At the 2024 New England Rural Health Association Conference, our department had the privilege of leading a session titled Obstetric Life Support: Preparing Healthcare Workers to Optimize Equitable Treatment of Maternal Medical Emergencies in Rural New England. Guided by Dr. Andrea Shields, Principal Investigator and Associate Professor in Obstetrics and Gynecology at UConn, the session highlighted the unique impact of Obstetric Life Support (OBLS) for rural healthcare. Dr. Shields shared her expertise on the critical role of OBLS in advancing maternal care, emphasizing its evidence base and adaptation to rural needs.

Highlights included:
Dr. Shields’ insights into the evidence supporting OBLS and its role in enhancing maternal care in underserved areas
Distinctions between OBLS and other obstetric emergency training programs
Preliminary findings from our ongoing study on OBLS adaptation for both prehospital and hospital-based providers
An engaging panel discussion with OBLS developers and trainers

They were proud to join Dr. Shields alongside Dr. Shayna Cunningham, Dr. Les Becker, and Dr. Rogie Royce Carandang for this impactful presentation, advancing rural healthcare in New England.

Dr. Angela Bermúdez-Millán, an associate professor-in-residence in the Department of Public Health Sciences at UConn, has built her career around direct, community-focused engagement. Her research addresses critical public health challenges like food insecurity and its related health impacts, with a particular focus on vulnerable populations.

Central to her work is a community-based participatory framework that explores the social determinants of health. One notable study examines how food insecurity affects dietary habits, emotional eating, mental health, and diabetes markers in Latinas at risk for type 2 diabetes. Her goal is to develop culturally relevant interventions that address these challenges head-on.

Bermúdez-Millán’s work also extends to promoting healthy eating in low-income children enrolled in the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program. Through both quantitative and qualitative research, she aims to increase fruit and vegetable consumption and promote healthy weight management.

As a co-investigator on the DREAM study, she contributed to the development of a nutrition intervention for Cambodians dealing with depression, further highlighting her commitment to underserved populations.

Beyond research, Bermúdez-Millán brings her community-driven approach into the classroom. She collaborates with local organizations like the Hartford Food System and End Hunger Connecticut, enriching her courses with real-world insights. She developed and teaches the “Introduction to Interprofessional Public Health Practice,” a required course for UConn MPH students that emphasizes hands-on community involvement.

Her dedication to both scholarship and teaching exemplifies a deep commitment to addressing public health issues where they matter most—within the communities facing them.

Dr. Jenn Cavallari, Associate Professor in Public Health Sciences and Co-Director of the Center for the Promotion of Health in the New England Workplace (CPH-NEW), a NIOSH Total Worker Health® (TWH) Center of Excellence, (Co-I) has been newly awarded a five-year grant in collaboration with CPWR: The Center for Construction Research and Training from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) NORA titled “Empowering Safety and Health in Construction: Uniting Foundations for Leadership and Participatory Programs” for $86,521. Dr. Cavallari is partnering with collaborators from the University of Colorado and University of Massachusetts at Lowell on this subaward.

Goal(s) and Objectives of the Project:  The project adapts CPH-NEW’s Healthy Workplace Participatory Program (HWPP) and the Foundations for Safety Leadership Curriculum for the construction workforce. The goal is to create, implement, and evaluate programs that enhance the health, safety, and well-being of construction workers. Dr. Cavallari, with her expertise in HWPP and experience in the construction industry, will provide guidance on program adaptation, implementation, assessment methods, and data analysis. This five-year project will culminate in identifying partnerships and disseminating findings to the broader construction community.

Dr. Megan O’Grady (PI), Assistant Professor in Public Health Sciences and Courtney Sheehan (Co-PI), LPC, Senior Program Director, at Community Health Resources (CHR), a community-based behavioral health provider in Connecticut, have been newly awarded a one-year grant from the University of Connecticut Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy (InCHIP) titled “Identifying Barriers and Facilitators to Implementation of Long-Acting Injectable Medications for Opioid Use Disorder in Community-Based Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs)” for $10,000. Co-investigators at UConn include Dr. Morica Hutchison (Public Health Sciences) and Dr. Nate Rickles (School of Pharmacy) as well as Dr. Robin Deutsch at CHR.

Goal(s) and Objectives of the project:  This grant will investigate implementation barriers and facilitators for using long-acting injectable medications (e.g., buprenorphine) to treat opioid use disorder in certified community behavioral health clinics CCBHCs. We will analyze electronic health records from Connecticut-based CCBHC clinics to examine use of long-acting injectable medications for opioid use disorder. We will also conduct interviews with staff/providers and patients to understand barriers and facilitators to using these medications.

