A Science Café is a casual presentation from scientist to community members at an easily accessible place, such as coffee shops, pubs, libraries, etc. We are taking this model to central Iowa! This project aims to connect community members in rural Iowa and researchers from Iowa State University to make a real-world impact and improve the relationship between our communities and researchers. 

Science Cafe is currently underway! We are working in collaboration with Dr. Buckingham-Schutt in collaboration with Health and Human Sciences Team at Iowa State University Extension & Outreach.

If you are interested in learning more, such as dates & times, or topics, see the Science Cafe page.

This project aims to understand the health priorities and needs in health promotion in farmers in Iowa and beyond. The goal is to use formative work (surveys, interviews) to develop an intervention that can provide health information and promote health of farmers and agricultural workers. We are actively completing a qualitative interview study, assessing the barriers that farmers and agricultural workers face in accessing health care. We have 2 honor students leading this charge, and we plan to resubmit for a NIH grant to extend this project into developing resources and intervention(s) promoting preventive healthcare. 

This project aims to promote health behaviors, such as greater physical activity, better diet, and higher quality sleep, in men. In addition, this project aims to improve other potential risk factors, such as tobacco use, alcohol use, and mental health. As a feasibility, proof-of-concept study, the goal is to test the program's ability to recruit and retain participants, and what improvements could make the program better. This is a unique program, as there are very few comprehensive health interventions for men in the United States.

This project is in the early stage of development. 

Firefighters risk their lives to protect others, but heart disease and cancer are leading causes of death in this group. Many also struggle with poor sleep, limited physical activity, and tobacco use. Volunteer fire departments often don’t have the resources for wellness programs, so we are starting an effort to support firefighter health. Our work focuses on understanding their health needs, providing testing and programs with community partners, and creating a system that can be used widely to improve firefighter health.

This project aims to examine health behaviors in people who report children in the home (e.g., parents) compared to those who do not. This will be a secondary analysis of nationwide surveillance data.

This project is currently ongoing, and a paper is forthcoming. 

Led by first-year honor student in Community and Regional Planning, Kaylin Dains, our team examined how the role physical activity plays in mortality differences between rural-urban counties. We utilized national data sets including BRFSS and National Vital Statistics. The answer? It's complicated. This paper is currently under review, so stay tuned to learn more! 

This project aims to understand long-term effects children in the home might have on physical activity and sedentary behavior. There is some evidence that a child in the home reduces sedentary time but also reduces moderate-vigorous activity. Utilizing data from CARDIA, we are working with collaborators from University of Iowa, West Virginia University, University of Minnesota, and University of Alabama-Birmingham to examine if this change is maintained across the lifespance.