New study finds that women and underrepresented groups experience higher rates of sexual harassment, cyber incivility and negative workplace climate in academic medicine

Peer-Reviewed Publication

EMORY HEALTH SCIENCES

 

IMAGE: WINSHIP CANCER INSTITUTE OF EMORY UNIVERSITY RESEARCHER RESHMA JAGSI, MD, DPHIL, CHAIR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF RADIATION ONCOLOGY AT EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE view more 

CREDIT: WINSHIP CANCER INSTITUTE OF EMORY UNIVERSITY

(Atlanta – June 6, 2023) – A new study led by Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University researcher Reshma Jagsi, MD, DPhil, has found that women, racial and ethnic minorities and individuals identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer are disproportionately affected by workplace mistreatment in academic medicine, and this mistreatment negatively impacts their mental health.

The study, which was published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, looked specifically at three aspects of workplace mistreatment in academic medicine – sexual harassment, cyber incivility and negative workplace climate – and whether they differ by gender, race and ethnicity, and LGBTQ+ status. Additionally, the study examined whether these factors are associated with faculty mental health. 

Researchers surveyed a total of 830 faculty members who received National Institutes of Health career development awards in 2006 - 2009 and remained in academia. Experiences were compared by gender, race and ethnicity, and LGBTQ+ status.

The study found that high rates of sexual harassment, cyber incivility and negative workplace climate disproportionately target marginalized individuals, including women, those whose race or ethnicity has been underrepresented in medicine, and members of the LGBTQ+ community, and these experiences were associated with poorer mental health.

“Understanding the nature and frequency of experiences with harassment is the essential first step to inform a broader cultural transformation process,” says Jagsi, chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Emory University School of Medicine. “Cultural transformation of the medical profession is critical to foster civil work environments within which the best and brightest members of society can thrive in their pursuit of the admirable mission to promote human health through care delivery, research and education.”

Key findings show that women were more likely than men to experience sexual harassment, including gender harassment and unwanted sexual attention. Of the women surveyed, 71.9% reported that they experienced gender harassment during the past two years, compared to 44.9% of men. Women rated both the general and diversity workplace climate as worse than men and reported certain forms of incivility, sexist comments and sexual harassment when using social media professionally. In addition, mental health ratings were lower for women, and this difference appeared partly explained by differences in culture experiences.

“The findings suggest that even while women’s representation in the medical field has improved, their experiences reflect marginalization,” says Jagsi. “These stressors lead to a lack of psychological safety, communicate unbelonging and affect mental health, compromising the vitality of these critical contingents of the professional workforce.”

Of the individuals who identify as LGBTQ+, 13% reported experiencing sexual harassment while using social media professionally vs. 2.5% of those who identify as cisgender or heterosexual.

In addition, respondents with races and ethnicities underrepresented in medicine rated the diversity climate more negatively than white respondents and reported certain forms of cyber incivility and racist comments when using social media professionally.

Together, these results suggest an ongoing need for specific interventions to transform culture in academic medicine.

The authors of the study state in JAMA: “The highest rates of sexual harassment occur in organizations that are perceived to tolerate such behavior. Organizations that proactively develop, disseminate and enforce sexual harassment policies are least likely to harbor such behaviors. These efforts must go beyond formalistic and symbolic legal compliance to engage workers from the ground up and leaders from the top down to ensure meaningful culture change. Opportunities to share organizational wins and best practices abound, including the NASEM’s Action Collaborative, the Association of American Medical Colleges’ Group on Women in Medicine and Sciences, and myriad others in professional specialty societies. The findings from the current study should motivate increased attention and resources toward these efforts.”

This study was supported by an R01 grant (grant 5R01GM139842-03) from the National Institutes of Health.

