influence of mentoring has long been recognized. This study attempts to identify the correlates of satisfying mentoring experiences. It focuses on a network of mentors who have been involved with a local nonprofit organization, which provides alternative activities and positive role models for at-risk adolescent females. The survey method is used to identify the factors which were correlated with mentoring perceptions. Subjects included volunteers who have been involved with the network over a 2-year period. Results suggest that mentoring satisfaction is related to various empathy dimensions. Mentors' satisfaction is not significantly related to the time spent with their mentees. Female, married mentors with children are more likely to commit to long-term involvement. The results suggest that the mentoring process must be studied in the context of values and communication modalities in interpersonal relationships. Further studies should consider their influence on perceptions of satisfaction and the motivations for long-term mentoring relationships. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]