The Healthy Communities Research Institute (HCRI) was launched as part of Kent State University's strategic roadmap. HCRI promotes transdisciplinary research and endeavors to build connections between researchers at Kent State University and beyond to tackle some of today's most pressing health issues. The Healthy Communities Research Institute Collection highlights research that has been conducted by HCRI members.
Browse the Healthy Communities Research Institute (HCRI) scholarly publications Collections
Shades of Green: A Visual Approach to Assessing Environmental Inequality in Cleveland, Ohio
02/2025This study explores environmental inequality through a novel quantitative approach, analyzing urban vegetation in two contrasting neighborhoods in Cleveland, Ohio—East Cleveland and Shaker Heights. Utilizing computer vision and Google Street View image analysis techniques, this research quantifies the distribution, quality, and visual characteristics of tree canopy and grass. This study addresses the following question: how can visual data illuminate environmental inequalities in urban landscapes? The findings reveal significant disparities between the two neighborhoods, not only in tree canopy coverage but also in the visual characteristics and density of vegetation. Shaker Heights displays more abundant, healthier, and better-maintained greenery compared to East Cleveland. These results highlight the intersection of socio-economic factors and urban vegetation quality, suggesting that both the quantity and visual attributes of greenery serve as indicators of neighborhood wealth and environmental investment. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of computer vision techniques in accessing and analyzing visual data to represent environmental inequalities. It advocates for targeted urban planning interventions to promote equitable green space policies, considering both the quantity and quality of urban vegetation.
Youth Anxiety: The Moderating Effects of Accommodation and Emotional Warmth
02/2025Parental accommodation (i.e., modifying behavior to reduce child distress) is among the most empirically supported anxiety enhancing parenting practices; while emotional warmth (i.e., support and affection) has demonstrated a less clear link to anxiety. The current study aims to explore the interactive nature of emotional warmth within the context of accommodation. We hypothesized that accommodation would moderate the relationship between emotional warmth and anxiety. The sample included parents of youth (N = 526) ages 7–17. A simple moderation analysis was conducted. Accommodation significantly moderated the relationship [B = 0.03, C.I. (0.01, 0.05), p = 0.01]. Additional variance was accounted for by adding the interaction term to the model (R2 = 0.47, p < 0.001). At high levels of accommodation, emotional warmth significantly predicted child anxiety symptoms. This study affirms that emotional warmth is significantly related to anxiety in the context of high accommodation. Future work ought to build upon these findings to explore these relationships. Limitations of the study include sampling and parent-report data.
Naming Themes in Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA): Recommendations and Examples
01/09/2025In qualitative research, theme typically refers to an identified trend running through the data. Themes play a prominent role in interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) and may serve as a framework for presentation. Although comprehensive resources are available to guide researchers through stages of IPA analysis, there is far less information on specific strategies for associating a theme with a name or label for IPA, or for other qualitative approaches. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to present strategies for thoughtful development of IPA theme names. To this end, we present and summarize available theme-naming guidance associated with multiple methods including IPA and thematic analysis. We supplement this with examples from prior IPA research studies we believe illustrate effective theme names, organized in three broad categories of theme focus, phrasing, and structure. Within these categories we provide guidelines for researchers to consider to best address the research purpose and most effectively communicate the key findings.
Social Support as a Protective Factor against Accommodation for Anxiety in Youth
2025Parental accommodation is one factor that has been consistently linked to youth anxiety, while social support has been linked to resilience. Ecological models may explain how the interaction of factors across environments impact child development. The current study seeks to examine the interaction between accommodation and peer social support in relation to child anxiety symptoms. It is hypothesized that peer social support will significantly moderate the relationship between accommodation and youth anxiety. The current sample included youth 9–17 years old and one of their parents (N = 62). Accommodation significantly predicted youth anxiety symptoms; however, the interaction of accommodation and peer social support did not exhibit a significant association with anxiety. Conclusions, limitations, and future directions are discussed.
Women’s Relationships With Healthcare and Providers: The Role of Weight Stigma in Healthcare and Weight Bias Internalization
12/2024Background
Weight stigma (devaluation due to body weight) in healthcare is common and influences one’s engagement in healthcare, health behaviors, and relationship with providers. Positive patient–provider relationships (PPR) are important for one’s healthcare engagement and long-term health.
Purpose
To date, no research has yet investigated whether weight bias internalization (self-stigma due to weight; WBI) moderates the effect of weight stigma on the PPR. We predict that weight stigma in healthcare is negatively associated with (i) trust in physicians, (ii) physician empathy, (iii) autonomy and competence when interacting with physicians, and (iv) perceived physician expertise. We also predict that those with high levels of WBI would have the strongest relationship between experiences of weight stigma and PPR outcomes.
Methods
We recruited women (N = 1,114) to complete a survey about weight stigma in healthcare, WBI and the previously cited PPR outcomes.
Results
Weight stigma in healthcare and WBI were associated with each of the PPR outcomes when controlling for age, BMI, education, income, race, and ethnicity. The only exception was that WBI was not associated with trust in physicians. The hypothesis that WBI would moderate the effect of weight stigma in healthcare on PPR outcomes was generally not supported.
Conclusions
Overall, this research highlights how weight stigma in healthcare as well as one’s own internalization negatively impact PPRs, especially how autonomous and competent one feels with their provider which are essential for one to take an active role in their health and healthcare.