Additional authors of the study include the following researchers from the University of Michigan, Kent Griffith, MS, MPH, Chris Krenz, BA, Rochelle D. Jones, MS, Christina Cutter, MD, MSc, MS, Eva L. Feldman, MD, PhD, Clare Jacobson, MD, Eve Kerr, MD, MPH, Kelly Paradis, PhD, Kanakadurga Singer, MD, MA, Abby Stewart, PhD, Dana Telem, MD, and Isis Settles, PhD, as well as Nancy Spector, MD, from the College of Medicine at Drexel University and Peter Ubel, MD, PhD, from the Schools of Business and Medicine at Duke University.

About Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University is dedicated to discovering cures for cancer and inspiring hope. As Georgia’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, Winship researches, teaches, disseminates and provides novel and highly effective ways to prevent, detect, diagnose, treat and survive cancer. For more information, visit winshipcancer.emory.edu.

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JOURNAL

JAMA

DOI

10.1001/jama.2023.7232 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Workplace Harassment, Cyber Incivility, and Climate in Academic Medicine

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

6-Jun-2023

COI STATEMENT

Dr Jagsi reported receiving grants paid to her institution from the Susan G. Komen Foundation, the American Cancer Society, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and Genentech; receiving personal fees from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Greenwall Foundation, and the law firm of Dressman Benziger Lavelle and Kleinbard LLC for serving as an expert witness; and having stock options in Equity Quotient (a company that evaluates culture in health care companies) for serving on the advisory board. Dr Cutter reported receiving grants from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and receiving personal fees from Wolters Kluwer, the RAND Corporation, and the Research Consortium for Health Care Value Assessment. Dr Feldman reported receiving grants from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. No other disclosures were reported.

Workplace harassment, cyber incivility, and climate in academic medicine

JAMA

Peer-Reviewed Publication

JAMA NETWORK

About The Study: In this survey of clinician-researchers who received career development grants from the National Institutes of Health, there were concerning rates of sexual harassment, cyber incivility, and negative perceptions of climate, disproportionately affecting minoritized groups and affecting mental health. Ongoing efforts to transform culture are necessary. 

Authors: Reshma Jagsi, M.D., D.Phil., of Emory University in Atlanta, is the corresponding author.

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this 

doi:10.1001/jama.2023.7232

Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

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Embed this link to provide your readers free access to the full-text article

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JOURNAL

JAMA

To prevent future pandemics, leave bats alone

Peer-Reviewed Publication

WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY

 

IMAGE: PANDEMIC PREVENTION REQUIRES A GLOBAL TABOO WHEREBY HUMANITY AGREES TO LEAVE BATS ALONE—TO LET THEM HAVE THE HABITATS THEY NEED, UNDISTURBED view more 

CREDIT: CLEMENT KOLOPP

A new paper in the journal The Lancet Planetary Health makes the case that pandemic prevention requires a global taboo whereby humanity agrees to leave bats alone—to let them have the habitats they need, undisturbed.

 

Like the SARS coronavirus outbreak of 2003, the COVID-19 pandemic can be traced back to a bat virus. Whether someone handled or ate an infected bat or was exposed to a bat’s bodily fluids in a cave or some other way, or was exposed to another animal that had been infected by a bat, we will quite likely never know. Even a virus released via a lab accident would still have originally come from a bat. But we don’t need to know all of the details in order to act.

 

Bats are known to be reservoirs for a wide range of viruses that can infect other species, including people. They are a source of rabies, Marburg filoviruses, Hendra and Nipah paramyxoviruses, coronaviruses such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) Coronavirus, and fruit bats are strongly believed to be a source of Ebolaviruses. A new analysis points to the value of a global taboo whereby humanity agrees to leave bats alone—not fear them or try to chase them away or cull them (activities that only serve to disperse them and increase the odds of zoonotic spillover)—but to let them have the habitats they need and live undisturbed.

 

If an ounce of prevention is indeed worth a pound of cure, then the authors emphasize that humanity simply must take the most basic, common-sense upstream steps to lower our risk of incurring another pandemic—at the interface where dangerous viruses can actually move from animals into people.

