American journal of public health
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There is increasing evidence that the Internet and social media can influence suicide-related behavior. Important questions are whether this influence poses a significant risk to the public and how public health approaches might be used to address the issue. To address these questions, we provide an overview of ways that social media can influence suicidal behavior, both negatively and positively, and we evaluate the evidence of the risk. We also discuss the legal complexities of this important topic and propose future directions for research and prevention programs based on a public health perspective.
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We examined the association between pediatricians' attitudes about race and treatment recommendations by patients' race. ⋯ Pediatricians' implicit attitudes about race affect pain management. There is a need to better understand the influence of physicians' unconscious beliefs about race on pain and other areas of care.
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Widespread recognition of the need to improve the science of published research, as well as the moral and ethical reasons for adequately reporting study results, has spurred recent interest in strengthening journal research reporting through the use of reporting guidelines. Reporting guidelines also provide information for readers to judge study quality. American Journal of Public Health previously adopted the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials and Transparent Reporting of Evaluations With Nonrandomized Designs guidelines and recently endorsed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. In adopting these guidelines, the journal aims to support authors, reviewers, and editors in reporting and evaluating systematic reviews of public health policy and practice priorities.
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Several aspects of social psychological science shed light on how unexamined racial/ethnic biases contribute to health care disparities. Biases are complex but systematic, differing by racial/ethnic group and not limited to love-hate polarities. ⋯ Such ambivalent and automatic biases can influence medical decisions and interactions, systematically producing discrimination in health care and ultimately disparities in health. Understanding how these processes may contribute to bias in health care can help guide interventions to address racial and ethnic disparities in health.
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We better defined the distribution and determinants of coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP) among US underground coal miners. ⋯ Enhanced surveillance results confirmed the persistence of severe CWP among US coal miners and documented the health consequences of inadequate dust control for miners in parts of Appalachia and at smaller mines.