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Smokeless tobacco (SLT) use is more common among White male youth in rural locations than among other youth. Previous literature documents risk factors for SLT use (e.g., perceived harm). However, no research has examined whether SLT initiation is associated with the use of social media and video games, despite the high prevalence of those behaviors among adolescent males.As part of the evaluation of "The Real Cost" smokeless prevention campaign, we conducted a baseline survey of a cohort of US males aged 11-16 in 2016 and four follow-up surveys conducted approximately every 8 months. We used discrete-time survival analysis to examine factors associated with SLT initiation. Logistic regression estimated the odds of initiation as a function of lagged values of key predictors (social media use in tertiles and frequency of gaming) and other baseline and lagged correlates. The model controlled for campaign exposure.Relative to the lowest tertile of social media use, moderate (odds ratio [OR] = 1.80) or high use (OR = 2.77) was associated with increased risk of SLT initiation at the subsequent survey wave. Relative to playing every few weeks or less, playing video games once a day (OR = 0.50) or several times a day (OR = 0.33) was associated with decreased risk of SLT initiation.SLT initiation was positively associated with social media use and negatively associated with gaming. Future research should explore reasons for the protective nature of gaming (e.g., social support, improved mood) and whether parental supervision of social media use could mitigate its negative impact.

To address deficiencies in STEM and sustainability in business management and intra-university curricula, we developed and implemented an interdisciplinary STEM-based sustainability curriculum at a university in the Western United States. Six classes participated in curricular efforts including in-person and online sections of a business management course, in-person and online sections of a general elective STEM course, and a matched control course for each ( n = 214). We systematically designed, developed, and implemented curricular interventions—multi-week STEM-based business sustainability modules—using the case teaching method. A comprehensive evaluation with pre- and post-tests was conducted to assess student sustainability cognition and affect. Significant results emerged for sustainability cognition including the environmental, social, and economic dimensions of sustainability. Counterintuitively, student sustainability affect did not improve. However, sustainability cognition and affect were significantly correlated on the post-test for treatment students, an indication that cognitive and affective changes share the same directionality. Discussion, implications, limitations, and future research directions are provided.

Just nine months after the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 a global pandemic, the Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Pfizer...

To improve health insurance literacy, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services launched From Coverage to Care (C2C) to help individuals translate health insurance into appropriate healthcare ...

This article describes development of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Worker Well-Being Questionnaire (WellBQ).The NIOSH WellBQ was developed through literature reviews and expert panel recommendations. We drew from a representative sample of the civilian, noninstitutionalized, US working population to pilot the questionnaire. Psychometric analyses were performed on data from 975 respondents to finalize items and optimize the NIOSH WellBQ's psychometric properties.The final questionnaire consists of 16 scales, 5 indices, and 31 single items across 5 domains: (1) work evaluation and experience; (2) workplace policies and culture; (3) workplace physical environment and safety climate; (4) health status; and (5) home, community, and society (experiences and activities outside of work). The instrument demonstrated adequate reliability and validity.The NIOSH WellBQ is a reliable and valid instrument that comprehensively measures worker well-being.

Emergency risk communication is a crucial part responding to crises. Right now, vulnerable groups are experiencing disproportionately negative outcomes from communication missteps surrounding COVID‐19. In this commentary, we describe the missteps and outline strategies that response organizations can take to improve communication for vulnerable groups.

Climatic variability and shifting weather patterns, resulting in extreme weather events and natural disasters, pose risks to small businesses in the United States. This is particularly true in coastal regions of the southeast United States where extreme events such as hurricanes, flooding, and thunderstorms are projected to increase in frequency and intensity. Yet, the vast majority of small business owners do not have a disaster plan in place and an estimated 40% to 60% of small businesses that have experienced a natural disaster never reopen. This teaching case explores the impact of climatic trends and weather on one location of an outdoor tourism industry business in the coastal community of Virginia Beach, Virginia. The case draws from observed weather and sales data for the local small business. Students will draw from descriptive statistics, statistical analysis, and graphs to explore (a) long-term climatic trends for the business; (b) relationships between small business sales and local weather; and (c) strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats relative to weather conditions and climate change. Instructors can give the body of this document to students. They can also make use of the supplemental teaching notes to assist them with teaching this case.