Grant Awarded for National Assessment of Parent Training for Women with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Dr. Shayna Cunningham, Assistant Professor in Public Health Sciences (Co-PI), Dr. Mary Beth Bruder, Professor in Child and Family Studies and Director of the UConn University of Connecticut Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service (UCEDD) (PI) and Dr. Brian Reichow, Associate Professor in Child and Family Studies (Co-I) have been newly awarded a one year grant from the Caplan Foundation for Early Childhood titled “National Assessment of Parent Training and Support for Women with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities” for $57,500.

Goal(s) and Objectives of the Project: Diagnosis of intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) does not inevitably cause parenting difficulties and by itself is a poor indicator of parental capacity to provide adequate care to their children. All parents require supports to learn about their children’s needs and development, as well as their own needs as parents. Interventions designed for parents with IDD have proven effective at improving parenting skills and competencies with corresponding benefits for their children, but little is known about how these are being implemented in the United States (US). This project will use community-based participatory research and mixed methods approaches to reduce critical knowledge gaps regarding the provision of training and support to parents with IDD. The specific aims are to: 1) conduct a national scan and content analysis of all programs and curriculums offered through each state and territory’s developmental disabilities agencies, child welfare agencies, developmental disabilities networks, including an assessment of disparities in identification, enrollment, and retention of parents with IDD, and outcomes across multilevel domains (e.g., parent demographics, disability level, implementing agency sector, size, geography) and 2) examine perceptions of professionals who provide training and support to parents with IDD about implementation challenges and recommendations for improvement, and perceptions of mothers with IDD about their needs and satisfaction with services they have received.

New Grant to Enhance Breastfeeding Pain Self-Management with WIC Partnership

Dr. Shayna Cunningham, Assistant Professor in Public Health Sciences (Co-I) and Dr. Ruth Lucas, Associate Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of Connecticut (PI) have been newly awarded a one-year grant from the University of Connecticut Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy (InCHIP) titled “WIC Partnership to Revise and Expand Pain Self-Management Intervention with Breastfeeding Women” for $9,918.92.

Goal(s) and Objectives of the Project:  The aim for this project is to partner with Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) to establish a Steering Committee, made up of WIC staff, women served by WIC, and community partners who serve women whose income is below the poverty level, to guide the design and protocols for community-based focus groups. The focus groups will review the Breastfeeding Self-Management (BSM) intervention modules and revise and expand the modules through a culturally relevant lens. The final modules will be reviewed by the Steering Committee in preparation of an R01 Promoting Self-Management of Breast and Nipple Pain Using Technology in Breastfeeding Women (PROMPT) implementation grant.

Developing Trauma-Informed Care Curriculum for Perinatal Care Trainees at UConn Health

Dr. Shayna Cunningham, Assistant Professor in Public Health Sciences (co-I), Dr. Kristen Lee Moriarty (Project Leader), Dr. Kelsey Lynn Manfredi (Resident Team Member & Project Co-Lead), Dr. Alexandre West (Team Member) and Dr. Andrea Shields, Associate Professor in Obstetrics and Gynecology (Faculty Mentor, Lead Principal Investigator) have been newly awarded a two year Teaching Pregnancy Trauma to Trainees grant titled “Bringing Residents, Fellows and Nurses Back to the Bedside to Support a Mother’s Road to Recovery: Interdisciplinary Trauma-Informed Care Curriculum for Perinatal Care” for $15,000.

Goal(s) and Objectives of the Project: One third of women experience some form of trauma during their pregnancy and rates are increasing despite literature elucidating its detrimental impact on patient outcomes. Trainees in OB/GYN and Labor and Delivery, including residents, fellows, and nurses, not only struggle with recognition of pregnancy-related trauma, but after the COVID-19 pandemic, have experienced a higher level of burnout impacting the physician-patient relationship. Our goal is to improve recognition and management of pregnancy-related trauma while embodying a culture of mindfulness amongst OB/GYN residents, fellows, and nurse trainees. The specific aims of the project are to: 1) identify risk factors for pregnancy-related trauma using a mixed-methods approach; 2) develop a one-day trauma-informed curriculum for residents, fellows, and nurse trainees that will improve bedside recognition of pregnancy related trauma; and  3) determine acceptability and feasibility of the new trauma-informed care curriculum to improve standardized processes for management of birth trauma at UConn Health.