 

“In a globalized world with 8 billion people, we can no longer ignore our interconnectedness with the wildlife and ecosystems around us. We must change humanity’s relationship with nature if we want to prevent the next pandemic of zoonotic origin—and that can start with bats,” says Dr. Susan Lieberman, WCS’s Vice President for International Policy.

 

Simply put, humanity must change its broken relationship with nature, specifically wildlife and bats in particular. The costs of implementing the human behavioral changes we need are insignificant compared to the costs of another global pandemic (which could be even more devastating).

“Getting humanity to work collaboratively at a global scale underpins most of the existential challenges we face, from climate change and environmental pollution to biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse—this at a time when earnest collaboration even at local scales often seems elusive,” notes Cornell Professor of Wildlife Health & Health Policy Steven A. Osofsky, lead author of the study.” “However, if we can actually stop hunting, eating, and trading bats, stay out of their caves, keep livestock away from areas where bats are concentrated, and if we can stop deforesting, degrading (or even start restoring) their natural habitats, we can indisputably lower the chances of another pandemic.”

 

The authors emphasize that allowing bats to survive and thrive will also pay billions of dollars in dividends in the form of the ecosystem services that bats provide, such as control of mosquitos and other harmful insects, as well as pollination of a wide array of important crops. They conclude that humanity’s relationships with other kinds of animals indeed merit close scrutiny, but respecting bats and the habitats they need is truly the lowest hanging fruit of genuine upstream pandemic prevention—an important better-late-than-never message now that we’ve passed the third anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

The newly published analysis undertaken by Cornell University and Wildlife Conservation Society experts, An Immediate Way to Lower Pandemic Risk: (Not) Seizing the Low-Hanging Fruit (Bat), was made possible by a generous grant from the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability and appears in the June 5th, 2023 issue of The Lancet Planetary Health.

 

The Cornell Wildlife Health Center strives to sustain a healthier world by developing and implementing proactive, science-based solutions to challenges at the interface of wildlife health, domestic animal health, human health and livelihoods, and the environment that supports us all.

 

The Wildlife Conservation Society

MISSION: WCS saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. To achieve our mission, WCS, based at the Bronx Zoo, harnesses the power of its Global Conservation Program in nearly 60 nations and in all the world’s oceans and its five wildlife parks in New York City, visited by 4 million people annually. WCS combines its expertise in the field, zoos, and aquarium to achieve its conservation mission. Visit: newsroom.wcs.org Follow: @WCSNewsroom. For more information: 347-840-1242. Listen to the WCS Wild Audio podcast HERE.

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JOURNAL

The Lancet Planetary Health

DOI

10.1016/S2542-5196(23)00077-3 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Commentary/editorial

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

An immediate way to lower pandemic risk: (not) seizing the low-hanging fruit (bat)

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

5-Jun-2023

Researchers dig deep to unveil causes of decline for North America’s smallest falcon

Peer-Reviewed Publication

RAPTOR RESEARCH FOUNDATION

 

IMAGE: MALE AMERICAN KESTREL, MARKED WITH A WING TAG, FLYING OVER SUSSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY. view more 

CREDIT: PHOTO BY HERB HOUGHTON.

The American Kestrel, a colorful and charismatic falcon, has kept researchers scratching their heads for years. Population declines are confirmed across North America, but who or what to blame has remained elusive. A new paper, “Evidence of Continuing Downward Trends in American Kestrel Populations and Recommendations for Research Into Causal Factors,” published in the Journal of Raptor Research, provides needed updates on the status of kestrel populations at the regional scale, and offers a comprehensive discussion on the potential causes for the species’ decline. Importantly, the authors point out that kestrels could be experiencing trouble outside of the breeding season, a part of their annual cycle that is arguable understudied. This paper provides an updated common ground for raptor researchers through which they can streamline study priorities, an important recalibration if this beloved falcon is to remain numerous in our skies.  

