Staff Publications

Geographic isolation has long been hypothesized to have a role in the origins and development of mental disabilities. A considerable body of research has established such a correlation. However, study designs have limited researchers’ ability to establish a causal connection and rule out rival hypotheses.

A collaborative led by state health and human service agencies, academic leaders, and stakeholders tested interventions to expand use of medication assisted treatment (MAT) through a maternal medical home (MMH) model that coordinated behavioral health and prenatal care with social supports for pregnant women with opioid use disorder (OUD) enrolled in Medicaid.

Persistent instability in insurance coverage before and after pregnancy among low-income mothers in the United States contributes to delayed prenatal care and poor infant outcomes. States that expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) make public insurance free for many low-income women regardless of parental or pregnancy status. Our objective is to analyze the effects of expanding Medicaid in Ohio on enrollment of pregnant women and receipt of recommended prenatal care. A key objective in the state is to address infant mortality as Ohio ranks above the national average and racial…

We examined quitting behaviors among a cohort of dual users (cigarettes and electronic cigarettes [e-cigarettes]) and exclusive cigarette smokers for: (1) cigarette smoking reduction, (2) quit attempts, (3) abstinence from cigarettes, and (4) abstinence from all tobacco products.

People with disabilities (PWD) are more likely to use tobacco and less likely to access tobacco cessation programs compared with people without disabilities. Living Independent From Tobacco (LIFT), an evidence-based intervention designed for PWD, was piloted with dyads of PWD (n = 5) and their caregivers (n = 7). As an important source of practical and social support for PWD, caregivers also impact health-related attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors of PWD. Caregivers who smoke may unwittingly interfere with cessation efforts of the people they support. We found that LIFT could be offered to…

State-based telephone surveys are often designed to make estimates at substate levels, such as county or county group. Under a traditional random-digit-dial design, the telephone exchange of a landline number could be used to accurately identify the county for which the associated household resides. However, initially, no good analogous data methods existed for the cellphone frame. This required survey methodologists to draw random samples of cellphone numbers from the entire state, making it difficult to target areas within a state. To overcome this shortcoming, sample vendors have used a…

The aim of the present study was to examine whether this rural-urban disparity impacts women of reproductive age (ages 15-44) including pregnant women. Data came from the ten most recent years of the U.S. National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2007-2016).