The ownership and staffing of skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) have been closely watched by regulators in recent years. In a recent article published in Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, CSDE Affiliates Rachel Prusynski, Tracy Mroz (Department of Rehabilitation Medicine) and colleagues examine whether changes in SNF ownership were linked to shifts in staffing levels for nurses, non-nurses, administrators, and contract workers. The findings indicate that SNF ownership changes were associated with declines in overall patient care staffing, driven by nurse staffing declines. Read more here.
Congratulations to the Recipient of the Best Poster Award of the CSDE Winter 2025 Trainees’ Lightning Talks and Poster Session!
Congratulations to all our poster presenters for their very good work! Extra kudos to CSDE Trainee and T32 Fellow David Coomes (Epidemiology) for winning the best poster award during CSDE’s Winter 2025 Lightning Talks & Poster Session. David’s presentation, titled “The Role of Migration in the Rural-Mortality Penalty” concluded that rurality and out-migration are both associated with increased mortality at the county-level. The association is strongest among small urban counties (population 2,500 – 20,000). He will be presenting at PAA this Spring in Washington, D.C.
Many thanks to our other speakers, Elizabeth Nova (Sociology),“Needs Assessment of People Living in Vehicles in King County, WA”; Aryaa Rajouria (Sociology),”Migrating Narratives: A Text Analysis of Global News Coverage”; and Aidan Andronicos (Sociology), “Cancer Death Disparities and Uranium Mine Waste on Indian Reservations”. Thank you to our CSDE Program Coordinator Maddie Farris, CSDE Training Director Jessica Godwin, CSDE Certificate Program Advisor, Jill Fulmore and our student coordinator Desiree Salais for another great CSDE Lightning Talks & Poster Session. Finally, we want to thank everyone who attended and, especially, our wonderful CSDE Faculty Affiliates Panel of poster judges: Kyle Crowder, Audrey Dorelien, Pat Louie, Drew Messamore and Peter Catron.
Edwards Publishes Essay on Racial Inequities in Child Welfare System Outcomes
Scholars and policymakers disagree about the causes of the dramatic racial inequalities in child welfare system outcomes such as child protection (CPS) investigations and child maltreatment. In a recent essay in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, CSDE External Affiliate Frank Edwards (Rutgers University) attempts to bridge the divide and argues that researchers and practitioners should emphasize analytical approaches that recognize the complex impacts of structural racism. Read the essay here.
Postdoctoral Associate, Rural Health Equity – University of Minnesota (3/21/25)
Anderson and Colleagues Articulate the Benefits of Minimum Quality Standards in Public Health
The minimum quality standards (MQSs) for milk adopted by most major American cities around the turn of the 20th century present a valuable case study in public health history. In a recent article, CSDE External Affiliate D. Mark Anderson (Montana State University) and colleagues present the results of a study that estimates the effect of milk inspectors, who were tasked with enforcing MQSs, on deaths due to diarrhea and typhoid. Read the full study here.
NSF SBE Dear Colleague Letter Encourages Research on the Science of Bias, Prejudice and Discrimination
Ohio Population Consortium Announces Webinar on Fertility Goals (3/24/25)
Over the course of the twentieth century, fertility intentions, desires, preferences, and attitudes (fertility “goals”) became key constructs for demographic research on fertility. The increasing focus in the past two decades on reproductive autonomy and reproductive justice highlights women’s (and occasionally men’s) own desires and preferences as the foundational concern for policy and programmatic activity. An upcoming webinar sponsored by the Ohio Population Consortium seek to explore the ways fertility goals have been defined and measured; how they have been used in scientific research and in policy applications; the challenges and limitations of these constructs, both theoretical and empirical; what we learn by analyzing fertility goals; and what is missed by centering individual fertility goals.
What Fertility Goals Tell Us about Fertility Trends
Monday, 24 March 2025 from 16:00 to 17:30 Universal Time (Noon–1:30 pm, EST / 17:00–18:30 CET)
- Éva Beaujouan and Shalini Singh, Department of Demography, University of Vienna
- Karen Benjamin Guzzo, Department of Sociology, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
- Francis Obare Onyango, Population Council
NSF Dear Colleague Letter on Funding Opportunities for Science and Engineering Research with Impact on Women’s Health
Sloan Foundation Issues Call for Letters of Inquiry (3/25/25)
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s Energy and Environment program has a call for Letters of Inquiry related to Interdisciplinary Social Science Research on Energy System Interactions in the United States. This call seeks research projects led by early- and mid-career scholars that analyze the systemic interactions and connections associated with the transition to a low-carbon economy in the United States. The call encourages the submission of research project ideas that examine the links and implications between different components of the energy system and how they relate to other aspects of the economy. It is expected that 4-6 grants will be awarded from the Call, and grant amounts are expected to be between $500,000 and $1,000,000 over a 2-4 year period, with start dates of December 1, 2025. Submissions are due on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, at 5:00pm ET.