The next Prevention Research Center for Healthy Neighborhoods (PRCHN) Seminar Series event will focus on spatial epidemiology and child health.
Jacqueline Curtis, co-director of the GIS | Health & Hazards Lab and associate professor in the Department of Geography at Kent State University, will present “Mapping Neighborhood Environments & Child Health: New Opportunities for Expanding the Evidence Base” Wednesday, Jan. 9, from noon to 1:15 p.m. in the BioEnterprise Building.
About the talk
Spatial epidemiology has offered numerous insights into how neighborhood environments influence health outcomes. However, these investigations often have relied on “official” data, such as from the census, police, or hospitals, and on traditional spatial analyses such as mapping “hot spots.” These sources and approaches provide an important, but incomplete, understanding of the multivariate and dynamic relationship between what children experience in their surroundings and their health outcomes. Emergent research into new forms of geospatial data collection and analysis aims to fill this knowledge gap.
In her presentation, Curtis will introduce advances through a number of research-practice partnerships, highlighting:
- Mapping direct observations of the built and social/behavioral environment;
- Mapping local knowledge of neighborhood conditions; and
- Assessing the validity of mapped hot spots for geographically targeted prevention and intervention resources.
Drawing on case studies from child injury and youth violence prevention and from health impact assessments, Curtis will provide examples of how such emergent research is expanding the evidence base on the neighborhood-health nexus, especially for children in urban environments.
About the speaker
Jacqueline Curtis is co-director of the GIS | Health & Hazards Lab and associate professor in the Department of Geography at Kent State University. Curtis specializes in the use of Geographic Information Science (GISc) and mixed methods to study how neighborhood environments shape child health.
She is especially interested in working with practitioners and community members to map new forms of data that reflect children’s lived experiences. Her current projects focus on the use of geospatial technologies and spatial analysis in health impact assessments, and injury and violence prevention, as well as developing methods for mapping local knowledge as an evidence base for her partners in practice.
About the series
The PRCHN Monthly Seminar Series takes place on the second Wednesday of the month from noon to 1:15 p.m. in the BioEnterprise Building, Room B-03 (unless otherwise noted).
The public is welcome to attend, and a light lunch is served.