COVID-19 is found to have higher contraction rates and worse outcomes for those in racial and ethnic minority groups. Additionally, the pandemic presents significant and costly disruptions to social service and health care systems. These disruptions present not only a mortality risk but grave health and economic risks for older adults. The purpose of this study is to document the barriers and best practices in mitigating the health disparities that racial and ethnic minority groups experience. I conducted a secondary analysis to ask, “What are the unique barriers to social and health service delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic that have affected organizations in Washington State serving predominantly racial and ethnic minorities, clients with low socioeconomic status, and those living in rural areas? I used survey and qualitative semi-structured interview data collected from 40 senior leaders of health and social services organizations in Western, Central, and Eastern Washington, whose primary client and patient population is low-income, marginalized older adults, and those with dementia. I identified themes within each organization and how they differ depending on their predominant client population (e.g. mostly White clients vs. mostly non-White clients). This study’s anticipated results are that older adults from historically marginalized racial and ethnic communities are at higher risk of lower health care services and outcomes and that race and ethnicity play a pivotal role in determining when care is accessible. By adopting a Participatory Action Research model, I can inform and educate society on the barriers these organizations face to providing equitable care to elders and use my findings to create a community-based action plan that responds to these challenges and keeps our older adults safe and healthy.

Long duration space missions pose a challenge on crew members’ mental well-being and, subsequently, their work together. Since the trip to Mars is expected to last 3 years, researchers need to help prepare teams to be successful throughout this time period. The crew spends not only working time together, but also a majority of their downtime. As such, we can consider how this fluid suite of interactions can be used to maintain morale and team relationships for the long haul. In this study, I explore the use of humor in downtime engagements by crews in the HERA station - an analogue space station situated at Johnson Space Center in Houston. I listen to the audio data from crews completing a 45 day mission to explore how humor influences their task success. I use a qualitative case based approach to assess humor and its effect on teamwork and validate these assessments with NASA subject matter experts in behavioral health performance. Preliminary research shows that activities, such as watching sitcoms and joking while watching the news help crew members form and maintain strong relationships that later influence task success. My findings can instruct the set up of humor opportunities for long duration space mission crews. In addition, real-world team leaders can utilize these findings to improve their team cohesion and performance.

The emergence of social media has changed traditional societal influences on body image development in unprecedented ways, creating a need for updated body image research. Of particular interest is the “body-positive” movement within social media. This movement challenges constrained Western beauty norms by highlighting broader definitions of beauty and showing appreciation for all body types. Notably, it is building momentum at a critical time as rates of depression, anxiety, and eating disorders among young adults are at an all-time high. Prior research disproportionately focuses on young, heterosexual women, while men and LGBTQ+ individuals often deal with differing influences in their social formation of body image. Because the only research conducted on body positivity only studied its effects on young women, its effect on men, transgender, and LGBTQ individuals is unknown. My research expands the demographic scope of body image research and assesses the effectiveness of the body-positivity movement on reducing the discrepancy between actual and ideal body types. Using a quasi-experimental survey design, I ask participants to indicate their actual and ideal body type before and after viewing body-positive, thin-ideal, appearance-neutral, or non-appearance-centric visual Instagram content. The study reveals whether body-positive imagery has differing effects on the discrepancy between actual and ideal body image across demographic groups. My findings are useful as a baseline for future investigations into the social formation of body image. This research answers questions about the effectiveness of the body-positivity movement and expands the demographic scope of body image research in a modern, digital context. Importantly, specialized public health treatment programs and future social media legislation can be shaped by this type of updated body image research.

For most of society, the word ‘disability’ is equated to loss, tragedy, difficulty, and absence of ‘normality’. But for many people, the lived experience of disability does not match up to those negative expectations. The social model of disability states that a person’s disability is not inherent to the person’s body/mind, but rather created by an interaction between the body/mind and the physical and social environment in which they exist. For example, if a wheelchair user lives in a town that has inaccessible buildings and a lack of caretaker support, then they are disabled by the environment. However, if that same individual lives in a town where physical accessibility, social attitudes, and support needs are met to enable full participation, then are they really disabled? What environments may exist where being a wheelchair user is actually an advantage? The idea of ‘disability gain’ seeks contexts in which disabilities become advantageous to the individual, as opposed to detrimental. To explore this idea of ‘disability gain’, semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with Deaf and/or disabled-identifying individuals to understand their perceptions of ‘disability gain’ and experiences of disability as advantageous. Document analysis was also conducted with cultural artifacts from disability communities. These qualitative data were analyzed using a content analysis framework until themes emerged. This study is ongoing, and results from this research are currently emerging and will be shared. This research provides a new perspective that shifts away from the ‘medical’ and ‘tragedy’ models, toward a more affirming,identity-positive model of disability.

