Forecasting Food Innovations with a Delphi Study.

Food innovations can create novel nutritious food, improve agricultural sustainability, and increase the agri-food industry's market profits. Our study proposes a consensus definition of food innovations and forecasts food innovations that will be available to consumers in the next five years by using a Delphi study. Thirteen experts aged 35 to 85 from the US and the UK researching or working in agriculture and nutrition, public health, the agri-food industry, or food policy participated in three rounds of this Delphi study. The experts were chosen using the snowball sampling method. This study followed the implementation and data analysis guidelines popularized by the Rand Corporation. The consensus definition for food innovations (with 76.9% agreement) was that 'food innovations aid in the development, production, or transportation of new food products, processes, or technology to promote human health, food security, or environmental sustainability'. The specific food innovations, which had over 69% agreement, are ranked as (1) plant-based meat alternatives, (2) personalized nutrition, (3) natural foods, (4) new genetically modified organisms, (5) regenerative agriculture, (6) urban agriculture, (7) packing innovations, (8) alternative flours, (9) improving shelf life, (10) supply chain technologies, (11) improved soil health, and (12) technology for traceability. The food innovation definition and identified specific food innovations could further connect the agricultural value chain to develop novel nutritious foods and improve agricultural sustainability. Agri-food industry specialists, practitioners, researchers, and policymakers can advance food innovation development and research pinpointing the specific food innovations along the agricultural value chain.

Selected Texan K-12 Educators' Perceptions of Youth Suicide Prevention Training.

K-12 school personnel may be frontline responders for youth contemplating suicide or other harmful behaviors. Therefore, the purpose of this preliminary study was to determine selected K-12 educators' perceptions of youth suicide prevention (YSP) training. A longitudinal trend survey with repeated measures and proportionally stratified random samples of K-12 personnel from nine Texas independent school districts provided data. Participants' perceived knowledge of the YSP content showed significant appreciative gains between pre- and follow-up post-tests. Likewise, their confidence levels for helping students at risk of suicide and approaching other adults to talk about students at risk of suicide rose significantly between pretests and follow-up post-tests. This preliminary study reinforces the value of training educators to acquire content knowledge and confidence boosting opportunities for engagement in difficult dialogue about suicidality. YSP training helped improve educators' confidence to engage with others about students' mental health concerns, calling attention to the importance of identifying early warning signs that may aid in early support and prevention of youth mental health concerns.

Homophily Effect in Trauma-Informed Classroom Training for School Personnel.

A national shortage of youth mental health professionals necessitates training others (e.g., school staff) to help youth with behavioral and mental health issues. Professional training in trauma-informed classroom (TIC) practices could increase school staff's awareness of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). The purpose was to determine the effect of homophily on participants' perceptions or knowledge of TIC training. Mental Health America of Greater Houston (MHAGH) offered TIC training from 2019 to 2020 to Texas educators (N ≈ 29,900) from nine school districts that experienced significant natural and human-made traumatic events. Proportional stratified random samples were selected based on trainer type (experts vs. peer trainers). Perception was measured with close-ended items on five-point scales. Knowledge was measured with content-specific questions. Independent t-tests and two-way ANOVA revealed no significant interaction effects (i.e., trainer and test type) and no differences existed in perception or knowledge by trainer type. TIC training can be equally effective when delivered by homophilous peers (i.e., school staff) and heterophilous experts (i.e., mental health experts). COVID-19 worsened the effects of ACEs and youth mental health issues. High-quality training will increase school staff's use of TIC practices. MHAGH's train-the-trainer model helps educators supporting youth affected by ACEs and other life stressors.

Radio Communications on Family Planning: Case of West Africa.

Sub-Saharan Africa will accommodate more population this century by having a multitude of births across the continent. Family planning methods provide women with techniques to manage their health and wellbeing. This study investigated how radio communications in family planning changed the perception of Ghanaian, Liberian, and Senegalese mothers toward having fewer children. Univariate and multivariate linear regression results after coarsened exact matching (CEM) with selected covariates for 15- to 49-year-old mothers from demographic and health survey (DHS) data implied the effectiveness of radio communications. This effort supports the need for further research on tailored communication methods for West African mothers over time.