Joie D. Acosta

Bio: Joie D. Acosta is an academic researcher from American Medical Association. The author has contributed to research in topics: Community resilience & Emergency management. The author has an hindex of 12, co-authored 42 publications receiving 436 citations.

Interventions to Prevent Suicide: A Literature Review to Guide Evaluation of California's Mental Health Prevention and Early Intervention Initiative.

Abstract: To help inform the evaluation design for CalMHSA's suicide prevention (SP) and early intervention initiatives, a review of program evaluation literature was done to assess program effectiveness and identify previously used evaluation methodologies. Using evidence from the literature review, the authors provide an overview of the epidemiology of suicides and of non-fatal self-inflicted injuries in California and present a framework for evaluating SP programs, including candidate evaluation measures. The review identified three methodological considerations that can inform the evaluation of SP programs: (1) identifying whether a SP program was effective at reducing suicide deaths is challenging because suicide is such a rare event; (2) SP programs may have differential effects on population subgroups, because suicide rates differ by age, race, and sex; and (3) SP programs may show immediate reductions in suicide attempts but their long-term effects are uncertain. The review also identified two critical gaps in the literature. First, SP evaluation research explores the effects of programs on such outcomes as reduced access to lethal means, provision of care, and crisis response; however, we need to learn more about how these programs influence suicide rates. Second, more research must address the differential effectiveness of SP programs for population subgroups vulnerable to suicide.

Understanding Community Resilience in the Context of National Health Security: A Literature Review

Abstract: This review lays a foundation for upcoming analyses that will provide a working definition of community resilience, identify activities for building resilience, and offer associated metrics.

The War Within: Suicide Prevention in the U.S. Military

Abstract: The increasing number of suicides is causing concern in the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). Suicide-prevention programs in DoD and across the services have some (but not all) of the characteristics of comprehensive programs.

National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism

Abstract: 1 July 7, 2010, marks the fifth anniversary of the 2005 terrorist attacks on London’s Metro system. In 2005, terrorists launched a coordinated attack against London’s transportation system, with 3 bombs detonating simultaneously at three different Metro stations and a fourth bomb exploding an hour later on a city bus. In all, there were 52 victims in these bombings with an additional 700 injuries resulting. The four terrorists who executed the attacks were killed in the explosions.

Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity

Abstract: In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health.Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.

Resilience in Children: Developmental Perspectives

Abstract: Advances in developmental resilience science are highlighted with commentary on implications for pediatric systems that aspire to promote healthy development over the life course. Resilience science is surging along with growing concerns about the consequences of adverse childhood experiences on lifelong development. Resilience is defined as the capacity of a system to adapt successfully to challenges that threaten the function, survival, or future development of the system. This definition is scalable across system levels and across disciplines, applicable to resilience in a person, a family, a health care system, a community, an economy, or other systems. Robust findings on resilience in childhood underscore the importance of exposure dose; fundamental adaptive systems embedded in the lives of individuals and their interactions with other systems; developmental timing; and the crucial role of healthcare practitioners and educators as well as family caregivers in nurturing resilience on the “front lines” of lived childhood experience. Resilience science suggests that human resilience is common, dynamic, generated through myriad interactions of multiple systems from the biological to the sociocultural, and mutable given strategic targeting and timing. Implications for pediatric practice and training are discussed.

The Resilience Activation Framework: a conceptual model of how access to social resources promotes adaptation and rapid recovery in post-disaster settings

Abstract: A number of governmental agencies have called for enhancing citizens’ resilience as a means of preparing populations in advance of disasters, and as a counterbalance to social and individual vulnerabilities. This increasing scholarly, policy, and programmatic interest in promoting individual and communal resilience presents a challenge to the research and practice communities: to develop a translational framework that can accommodate multidisciplinary scientific perspectives into a single, applied model. The Resilience Activation Framework provides a basis for testing how access to social resources, such as formal and informal social support and help, promotes positive adaptation or reduced psychopathology among individuals and communities exposed to the acute collective stressors associated with disasters, whether human-made, natural, or technological in origin. Articulating the mechanisms by which access to social resources activate and sustain resilience capacities for optimal mental health outcomes post-disaster can lead to the development of effective preventive and early intervention programs.