 

Authors David M. Bird and John A. Smallwood posit that multiple factors are likely causing kestrel declines, evidenced by the fact that, while many populations are declining, some are rebounding or stabilizing. Not all kestrels are encountering the same challenges. Bird and Smallwood present essential research pathways moving forward, including: investigating the impact of Cooper’s Hawks on kestrel distributions and survival, assessing habitat degradation on the kestrel’s wintering grounds (which often fall outside of U.S. borders), looking at fine-scale changes in habitat quality on the breeding grounds, examining the impacts of climate change on the availability of prey species for kestrels, determining how important grasshoppers are as a prey species, and studying the impacts of rodenticides and pesticides on the health of kestrel populations.

 

Not only are focused research recommendations put forth in this paper, but several theories about the kestrel decline are put to rest. West Nile virus and competition for nesting cavities from European starlings are no longer considered significant threats to kestrel success.

 

Raptors serve as bioindicators, meaning they shed light on the overall health of the ecosystems in which they reside. The American kestrel is no exception. To support these birds in their quest for survival is to support environmental health across North America, and this is not just a cause for experts. Citizen scientists collect essential data on various aspects of the kestrel picture by participating in projects like the Breeding Bird Survey. Without public participation our understanding of this species’ decline would be far less comprehensive.

 

Proof of this lies in the study design of Bird and Smallwood’s work. They analyzed four types of data that spanned between 38 and 55 years and depended on the participation of citizen scientists: the Breeding Bird Survey, Christmas Bird Count, migration data from two sites located along flyways in the east, and nest box monitoring programs. The latter, according to Smallwood, “has generated an invaluable database that allows us to examine not only population trends but also lots of aspects of kestrel behavior and ecology.”

 

Notably, Breeding Bird Surveys revealed that kestrel declines have been observed in 23 of 25 bird conservation regions, with the mid-Atlantic seeing the worst of it. Surveys across Canada also showed high rates of decline. Population increases occurred in only 3 of these conservation regions, including the Chihuahuan Desert. The author’s further assessment of these trends suggests that the magnitude of decline may be lessening, meaning the declines are real, but that extinction is not the only possible outcome. We may just see fewer and fewer kestrels, until we consistently see few — a quieter, blander, sparsely-falconed landscape.

 

Smallwood and Bird bring to light the nuanced reality of conservation by showing just how interwoven threats to wildlife can be. This assessment of casual factors in the American kestrel’s decline illustrates that human activities are making life difficult for this beloved falcon, yet no one issue is to blame. “That the population has experienced such a marked decline should be a wake-up call,” says Smallwood. “Something is out of kilter across North American ecosystems and the problem could be much more widespread than for just this remarkable species.”

  

Researcher monitoring a kestrel nest box in Hope Township, New Jersey.

CREDIT

Photo by Mary Anne Smallwood

Female American Kestrel protecting her brood in a nest box in northwestern New Jersey.

CREDIT

Photo by John Smallwood.

 

Paper

Bird, M. David and Smallwood, A. John (2023). Evidence of Continuing Downward Trends in American Kestrel Populations and Recommendations for Research Into Causal Factors. Journal of Raptor Research, 57(2):000-000.

 

Notes to Editor:

 

1. The Journal of Raptor Research (JRR) is an international scientific journal dedicated entirely to the dissemination of information about birds of prey. Established in 1967, JRR has published peer-reviewed research on raptor ecology, behavior, life history, conservation, and techniques. JRR is available quarterly to members in electronic and paper format.

 

2. The Raptor Research Foundation (RRF) is the world’s largest professional society for raptor researchers and conservationists. Founded in 1966 as a non-profit organization, our primary goal is the accumulation and dissemination of scientific information about raptors. The Foundation organizes annual scientific conferences and provides competitive grants & awards for student researchers & conservationists. The Foundation also provides support & networking opportunities for students & early career raptor researchers.

