SP
Can Storytelling Act As a Method, Bridging Evaluation and Healing?
Story-based evaluation is more than data collection. Learn how to design ethical, culturally responsive storytelling practices that support connection and wellbeing.
How Can Evaluation Data Shift the Focus for Recovery From Individuals to Systems?
This blog challenges data collectors to rethink how we frame recovery metrics. Instead of focusing on individual shortcomings, what if our data helped expose—and change—the systems that hinder equitable treatment?
The Role Local School Wellness Councils Play in Promoting Health in Schools
Healthier students tend to be stronger learners (Busch et al., 2014; Basch, 2011). Student health is related to grades, school attendance, and graduation rates. However, one in three children is overweight or obese (Alliance for Healthier Generation, n.d.). In addition to the connection to poorer education outcomes, childhood obesity is linked to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other health issues in adulthood. Given the long-term educational and health consequences of unhealthy…
Diversification of the U.S. Healthcare Workforce: How We Should Train and Motivate Future Leaders
Over the past several years, the severe shortage in the healthcare workforce has been largely overshadowed by political infighting concerning the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Nevertheless, it is a topic that deserves our immediate attention, given the great impact it has on the quality of the health care we receive and to our nation's overall health. In this article, we review key lessons and strategies Community Science team members have…
Five Principles for Improved Systems Thinking
The disparities we witness in economic, social, and health outcomes are a manifestation of deep structural inequities in the United States' social hierarchy. These structural inequities appear in various forms but are woven into the very fabric of American society and can be observed across our legal, educational, business, government and health care systems. They occur because of an imbalance in the distribution of political and economic power where favored…
Advancing Oral Health Equity: Oral Health as Whole Health
Oral health is an important but often overlooked component of health and well-being. It affects people's quality of life and functioning - one's ability to eat, speak, learn, work, sleep, and socialize with others. Black, Latinx, Native American, poor White, and other marginalized communities are disproportionately impacted by the lack of adequate dental care, barriers to receiving care, and consequent negative health outcomes. This article provides a brief overview on…