News by Subject Policy & Ethics

The first comprehensive assessment of the health effects of Donald Trump's presidency is published today in The Lancet revealing devastating impacts on every aspect of health in the USA. The Lancet Commission on Public Policy and Health in the Trump Era [1] also traces the policy failures that preceded and fueled Trump's ascent and left the USA lagging behind other high-income nations on life expectancy.

A study led by Dr. Kenneth Griffin of George Mason University's College of Health and Human Services and researchers at National Health Promotion Associates (NHPA) finds that the Cadet Healthy Personal Skills (CHiPS) program shows promise in reducing unwanted sexual contact in military academies. The intervention, which was rigorously tested with more than 800 cadets during their first year at the academy, addresses a critical gap in evidence-based interventions.

Weekly COVID-19 testing, coupled with a two-week isolation period for positive cases, may be the most cost-effective strategy to tackle the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the USA when transmission is high until vaccines are widely available, a modelling study published in The Lancet Public Health journal suggests.

A new study examined lessons from past efforts worldwide to schedule and reschedule drugs to identify general patterns and found that rescheduling drugs can lower use as well as the dangers associated with the drug. The findings have implications for policy.

A new study examined public support for arming school employees. The study found consensus for arming school resource officers, but division over whether to arm teachers and nonteaching staff. The research has clear implications for policy, including the possibility that support for arming school staff may diminish over time as young people (who are less supportive) make up a larger share of voters.

Western Carolina University researchers find a disproportionate number of inmates with violent offenses suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, panic disorder and alcohol use disorder, and published their findings in the Journal of Criminal Psychology.