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JOURNAL

Journal of Raptor Research

DOI

10.3356/JRR-22-35 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Evidence of Continuing Downward Trends in American Kestrel Populations and Recommendations for Research into Causal Factors

Nebraska scientists closing in on long-lasting swine flu vaccine

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN

 

IMAGE: A TEAM LED BY ERIC WEAVER, DIRECTOR OF THE NEBRASKA CENTER FOR VIROLOGY, HAS DEVELOPED A ROBUST VACCINE AGAINST A STRAIN OF SWINE INFLUENZA. FRAMED BY A MODEL OF NUCLEIC ACID PROTEINS, THE TEAM INCLUDES (FROM LEFT) WEAVER, MATT PEKAREK, A GRADUATE STUDENT IN THE WEAVER LAB; CEDRIC WOOLEDGE, A TECHNICIAN WITH THE INSTITUTIONAL ANIMAL CARE PROGRAM; DAVID STEFFEN, WITH THE NEBRASKA VETERINARY DIAGNOSTIC CENTER; AND NICHOLAS JEANJAQUET AND ERIKA PETRO-TURNQUIST, DOCTORAL STUDENTS IN THE WEAVER LAB. view more 

CREDIT: CRAIG CHANDLER|UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATION AND MARKETING|UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN

A successful long-term experiment with live hogs indicates Nebraska scientists may be another step closer to achieving a safe, long-lasting and potentially universal vaccine against swine flu.

The results are not only important to the pork industry, they hold significant implications for human health. That’s because pigs act as “mixing vessels,” where various swine and bird influenza strains can reconfigure and become transmissible to humans. In fact, the 2009 swine flu pandemic, involving a variant of the H1N1 strain, first emerged in swine before infecting about a fourth of the global population in its first year, causing nearly 12,500 deaths in the United States and perhaps as many as 575,000 worldwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Considering the significant role swine play in the evolution and transmission of potential pandemic strains of influenza and the substantial economic impact of swine flu viruses, it is imperative that efforts be made toward the development of more effective vaccination strategies in vulnerable pig populations,” said Erika Petro-Turnquist, a doctoral student and lead author of the study recently published in Frontiers in Immunology.

Petro-Turnquist is advised by Eric Weaver, associate professor and director of the Nebraska Center for Virology. Weaver’s laboratory is spearheading an effort that uses Epigraph, a data-based computer technique co-developed by Bette Korber and James Theiler of Los Alamos National Laboratory, to create a more broad-based vaccine against influenza, which is notoriously difficult to prevent because it mutates rapidly.

Pork producers currently try to manage swine flu by using commercially available vaccines derived from whole inactivated viruses and weakened live viruses. As of 2008, about half of the vaccines in use in the United States were custom-made for specific herds — an expensive, time-consuming and not very effective strategy because of the rapidity with which swine influenza evolves.

The Epigraph algorithm enables scientists to analyze countless amino acid sequences among hundreds of flu virus variants to create a vaccine “cocktail” of the three most common epitopes — the bits of viral protein that spark the immune system’s response. It could be a pathway to a universal flu vaccine, which the National Institutes of Health defines as a vaccine that is at least 75% effective, protects against multiple types of influenza viruses for at least one year and is suitable for all age groups.

“The first epitope looks like a normal influenza vaccine gene, the second one looks a little weird and third is more rare,” Weaver said. “We’re reversing the evolution and bringing these sequences that the immune system recognizes as pathogens back together. We’re computationally re-linking them and that’s where the power of this vaccine is coming from, that it provides such good protections against such a wide array of viruses.”

In another strategy to heighten effectiveness, the vaccine is delivered via adenovirus, a common virus that causes cold-like symptoms. Its use as a vector triggers additional immune response by mimicking a natural viral infection.

Two years ago, Weaver’s team published initial results in the journal Nature Communications, based on tests in mice and pigs. Those findings indicated the Epigraph-developed vaccine yielded immune response signatures and physiological protection against a much wider variety of strains than a widely used commercial vaccine and wildtype flu strains.