Management education holds promise for addressing deficiencies in interuniversity science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), as well as sustainability curricula. Accordingly, we designed, developed, implemented, and longitudinally evaluated interdisciplinary STEM-based curricula in the United States. Students in five sections of business management courses and two sections of STEM courses received a STEM-based sustainability intervention (i.e., an interdisciplinary STEM and sustainability module). To assess student outcomes following the intervention and examine the feasibility of cognitive mapping as a student learning assessment tool, we implemented a pre- and post-course modified cognitive mapping assessment in treatment and comparison courses. To interpret the results, we ran descriptives, correlations, paired sample t tests, and principal component analysis. The t tests suggest that when all coding categories are considered, those participating in curricular interventions listed significantly more sustainability terms. The principal component analysis results demonstrate that treatment courses improved variability explained by 7.23% between pre- and post-tests but declined by 8.22% for comparison courses. Overall, linkages became stronger between parent code categories for treatment courses and weaker for comparison courses. These findings add to existing research related to cognitive mapping and demonstrate the ability of the method to capture changes in student outcomes after exposure to STEM-based sustainability curriculum.

Data breaches and security incidents have become commonplace, with thousands occurring each year, and some costing hundreds of millions of dollars. Consequently, cyber risk has become one of the gravest risks facing organizations, and has attracted boardroom-level attention. On the other hand, companies -- and their enterprise risk functions -- already manage many kinds of difficult and growing risks, such as workforce, regulatory, and supply chain risks. Research has also shown that most firms lose less than 1% of annual revenues as a result of cyber incidents. And so, the problem becomes, how should firms appropriately address cyber risk? Is it indeed a materially different kind of risk area that requires entirely new management and oversight? Or is it simply just one more risk that while new, can seamlessly be integrated into existing enterprise risk management (ERM) practices? In this qualitative research, we seek to answer two main questions. First, how do firms manage enterprise risks, generally? And second, how are they integrating cyber risk into these existing processes? Our results show considerable variation in the approach and sophistication in ERM practices across firms, such as whether it is driven more like an auditing function, or as a risk champion. Further, we find that despite the novelty of cyber risk, it can be – and is being – managed like other forms of uncertain enterprise risks. Finally, we find that cyber risk is most often seen as an operational risk (similar to workplace accidents or fraud), rather than a strategic risk, emerging from, for example, technology innovation and R&D.

Young millennials will play an important role in addressing the intergenerational climate change crisis related to energy production. Drawing from the Theory of Planned Behavior and community resilience literatures, we analyzed how awareness of local clean energy initiatives, risk perceptions, environmental messaging, and environmental orientation influence young millennial support for federal clean energy policy and taxes as mediated through local clean energy support.

OBJECTIVE: This article describes the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s (NIOSH) development of a conceptual framework for worker well-being. While well-being research is growing, there is a need to translate theoretical concepts into practical models for measurement and action. METHODS: Multidisciplinary literature reviews informed development of the worker well-being framework and major domains and subdomains. An expert panel helped prioritize constructs for measurement. RESULTS: The framework includes five domains and 20 subdomains and conceptualizes worker well-being as a subjective and objective phenomenon inclusive of experiences both within and beyond work contexts. CONCLUSION: Well-being is a positive and unifying concept that captures multiple factors that contribute to workers’ health and quality of life. This work lays the foundation for larger well-being measurement efforts and will provide tools for NIOSH partners to help workers flourish.

This brief is one in a series examining mental health public awareness campaigns' messages, consistency of messaging in their materials, and tools used to deliver content to audiences. This brief discusses materials from Recovery Month.

More than 2.7 million service members have deployed since 2001, and many who return report mental health challenges. This report describes a cross-agency evaluation of four public awareness campaigns that aim to overcome negative perceptions and promote awareness of mental health disorders and their treatment: the Real Warriors Campaign, Make the Connection, National Recovery Month, and awareness materials related to the Veterans Crisis Line.

This brief is one in a series examining mental health public awareness campaigns' messages, consistency of messaging in their materials, and tools used to deliver content to audiences. This brief discusses materials from the Veterans Crisis Line.

This brief describes the results of an interim evaluation that examined the scope, content, and dissemination of mental health public awareness campaigns. RAND researchers conducted a comprehensive evaluation of four such efforts.

This brief is one in a series examining mental health public awareness campaigns' messages, consistency of messaging in their materials, and tools used to deliver content to audiences. This brief discusses materials from the Make the Connection.

