Working along the Continuum: North Carolina's Collaborative Response to COVID-19 for Migrant & Seasonal Farmworkers.

North Carolina employs 78,000+ migrant/seasonal farmworkers (MSFWs) annually. Arrival/departure dates are crop and weather dependent. MSFWs may be employed by a grower or a farm labor contractor (FLC). Like farmworker housing, FLCs may be registered or unregistered. Primary care or enabling services are provided by the NC Farmworker Health Program or community health centers that receive dedicated federal funding for MSFWs. The arrival of NC's growing season, MSFWs, and COVID-19 brought unforeseen challenges even to those experienced in caring for MSFWs. Challenges include congregate activities, consistency/accuracy of COVID-19 related communications, availability of alternate housing, barriers to testing and contact tracing, lack of internet connectivity in farmworker housing and insufficient personal protective equipment. Challenges are discussed in no order of occurrence or level of importance as many are inter-related. To meet these challenges, a migrant health and housing workgroup was convened. Members include the NC Department of Labor-Agricultural Safety and Health Bureau, NC Department of Health and Human Services - Communicable Disease Branch and NC Farmworker Health Program, NC Community Health Center Association and NC Agromedicine Institute. Members work collaboratively along the continuum from local to state levels and across agencies and communities to facilitate strategies to address COVID-19 challenges. Implications exist for practice, research and policy including testing of MSFWs on arrival with a 14-day quarantine before moving to assigned farm, a "strike team" to do on-farm tests for workers in the event of a positive case or exposure; and, research on COVID-19 outbreaks and impact of telehealth on MSFWs wellbeing.

The Effect of Dietary Supplementation on Aggressive Behaviour in Australian Adult Male Prisoners: A Feasibility and Pilot Study for a Randomised, Double Blind Placebo Controlled Trial.

This study aimed to assess the feasibility of conducting a nutrition trial in adult male prisoners. Adult male prisoners were recruited for a 16-week randomised control trial comparing the effect of ingestion of omega-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LCPUFA) and multivitamin supplements versus placebo on aggressive behaviour. The baseline and post-intervention assessments from the participant blood samples were the erythrocyte n-3 LCPUFA levels as well as measures of aggressive behaviour determined through institutional records of misconduct (IRM), the Inmate Behaviour Observation Scale (IBOS), and questionnaires. A total of 136 adult male prisoners consented to the study with a retention rate of 60%, and 93% of blood samples were successfully collected. The IRM and IBOS scores were collected for 100% of participants, whilst 82-97% of participants completed the questionnaires. From the baseline data, the Odds Ratio shows that prisoners are 4.3 times more likely to have an IBOS >2 if they are below the 6% cut off on the omega-3 index. Both groups improved across all outcome measures and, at the current sample size, no significant differences were seen between them. A power calculation suggests a total sample size of 600 participants is required to detect the effects of this dietary supplementation, and that this supplementation study is feasible in a Correctional Centre. Important criteria for the exclusion and consideration of logistics and compliance are presented.

Breast Cancer Treatment Experiences of Witness Project of Kansas Participants.

BACKGROUND: African American women continue to die at a higher rate than White women from breast cancer. Kansas has a high death rate among African American women. Their voices needed to be heard. OBJECTIVES: This exploratory study will ask the following questions: 1) Were African American and White women having different breast cancer treatment experiences with their health care providers? And 2) How satisfied were they with their treatment? METHOD: A total of 15 breast cancer survivors were recruited to participate in this qualitative research study. We conducted focus groups in two communities in the Midwest. Forty percent of the sample was White women, 53% of the sample was African American women and 7% of the sample was Hispanic/Latina. RESULTS: Overall six themes emerged. Generally both African American women and White women were satisfied with their health care; both felt they were treated equally by health care professionals. However, they felt that health care professionals should pay more attention to their significant others and to continue to educate young women about early detection. CONCLUSIONS: As a result of the focus groups a gap in services emerged in educating the patient's partners about what is needed for their significant others and what role partners play in the recovery process.

The Health and Well-being of North Carolina's Farmworkers: The Importance of Inclusion, Accessible Services and Personal Connection.

Farmworkers contribute significantly to North Carolina's communities and economy; however, they incur significant occupational risks with limited workplace protections. Many barriers complicate their access to health care services. Recommendations include increased number of outreach workers, extended clinic hours, strengthening workplace protections, and inclusion of farmworkers in community needs assessments.

Correction: Baseline Omega-3 Index Correlates with Aggressive and Attention Deficit Disorder Behaviours in Adult Prisoners.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0120220.].

Engaging outreach workers in the development of a farmworker health research agenda.

Farmworker health outreach workers have not traditionally been involved in the prioritization and design of research studies. This report from the field shares the results of a survey administered to outreach workers providing health services to farmworkers in North Carolina. Priority areas of research and best practices for engaged research are presented from the perspective of the outreach worker community. The purposeful involvement of outreach workers can make farmworker health research more meaningful and solution-oriented.

Baseline omega-3 index correlates with aggressive and attention deficit disorder behaviours in adult prisoners.

BACKGROUND: There is emerging evidence that the supplementation of omega-3 contributes to a decrease in aggressive behaviour in prison populations. A challenge of such research is achieving statistical power against effect sizes which may be affected by the baseline omega-3 index. There are no published data on the blood omega-3 index with studies of this kind to assess the variability of the blood omega-3 index in conjunction with aggression and attention deficit assessments. OBJECTIVE: To determine if the variance of the omega-3 index is correlated with aggressive and attention deficit behaviour in a prison population. DESIGN: 136 adult male prisoners were recruited from South Coast Correctional Centre (SCCC), NSW Australia. A 7 point categorisation was used to quantify levels of aggressive behaviour (4 weeks) from individual SCCC case notes, whereby higher scores correspond to increasingly aggressive behaviour. Study participants completed the Aggression Questionnaire (AQ) and the Brown's Attention Deficit Disorder Scales (BADDS), provided a blood sample for erythrocyte fatty acid analysis using gas chromatography and the omega-3 index was calculated. RESULTS: The baseline omega-3 index ranged from 2.3% to 10.3%, indicating that some participants already had substantial omega-3 intake, however a median of 4.7% indicated a lower overall omega-3 intake than the general Australian population. Assessment of aggressive and attention deficit behaviour shows that there were negative correlations between baseline omega-3 index and baseline aggression categorisation scores (r = -0.21, P = 0.016); total AQ score (r = -0.234, P = 0.011); Anger (r = -0.222 p = 0.016); Hostility AQ (r = -0.239, P = 0.009); indirect aggression (r = -0.188 p = 0.042); total BADDS (r = -0.263, p = 0.005); Activation (r = -0.224, p = 0.016); Attention (r = -0.192, p = 0.043); Effort (r = -0.253, p = 0.007); Affect (r = -0.330, p = 0.000) and Memory (r = -0.240, p = 0.010). CONCLUSIONS: There is a high variability in omega-3 status of a NSW prison population, and inmates with lower omega-3 index were more aggressive and had higher ADD scores.