The follow-up study is apparently the first longitudinal study comparing the onset and duration of an adenovirus-vectored vaccine with that of a whole inactive virus vaccine. Petro-Turnquist and Weaver, along with Matthew Pekarek, Nicholas Jeanjaquet and Hiep Vu of the Department of Animal Science, Cedric Wooledge of the Office of Research and Economic Development and David Steffen of the Nebraska Veterinary Diagnostic Center, observed 15 Yorkshire cross-bred female pigs over a period of about six months, the typical lifespan of a market hog.

One group of five received the Epigraph vaccine, a second group of five received a commercial whole inactive virus vaccine, and a third group of five received a saline solution to serve as the control group. The pigs received their initial vaccination at three weeks of age and a booster shot three weeks later. Their antibody levels and T-cell responses were measured weekly for the first month and every 30 days thereafter. At six months of age, they were exposed to a strain of swine flu divergent from those directly represented in the vaccine.

The pigs that received the Epigraph vaccine showed more rapid and long-lasting antibody and T-cell responses to the vaccines. After exposure to the swine flu virus, the Epigraph-vaccinated hogs showed significantly better protection against the disease — less viral shedding, fewer symptoms of infection and stronger immune system responses.

“Those pigs weighed about five pounds when we vaccinated them and by the end of the study, six months later, they were over 400 pounds,” Weaver said. “It’s kind of amazing that this vaccine would maintain itself over that rate of growth. It continues to expand as the animal grows.”

Weaver’s team continues to pursue the research, with next steps including larger studies and possibly a commercial partnership to bring the vaccine to market.

“The more times we do these studies, the more confident we get that this vaccine will be successful in the field,” Weaver said.

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JOURNAL

Frontiers in Immunology

DOI

10.3389/fimmu.2023.1143451 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Adenoviral-vectored epigraph vaccine elicits robust, durable and protective immunity against H3 influenza A virus in swine

Study: Doing good for others is good for children’s and teens’ mental, physical health

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HEALTH SCIENCE CENTER AT HOUSTON

Children and teenagers who volunteer tend to flourish mentally and physically, according to a new study from UTHealth Houston.

The study, led by Kevin Lanza, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology, human genetics, and environmental sciences at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, was published recently in JAMA Network Open.

Overall, the research team found that youths who had volunteered in the past year were in better physical health, had a more positive outlook on life, and were less likely to have anxiety, depression, or behavioral problems compared to their peers who did not volunteer.

“These study results bring optimism that youth volunteering could be a win-win, where youth are serving society to their own benefit,” said Lanza, who is based in Austin. “Further, youths may be joined by household members and others while volunteering, strengthening social bonds while building community.”

The positive effects of volunteering on the health and well-being of adult volunteers is well-established, and two past studies with small sample sizes have shown that teen volunteers may be in better health, and more engaged at school, than their peers. However, Lanza said the effect of volunteering on youths remained largely unknown, inspiring him to launch the study.

Lanza’s team analyzed parent-reported data from a long-running national survey tracking the health and well-being of U.S. children and teenagers, focusing on nearly 52,000 children and teens ages 6 to 17 who were surveyed from 2019-2020. Of those respondents, one-third of children and just over half of teens had done volunteer work in the past year.

Parents whose kids volunteered were 33% more likely to say their child was in “very good” to “excellent” health compared to parents whose kids did not volunteer. Those parents were also between 18% and 35% less likely to say their child had battled depression or anxiety, or had behavioral problems, in the past year.

Moreover, children and teens who did volunteer work were 66% more likely to be “flourishing” – defined based on how parents answered questions about their kids’ curiosity, willingness to complete tasks, and ability to stay calm when faced with challenges.

One limitation of the study is potential response bias from parent-reported data. Furthermore, researchers noted, the study results do not answer the question of whether kids who were already healthy and flourishing were more likely to volunteer. Lanza hopes to explore the cause-and-effect relationship of volunteering on kids’ health and well-being more in the future.

