Nicole Ackermann

Washington University in St. Louis | WUSTL , Wash U · Division of Public Health Sciences

Background: This study seeks to understand how and for whom COVID-19 disrupted cancer care to understand the potential for cancer health disparities across the cancer prevention and control continuum. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, participants age 30+ residing in an 82-county region in Missouri and Illinois completed an online survey from...

Background. Sociodemographically diverse study samples are critical for research related to health decision making. However, not all researchers have the training, capacity, and funding to engage research methods that recruit the most diverse populations. Objective and Methods. We used participant-generated data, staff salary data, and participant...

Background: The promise of precision medicine could be stymied if people do not accept the legitimacy of personalized risk information. We tested 4 explanations for skepticism of personalized diabetes risk information. Method: We recruited participants (N = 356; Mage = 48.6 [s = 9.8], 85.1% women, 59.0% non-Hispanic white) from community locatio...

Community engagement is important for promoting health equity. However, effective community engagement requires trust, collaboration, and the opportunity for all stakeholders to share in decision-making. Community-based training in public health research can build trust and increase community comfort with shared decision-making in academic and comm...

While rural–urban cancer disparities persist, the research building capacity between rural communities and high-quality cancer centers remains limited. Thus, we describe how a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center partnered with rural community stakeholders to adapt a cancer prevention-focused research and community capacity-building w...

Background This study seeks to understand how and for whom COVID-19 disrupted cancer care to understand the potential for cancer health disparities across the cancer prevention and control continuum. Methods In this cross-sectional study, participants age 30+ residing in an 82-county region in Missouri and Illinois completed an online survey from...

Background: The Research Engagement Survey Tool (REST) was developed to examine the level of partner (e.g., patients, caregivers, advocates, clinicians, community members) engagement in research studies. The REST is aligned with eight engagement principles based on the literature and consensus reached through a five round Delphi process. Each of t...

Introduction Engagement of relevant stakeholders’ ideas, opinions, and concerns is critical to the success of modern research projects. We have developed a tool to measure stakeholder engagement, called the Research Engagement Survey Tool (REST). The purpose of this paper is to present the implementation and uptake of the stakeholder engagement mea...

Purpose The Joanne Knight Breast Health Cohort was established to link breast cancer risk factors, mammographic breast density, benign breast biopsies and associated tissue markers, and blood markers in a diverse population of women undergoing routine mammographic screening to study risk factors and validate models for breast cancer risk prediction...

Background Long-term durability of weight loss is a prerequisite for a greater acceptance of bariatric surgery. Objective To examine long-term weight trajectory in patients undergoing Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) and determine factors predicting long-term follow-up and weight outcomes. Setting University Hospital. Methods A retrospective coho...

The Research Engagement Survey Tool (REST) examines the level of partner engagement in research studies. This study used mixed methods, including web-based surveys (N = 336), a modified Delphi process (N = 18), and cognitive response interviews (N = 16), with convenience sampling to develop and validate a short version of the REST. We conducted fac...

Objectives: (1) Test whether a mental imagery-based self-regulation intervention increases physical activity behaviour over 90 days; (2) Examine cognitive and affective precursors of change in physical activity behaviour. Design: A randomized control trial with participants (N = 500) randomized to one of six intervention conditions in a 3 (risk...

Purpose The Joanne Knight Breast Health Cohort was established to link breast cancer risk factors, mammographic breast density, benign breast biopsies and associated tissue markers, and blood markers in a diverse population of women undergoing routine mammographic screening. Methods Women were recruited from November 2008 to April 2012. Baseline qu...

Background The role of robotic surgery in bariatrics remains controversial. Patient selection for robotic surgery is not well-studied. The objective of this study was to identify factors associated with robotic surgery and its temporal trends.Methods The Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program database from 201...

Background Despite recognition of the importance of stakeholder input into research, there is a lack of validated measures to assess how well constituencies are engaged and their input integrated into research design. Measurement theory suggests that a community engagement measure should use clear and simple language and capture important component...

Background Personalized medicine may increase the amount of probabilistic information patients encounter. Little guidance exists about communicating risk for multiple diseases simultaneously or about communicating how changes in risk factors affect risk (hereafter “risk reduction”). Purpose To determine how to communicate personalized risk and ris...

Engagement activities are defined along a continuum that analyzes and represents nonacademic stakeholder activities and interactions with academic researchers. Proposed continua begin with none to limited stakeholder inclusion and input into research and continue with descriptions of increasing presence, input, and participation in decision-making....

Background: Stakeholder-engaged research is an umbrella term for the types of research that have community, patient, and/or stakeholder engagement, feedback, and bidirectional communication as approaches used in the research process. The level of stakeholder engagement across studies can vary greatly, from minimal engagement to fully collaborative...

Background. Many theories assert that high perceived risk motivates health behavior change; the empirical literature shows mixed findings. Purpose. To determine whether, for whom, and under what circumstances specifying a future behavior when assessing perceived risk (i.e., “conditioning” risk perception items on behavior) improves data quality and...

Aim: Using a stakeholder-engaged approach, this study conducted content validation and item reduction of a quantitative measure of research engagement. Methods: A five-round modified Delphi process was used to reach consensus on items. Rounds 1-3 and 5 were conducted using web-based surveys. Round 4 consisted of a 2-day, in-person meeting. Delph...

Aim: We explored associations of weight perception with measured weight status and weight loss intention among urban youth. Methods: This community surveillance project included 317 youth (10-19 years, 64% black) who answered YRBSS questions and underwent measurements of height and weight. Results: Weight misperception was observed among 47% o...

The aim of this study was to explore the relationship of aerobic fitness with the elementary school environment and student characteristics among 4th and 5th grade children attending urban public schools in St. Louis, MO, USA. This cross-sectional study was conducted during 2012–2015 and included 2381 children (mean age 10.5 y) who completed the FI...

Background: The rate of uninsured people has decreased dramatically since the Affordable Care Act was passed. To make an informed decision, consumers need assistance to understand the advantages and disadvantages of health insurance plans. The Show Me Health Plans Web-based decision support tool was developed to improve the quality of health insura...

Physical activity among youth is shaped by the natural and built environment within which they live; however, few studies have focused on assessing playground safety and proximity in detail as part of the built environment for youth physical activity. We analyzed data on 100 publicly accessible playgrounds from Play Across St. Louis, a community-pa...

Introduction We examined racial/ethnic heterogeneity in self-reported diabetes prevalence over 15 years. Methods We used National Health Interview Survey data for 1997 through 2012 on 452,845 adults aged 18 years or older. Annual self-reported diabetes prevalence was estimated by race/ethnicity and education. We tested for trends over time by educ...

Previous analyses of Stand Your Ground (SYG) cases have been primarily descriptive. We examine the relationship between race of the victim and conviction of the defendant in SYG cases in Florida from 2005 to 2013. Using a regression analytic approach, we allow for simultaneous examination of multiple factors to better understand existing interrelat...

Objective: Of the 4 million total annual births in the U.S., approximately 1.5% comprises very low birth weight (VLBW) infants weighing less than 1500 g. VLBW neonates are among the most severely sick and feeble patients in contemporary healthcare. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between birth at a level III neonatal intensive...

Background: Multiple studies have reported prenatal stress as a potential risk factor for the development of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In rodents, a significant reduction in sociability is seen in prenatally stressed offspring of serotonin transporter knockout heterozygous (5-HTT +/-) dams. Additionally, offspring with prenatal maternal diets...