Mayte Restrepo-Ruiz, Assistant Professor in Public Health Sciences was selected to be part of the next cohorts of a 2-year Pre-K Junior Faculty Career Development Award Program: Data-to-Action Approach to Prevent Youth Exposure to Violence and Mental Health Adverse Outcomes.  The objective of this study is to examine the relationships between several Social Determinants of Health, multiple forms of violence exposure, and mental health outcomes for historically underserved minoritized youth. The long-term goal is to reduce exposure to multiple forms of violence and mental health problems for minoritized youth.

Dr. Youngji Jo, Assistant Professor in Public Health Sciences was selected to be part of the next cohorts of a 2-year Pre-K Junior Faculty Career Development Award Program: Integrated Screening and Multi-Month Drug Dispensing for People Living with HIV and Hypertension in Zambia: A Mathematical Model. The overall goal of this study is to assess the epidemiological impact and cost-effectiveness of integrated screening and multi-month drug dispensing for people living with HIV and hypertension in resource-limited settings and to provide optimal approaches to allocate resources, enhance patient care, and improve health outcomes.

Dr. Shayna Cunningham

Dr. Shayna Cunningham, Assistant Professor in Public Health Sciences, Dr. Taeho (Greg) Rhee, Associate Professor in Public Health Sciences (Co-I) and Dr. Rogie Royce Carandang, Postdoctoral Fellow in Public Health Sciences (Project Manager) have been newly awarded a one year HRSA Maternal and Child Health Federal Consolidated Programs grant 1R42MC53154‐01‐00 titled “Cannabis-Related Treatment Outcomes Among Pregnant Women: A Disparity Analysis Using a Nationally Representative Sample” for $120,000.

Goal(s) and Objectives of the project: Cannabis use among pregnant people in the United States has rapidly increased over the past two decades with implications for fetal, neonatal, and neurodevelopmental outcomes. Most cannabis-related research among pregnant women has focused on factors associated with use and treatment admissions. Less is known regarding cannabis-related treatment outcomes in this population. The primary aim of this study is to assess disparities in cannabis-related treatment outcomes for pregnant women admitted to a residential or outpatient treatment facility, including the influence of state-level cannabis laws (medical, recreational, decriminalization), “priority access laws” that prioritize pregnant people over others for available slots in public drug treatment facilities, and punitive laws that deem prenatal drug use to be child maltreatment, require health care providers to report prenatal drug use to child protective services, and/or criminalize prenatal drug use. A secondary aim is to examine the impact the COVID-19 pandemic on treatment outcomes among pregnant women. The study findings will help to inform strategies to address disparities in cannabis-related treatment and will yield insights to enable policymakers, government officials, and health care providers to better prepare for future public health emergencies.

National Trends in Emergency Department Visits for Suicide Attempts and Intentional Self-Harm

Dr. Greg Rhee has gotten an important research article published in the Journal of Psychiatry. This study estimated national annual trends and characteristics of emergency department visits for suicide attempts and intentional self-harm in the United States from 2011 to 2020.

Article Excerpt:

Suicide continues to be a major public health problem in the United States, and suicide rates have risen by 35% since 2000 (1, 2). Suicide attempts are the single most important risk factor for suicide and the risk factor most likely to precipitate contact with the health care system (3–5). It is estimated that 1 in 25 individuals who present to the hospital for self-harm will die by suicide within 5 years (6). Since suicide prevention relies on identifying individuals at high risk for suicide, suicide attempts offer critical opportunities to intervene to prevent future suicide (7–9).

Since many patients are treated in emergency departments after a suicide attempt, emergency departments are an important setting for determining epidemiologic trends in suicidal behavior, especially because the United States does not have a national monitoring system for suicide attempts. Over the past three decades, several studies have raised concern about rising emergency department visits for suicide attempts (10–13). A U.S. national study of emergency departments found that the average annual number of emergency department visits for suicide attempts and intentional self-harm more than doubled between 1993 and 2008 (11). A more recent study found that rates were stable between 2006 and 2013 (14).

Yet, there have been no nationally representative U.S. estimates of annual trends in emergency department visits for suicide attempts and intentional self-harm since 2013, including trends stratified by sociodemographic groups. Given the important role of emergency departments in suicide prevention, examining national trends in visits for suicide attempts provides an opportunity to identify population-wide unmet mental health needs and inform suicide prevention strategies.

Learn more here: https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ajp.20230397

About Greg Rhee