Speech and language delays are often underdiagnosed in infants, although it is well established that children who receive intervention at an earlier age achieve better communication outcomes. Utilizing parent surveys of infant speech and language abilities may be a strategy that could enable the earlier identification of infants at risk. However, at what age early signs of delay emerge is not well understood. This study investigates whether measures of language ability obtained by both parent report and direct testing at 3 months are associated with language abilities at 11 months of age. We assessed receptive and expressive language skills longitudinally in 20 infants at 3 and 11 months of age. To obtain direct measures of language skills, the Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL) was administered. To obtain parent report measures, the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales – Third Edition (Vineland) and the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDI) were administered. To interpret our results in the context of socioeconomic status, the Hollingshead Four Factor Index of Socioeconomic Status (Hollingshead) was also administered. Infants’ 3-month receptive and expressive language scores from the MSEL and Vineland subscales were compared to the 11-month CDI and Hollingshead scores using linear regression. We found that receptive language scores at 3 months, obtained via both Vineland and MSEL, predicted 11-month receptive language CDI scores. Hollingshead scores were also associated with 3-month Vineland receptive language scores, with lower receptive language skills seen with higher social status scores. Findings from this research advance our understanding of whether parent report surveys of language abilities can serve as an early screening tool to identify infants at risk for speech and language delays and disorders. These results may have implications in particular for healthcare providers and families in rural settings who rely on telehealth to access services.

Executive function (EF) and social functioning are areas of challenge for children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Previous research shows that social function is associated with EF in children with ASD, even when controlling nonverbal IQ. The current study investigates whether this relationship extends to FASD. Participants were children with FASD (n=23; 10 girls) or ASD (n=18; 4 girls), ages 4 to 11 years old (FASD: M=84 months; SD=19; ASD: M=89 months; SD=24). Nonverbal IQ was assessed using the Leiter International Performance Scale (Leiter-3). Nonverbal IQ scores ranged from 67 to 133 (M=100 for both FASD and ASD). The groups were matched on chronological age and nonverbal IQ and did not significantly differ on either. Parent-report questionnaires assessed EF and social functioning: the Behavioral Rating of Executive Function (BRIEF) and Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS-2), respectively. Both the BRIEF and SRS-2 yield T-Scores, with higher T-Scores corresponding to greater impairment. I calculated Pearson’s bivariate correlations, followed by partial correlations controlling for nonverbal IQ, to test the association between BRIEF and SRS-2 scores. For both children with FASD and ASD, BRIEF composite and SRS-2 T-scores were significantly positively correlated, r(21) = .74 for FASD; r(16) = .56 for ASD. The same held when controlling for nonverbal IQ: r(20) = .74 for FASD; r(15) = .72 for ASD. Thus, parent ratings of challenges with EF were associated with challenges with social function, even when controlling nonverbal IQ. Future research should consider the potential role of EF in contributing to social functioning among children with FASD or ASD and how comparisons between FASD and ASD may yield insights into ways to support these children’s development.

The Seattle COVID-19 Oral History Project (SCOHP), sponsored by the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies, was started in the spring of 2020 as an initiative to document the experiences and stories of workers and unemployed individuals in Western Washington during the COVID-19 pandemic. Focusing especially on communities of color, the project aims to create an oral history archive for students, researchers, and the general public housed in the Labor Archives of Washington (LAW). Although educational institutions such as Columbia University have started oral history projects to document the effect of COVID-19 on their local communities, many of these are not geared specifically toward frontline workers, whose daily lives have collectively been changed the most by the pandemic. I have developed the idea and structure for SCOHP as a project utilizing oral history to obtain an in-depth, on-the-ground perspective for studying workers and marginalized communities specifically. I collaborate with the local chapter of the Asian and Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA Seattle), UNITE HERE Local 8, and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 1199NW to set intentions for the project, co-develop interview questions, and recruit interviewees. Collaborating with LAW, I have helped create and implement oral history trainings for a team of 12 student interns who will assist in preparation, interviewing, and processing. Our goal is to collect and process at least 20 interviews over the course of Winter and Spring of 2021, focusing on the topics of worker health and safety, race and intersectionality, childcare, the Black Lives Matter movement, labor unions, and differences across industries. This work is important for both documenting the experiences of occupational and other communities who have often been underrepresented in media coverage and popular discourse on COVID-19, and highlighting the intersections between occupation, race, ethnicity, immigration, and public health in a global pandemic.