Howard County Health Department

A stakeholder structured engagement process at the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Management (SWIM) conference and workshop was held in December 2024. The participants identified critical current and future issues facing the water sector that are synthesized in this paper. In particular, they highlighted issues of water systems’ vulnerability and lack of resilience to hazards and stressors; inequities associated with water scarcity; and water quality problems – all affected by natural or man-made influences. The Smart One Water (S1W) vision was the baseline for the SWIM 2024 conference. This paper expands the S1W vision with a synthesis of the conference discussions about S1W-related fundamental concepts, practices and implementation barriers. It includes initial recommendations – based on a digital, data-focused, stakeholder-driven approach – with expert representatives of the public and private water supply sectors, academia, government and policymakers tasked to generate real-world adaptable ideas and practical solutions. Specifically, S1W envisions a future where water management and governance silos are eliminated to provide the necessary collaboration to enable efficient, resilient, affordable and equitable water access capable of adapting to a changing environment. This would be a future where communities govern collaboratively through integrated decision-making on policy, management and funding of natural and engineered water systems at the river basin scale.

This study examined the types of social injustice experiences rehabilitation counselor educators reported, and the relationship between different levels of social injustice experiences and infusion strategies of social justice into the curricula. The participants in the study included 101 rehabilitation counselor educators recruited from the listserv of the National Council on Rehabilitation Education. A quantitative content analysis method was used. The findings showed that social injustice experiences reported by the participants tend to be multidimensional. Participants who reported a high level of exposure to social injustice experiences were more likely to infuse social justice into their curricula at a higher level than participants who reported a low level of exposure to social injustice experiences. The study revealed that gaining an understanding of social injustice in educators' personal and professional lives may foster their efforts to integrate social justice into the curricula, which in turn, may potentially enhance the social justice competency for trainees. Implications for research and practice were discussed.

Purpose:To examine the extent to which rehabilitation counselor educators understand and are committed to infusing social justice in the rehabilitation counseling curricula.Method:The authors used a quantitative descriptive research design to examine the level and extent of integrating social justice into rehabilitation counseling curricular. The participants were 59 rehabilitation counselor educators recruited during the eighth Annual Rehabilitation Educators Conference hosted by the National Council on Rehabilitation Education.Results:The study found that most participants perceived it important to integrate social justice into rehabilitation counseling curricula. The level and extent of integration varied by academic rank and years of teaching.Conclusion:To ensure future rehabilitation counselors gain social justice competency, it is of great significance that rehabilitation counseling educators infuse the concepts of social justice into the curricula through knowledge and fieldwork domains.

This study evaluated adherence to tuberculosis control guidelines, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1996, in a large urban jail. Jails are a critical locale because of high risk for tuberculosis transmission in a congregate setting. Symptom screening at intake into the facility was systematically observed. Medical records were reviewed to measure timing of tuberculin skin testing (TST) and chest radiograph (CXR) screening. Isolation records were examined for airborne infectious isolation practices. Contact investigation practices were evaluated for ease of data retrieval and adherence to CDC guidelines. A TB symptom screening question was asked correctly during 28/97 of intake health interviews. Median time from intake to TST was 3 days for men and 2 days for women. Median time from referral to CXR was 2 days for men and 7 days for women. Delays were noted in diagnostic testing of 51 detainees isolated for suspected TB. Contact investigations lacked comprehensive procedures, data collection forms, and databases for managing information. Findings were used to refine protocols for TB control. This evaluation illustrated the need for ongoing assessment of adherence to TB control protocols in short-term correctional settings to prevent the spread of TB.

This article uses the case-study methodology as a strategy to facilitate examination of ethical principles that underlie developmental risk research carried out among adolescents. Description of the ethical dilemmas that arose during the implementation of a longitudinal randomized controlled trial is presented along with discussion guidelines. As youth were being enrolled and the trial was being conducted, it was noted that a small but significant number had responded "yes" to a question on suicidal ideation. After review by the Institutional Review Boards overseeing the trial, it was decided that confidentiality had to be breached. A revised protocol was implemented explicitly stating that confidentiality would be broken if a youth reported suicidal ideation. The number of youth reporting suicidal ideation after the consent form was amended decreased significantly. Presentation of this research by use of the case study method sensitizes students to issues that arise at the intersection of disease prevention and health promotion intervention research.