Recipient Organization
ALABAMA A&M UNIVERSITY
4900 MERIDIAN STREET
NORMAL,AL 35762
Performing Department
Community & Regional Planning
Non Technical Summary
The Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly impacted and disrupted the lives of people around the world including rural counties in Alabama. As the infection spreads, the COVID-19 pandemic is rapidly emerging as a housing emergency (Rogers and Power 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to impact the people's experience of home and their ability to pay for their rent or mortgage. Public health measures imposed by the government including the local and state government in Alabama will depend on the people's access to safe and secure housing. Social distancing and social isolation will not be effective as public health measures for those without safe and secure housing. The COVID-19 pandemic may also exacerbate the epidemic of childhood obesity and increase disparities in obesity risk (Rundle et al 2020). The closure of schools and the shelter-in-place orders are likely to increase the food insecurity rates among children (Metallinos-Katsaras et al 2012). This proposal seeks funding to cover a three-year study for identifying the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on housing and food insecurity among children in rural counties in Alabama. The central questions are: (1) What is the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the access of households with children of rural Alabama to safe and secure housing? (2) What is the impact of the closure of schools and the shelter-in-place orders on food insecurity among children in rural Alabama? (3) What strategy do we need to create better housing and food security among children in rural Alabama in response to a pandemic? To address these questions, this study will collect the data of COVID-19 cases from the database released daily by the Alabama Department of Public Health's Division of Infectious Diseases & Outbreaks. The data of COVID-19 cases include confirmed cases, testing, hospitalization, and death. The period of the database for this study is from March 2020 until the COVID-19 pandemic is over. The demographic, socioeconomic, and housing data in rural counties in Alabama are retrieved from the US Census website and the Social Explorer, an online research tool with built-in data indicators related to demography, economy, health, environment, and other. The study will also conduct primary data collections through surveys and focus group discussions. The respondents of the surveys will be recruited through Facebook's paid advertising program. The target respondents are parents with children living in rural counties of Alabama. The expected timeframe for this study is October 2020 through September 2023.The study will also be used to build the PI capacity for preparing proposals for other external research grants.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
0%
Applied
100%
Developmental
0%
Goals / Objectives
This study aims at identifying the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on housing and food insecurity among children in rural counties in Alabama. The central questions are: (1) What is the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the access of households with children of rural Alabama to safe and secure housing? (2) What is the impact of the closure of schools and the shelter-in-place orders on food insecurity among children in rural Alabama? (3) What strategy do we need to create better housing and food security among children in rural Alabama in response to a pandemic?
Project Methods
This study will use the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases, testing, hospitalization, and deaths by counties and map them. Using data of the COVID-19 cases from the Alabama Department of Public Health's Division of Infectious Diseases & Outbreaks, this study will identify the association between the COVID-19 cases and demographic, socioeconomic, and housing variables in rural counties in Alabama. The study will continue to collect daily COVID-19 data released by the Alabama Department of Public Health's Division of Infectious Diseases & Outbreaks and identity the changes in the geographical distribution of the COVID-19 cases in Alabama, particularly rural counties. The study will also analyze the changes in the geographical distribution of the COVID-19 cases with demographic, socioeconomic, and housing variables of the counties in Alabama. This study will map the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases and deaths by counties. This study will develop a number of independent variables including demographic composition and socioeconomic status of neighborhoods from the American Community Survey 5-year data and the Social Explorer. This study will develop spatial error models and used Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) analysis to identify demographic and socioeconomic factors of neighborhoods associated with the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases and death. The basic regression model assumes the observations should be independent of one another. The cases with spatial data units such as geographic census tract will observe Tobler's first law of geography that "everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things" (Tobler 1970). The variables with spatial data units exhibit spatial dependence and the residuals might exhibit spatial dependence. The spatial patterns of the residuals from the regression model will lead to inefficient estimates of parameters and large standard errors of the parameters (Fotheringham et al 2002). Spatial data and models also exhibit spatial heterogeneity which refers to the uneven distribution of various concentrations of parameters across the region (Anselin 2010). Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) is a regression model that involves spatially heterogeneous processes. GWR was introduced to study the potential for relationships in a regression model to vary in geographical areas or also known as parametric non-stationary (Wheeler and Paez 2010). GWR uses a subset of data proximate to the model calibration location in geographic space. GWR considers associations between the dependent and independent variables that vary over space due to local values, attitudes and behavior (Fotheringham et al 2002). GWR has been increasingly used in epidemiology research topics (Gebreab and Roux 2012). Data on housing security and food security among children will be collected through surveys. The study will use Facebook's paid advertising program to recruit respondents of the study. The study will run Facebook's paid advertising program over two years from August 2021 until August 2023. The study will ask a set of questions on housing security and food security in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to all respondents including their children. An IRB approval will be secured before we conduct the surveys. In order to validate the findings from the surveys, this study will conduct three sessions of focus group discussions. The study will recruit 10-12 respondents to participate in each session of the focus group discussions. All respondents will receive compensation for their participation in the focus group discussion. The focus group discussions will be conducted in the third year of the study. The focus group discussions are expected to provide a deeper understanding of housing security and food security among children in rural Alabama in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. All collected secondary data in this study including the COVID-19 cases from the Alabama Department of Public Health, demographic, socioeconomic, and housing data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Social Explorer and homelessness data from the Alabama Rural Housing Coalition for the Homeless as well as all collected primary data from the surveys of the Facebook's paid advertising program and the focus group discussions will be used to address three questions: 1) What is the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the access of households with children of rural Alabama to safe and secure housing? (2) What is the impact of the closure of schools and the shelter-in-place orders on food insecurity among children in rural Alabama? (3) What strategy do we need to create better housing and food security among children in rural Alabama in response to a pandemic?