“There is a wealth of volunteering options for youth in different settings – parks, schools, hospitals – and with different purposes, such as environmental conservation or health promotion,” he said. “Volunteer experiences may help shape values and interests in youth that track into adulthood.”

Co-authors with UTHealth Houston School of Public Health included Austin-based researchers Ethan Hunt, PhD; Dale Mantey, PhD; Onyinye Omega-Njemnobi, MBBS; Benjamin Cristol, MPH; and Steven Kelder, PhD.

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JOURNAL

JAMA Network Open

DOI

10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.15980 

ARTICLE TITLE

Volunteering, Health, and Well-being of Children and Adolescents in the United States

Social participation promotes optimal aging in older adults, research shows

Findings underline the importance of engaging in volunteering and recreational activities among older adults

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

TORONTO, CANADA –A new study followed more than 7000 middle aged and older Canadians for approximately three years to understand whether higher rates of social participation were associated with successful aging in later life. They found that those who participated in volunteer work and those participating in recreational activities were more likely to maintain excellent health across the subsequent 3-year study period and less likely to develop physical, cognitive, mental, or emotional problems.

The researchers defined successful aging as freedom from any serious physical, cognitive, mental, or emotional conditions that prevent daily activities, as well as high levels of self-reported happiness, good physical health, and mental health. The researchers only included participants who were successfully aging at the start of the study. The goal was to see whether social participation was associated with the likelihood that they would maintain excellent health.

Approximately 72% of these respondents who participated in volunteer or recreational activities at the start of the study were still aging successfully three years later. However, only two-thirds of those who were not participating in these activities were aging successfully at the end of the study. After taking into account a wide range of sociodemographic characteristics, the findings indicated that respondents who participated in recreational activities and volunteer or charity work were 15% and 17% more likely to maintain excellent health across the study, respectively.

“Although the study’s observational nature prohibits the determination of causality, it makes intuitive sense that social activity is associated with successful aging,” says first author, Mabel Ho, a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work (FIFSW) and the Institute of Life Course and Aging. “Being socially active is important no matter how old we are. Feeling connected and engaged can boost our mood, reduce our sense of loneliness and isolation, and improve our mental health and overall health.”

Some medical professionals are now prescribing social activities for their patients, called ‘social prescribing’, a non-pharmacological intervention that integrates primary care with community services. Social prescribing can be used to encourage older adults to engage in volunteering and recreational activities.

“It is encouraging that there are ways to support our physical, cognitive, mental, and emotional well-being as we age. This is wonderful news for older adults and their families who may anticipate that precipitous decline is inevitable with age,” says senior author Esme Fuller-Thomson, Director of the Institute for Life Course & Aging and Professor at the University of Toronto's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. “It is important for older adults, families, practitioners, policymakers, and researchers to work together to create an environment that supports a vibrant and healthy later life.”

The modified concept of successful aging introduced in this study is more inclusive than earlier studies and encompasses both objective and subjective measures of optimal aging. Most previous research on successful aging classified those with any chronic health conditions as not “aging successfully”.  In the current study, respondents could still be classified as “aging successfully” if they had chronic illness, as long as they can engage in various daily activities and are free of disabling chronic pain. The revised definition also incorporates older adults’ subjective perception of their aging process, physical health and mental health, as well as their self-reported emotional well-being such as happiness and life satisfaction. Most earlier studies had ignored the older adults’ subjective experience of aging.

The study was published online this week, in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. It uses longitudinal data from the baseline wave (2011-2015) and the first follow-up wave (2015-2018) of data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) to examine factors associated with optimal aging. The CLSA included 7,651 respondents who were aged 60 years or older at wave 2 who were in optimal health during the baseline wave of data collection. The sample was restricted to those who were in excellent health at baseline, which was only 45% of the respondents.

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JOURNAL

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

DOI

10.3390//ijerph20126058 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Is Social Participation Associated with Successful Aging among Older Canadians? Findings from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA).

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

6-Jun-2023