This brief is one in a series examining mental health public awareness campaigns' messages, consistency of messaging in their materials, and tools used to deliver content to audiences. This brief discusses materials from the Real Warrior Campaign.

Delivering risk and crisis communication to US Gulf Coast residents poses a unique challenge to individual and organizational responders. The region has endured several natural and man-made disasters, spanning Hurricane Katrina, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and more recently Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. In the future, the US Gulf Coast is expected to remain susceptible to a range of disasters. At the same time, the region is experiencing a growing population, struggles with systemic disparities between residents, and is home to major energy, tourism, fishing, and shrimping industries. Engaging in pre-crisis planning with vulnerable populations, and assessing response strategies, can help the region prepare for future disasters. In support of understanding vulnerabilities in the US Gulf Coast, the authors conducted a survey in 2016 of n = 2,520 adult residents of the targeted geographic region. The authors examine how demographic characteristics affect communication channel preferences (ie, television, Internet, print [newspapers, magazines], radio, word-of-mouth, or another specified channel) and trust in sources (ie, the national news media, local news media, business leaders and organizations, religious leaders and institutions, academics and academic institutions, friends and family, and doctors) in the US Gulf Coast. Weighted prevalence estimates or similar summary statistics (mean, standard deviation) are provided for both outcomes. Findings for channel preferences and trust in sources are examined by sex, race/ethnicity, age, and education. Weighted multinomial logistic regression is used in a multivariate model. Weighted linear regression is used to examine differences in trust in each source of information. Results highlight significant differences in channel preferences and trust across respondents. The authors also place these results in context to more readily accessible national estimates of these outcomes, emphasizing takeaways for the region.

Tourism is the second largest industry globally and is an economic driver for businesses in coastal regions of the United States. A longitudinal case study with a single location design was used to explore the relationships between climate change, extreme events, and economic outcomes for a coastal business located in the southeastern U.S. that offers tent, recreational vehicle, and cabin camping. Findings demonstrate the impact of extreme precipitation and temperature on businesses and communities in the southeast climate region. This study provides a blueprint for evaluating complex climatic interactions and discusses risk communication implications for businesses and communities.

This investigation tested the effectiveness of inoculation as a pre-crisis strategy in combating the effects of politically motivated violent acts. A four-phase experiment was conducted involving 355 national consumer panel participants. The findings indicate that inoculation can be an effective pre-crisis message strategy as it was successful in enhancing public beliefs in the ability of government agencies to prevent, and minimize the effects of, violent acts. This strategy also created a ‘blanket of protection’ that extended beyond the focal politically motivated attack event as it enhanced the confidence in government agencies to manage national crises in general. Inoculation was also effective in lowering the intensity of experienced fear evoked by the threat of violent attacks and it enhanced the ability of individuals to cope with the aftermath of a crisis.

Scholars often call for research on the public’s involvement in crisis and risk mitigation. Yet, before the public can be persuaded to become involved in new mitigation initiatives, risk managers must first understand how members of the public perceive such initiatives. Grounded in diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory, this study presents insights from 70 adult residents of a US urban metro area through focus group research. Findings yield insights about public perceptions of risk management innovations including that ‘greater good’ incentives can motivate interest in innovations (more so than financial incentives), thereby extending DOI theory. In addition, participants suggested mechanisms for facilitating government transparency to encourage program participation, along with additional insights about involving the public in government-sponsored risk management innovations.

From Coverage to Care launched in 2014 with the dual goals of helping consumers understand their health insurance coverage and connect to care and supporting organizations in the community as they assist consumers at various points in this process. In this report, the authors present the results of their analysis of From Coverage to Care's effectiveness in meeting these goals.

Communication failures often contribute to emergency medicine breakdowns during crises like Ebola, Superstorm Sandy, and 9/11. For example, the misidentification of Ebola in Dallas in 2015 was blamed on ineffective communication between hospital departments and ineffective hospital communication systems. Yet, existing research rarely examines how communication breakdowns can contribute to such failures. This paper provides a systematic research review to introduce emergency medicine providers to research-based best practices in risk and crisis communication. This paper also extends these best practices based on the unique healthcare system context. Understanding these best practices can improve how emergency medicine providers prepare for and respond to crises. In addition, awareness of critical research gaps such as message crafting techniques, family communication, and empowering nurses can inform strategic priorities for mitigating common communication failure points.