Increasing culturally relevant science media coverage: exploring the outcomes of a collaboration in Puerto Rico.

CienciaPR, a nonprofit that brings together the largest network of Puerto Rican scientists and one of the largest networks of Hispanic/Latine scientists in the world, has collaborated with El Nuevo Día (END), Puerto Rico's newspaper of record, to increase culturally relevant stories in their science section. This Practice Insight quantifies and compares the presence of culturally relevant elements (e.g., referring to Puerto Rico, local landmarks, historic figures, slang) and other content information (e.g., topics, location, focus, protagonist) in articles authored by CienciaPR members versus articles by END, news agencies, and other organizations. Results demonstrate that CienciaPR-authored articles published in END featured culturally relevant elements more often (e.g., mentioned Puerto Rico, used Puerto Rican slang, stories located in Puerto Rico) than those by other sources.

Awareness of climate change's impacts and motivation to adapt are not enough to drive action: A look of Puerto Rican farmers after Hurricane Maria.

Understanding how perceptions around motivation, capacity, and climate change's impacts relate to the adoption of adaptation practices in light of experiences with extreme weather events is important in assessing farmers' adaptive capacity. However, very little of this work has occurred in islands, which may have different vulnerabilities and capacities for adaptation. Data of surveyed farmers throughout Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria (n = 405, 87% response rate) were used in a structural equation model to explore the extent to which their adoption of agricultural practices and management strategies was driven by perceptions of motivation, vulnerability, and capacity as a function of their psychological distance of climate change. Our results show that half of farmers did not adopt any practice or strategy, even though the majority perceived themselves capable and motivated to adapt to climate change, and understood their farms to be vulnerable to future extreme events. Furthermore, adoption was neither linked to these adaptation perceptions, nor to their psychological distance of climate change, which we found to be both near and far. Puerto Rican farmers' showed a broad awareness of climate change's impacts both locally and globally in different dimensions (temporal, spatial, and social), and climate distance was not linked to reported damages from Hurricane Maria or to previous extreme weather events. These results suggest that we may be reaching a tipping point for extreme events as a driver for climate belief and action, especially in places where there is a high level of climate change awareness and continued experience of compounded impacts. Further, high perceived capacity and motivation are not linked to actual adaptation behaviors, suggesting that broadening adaptation analyses beyond individual perceptions and capacities as drivers of climate adaptation may give us a better understanding of the determinants to strengthen farmers' adaptive capacity.

A Qualitative Study of Puerto Rican Parent and ChildPerceptions Regarding Eating Patterns.

OBJECTIVE: To identify barriers that prevent healthy eating practices in Puerto Rican early adolescents (EAs). DESIGN: Qualitative data collected via focus groups. A total of 7 focus groups were conducted: 5 with EAs and 2 with parents and caregivers (PCs). SETTING: Urban and rural Puerto Rico. PARTICIPANTS: Early adolescents aged 12-14years (n = 52) and PCs (n = 17). PHENOMENON OF INTEREST: Factors that prevent healthy eating behavior in EAs in Puerto Rico. ANALYSIS: Verbatim transcripts from focus group interviews were coded for concept frequency, extension, and content analysis. RESULTS: The 3 main factors that influenced participants' eating habits, according to EAs' and PCs' answers, were stores that sold less healthful foods on or near school and the community, parental influence in the development of unhealthy eating habits, and the low cost of unhealthy foods. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: When EAs chose what to eat, primary food choices were based on taste preferences, physical access, economic cost, and influence of PCs, whereas health effects had little consideration. Nutrition education programs have to meet taste preferences and provide eating options that are affordable, accessible, and easy to prepare to achieve healthy food practices among EAs.