The Influence of Public Health Faculty on College and University Plans During the COVID-19 Pandemic

  1. David Johnson
  2. Meredith Cahill
  3. Sara Choate
  4. David Roelfs
  5. Sarah E. Walsh

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore whether the institutional presence of public health expertise within colleges and universities was associated with operational plans for the fall semester of 2020. Using cross-sectional data collected by the College Crisis Initiative of Davidson College, six levels of instructional modalities (ranked from least to most restrictive) were compared between Council on Education of Public Health (CEPH)-accredited and non-CEPH-accredited 4-year institutions. Institutions with CEPH-accredited schools and programs were more likely to select some restrictive teaching modalities: 63.8% more likely to use hybrid/hyflex or more restrictive and 66.9% more likely to be primarily online (with some in person) or more restrictive. However, having CEPH-accredited programs did not push institutions to the most restrictive modalities. COVID-19 cases in county, enrollment, and political affiliation of the state governor were also found to be associated with instructional modality selection. While any ecological study has certain limitations, this study suggests that college and university fall plans may have been influenced by the presence of CEPH-accredited schools and programs of public health, and/or the input of their faculty. The influence of relevant faculty expertise on institutional decision-making can help inform college and university responses to future crises.

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  1. Version published to 10.3389/fpubh.2021.745232
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.06.23.449583: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    NIH rigor criteria are not applicable to paper type.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    The data were analyzed using a mixed-effects ordered logistic regression model (using the meologit command in STATA 15.1) in order to account for clustering in the data by state (which have jurisdiction over educational policies to which all colleges or universities within the state must adhere).
    STATA
    suggested: (Stata, RRID:SCR_012763)
    where i and j are index numbers that represent the ith college/university within each jth state k is an index number that represents the threshold (cut point) the divides the ordinal scale into two (in total, five thresholds are used for the 6-level modality restriction scale: (1) Levels 2-6 vs. 1; (2) Levels 3-6 vs. 1-2; (3) Levels 4-6 vs. 1-3; (4) Levels 5-6 vs. 1-4; and (5) Level 6 vs. 1-5) β0,j represents the intercept for the model for each jth state, which includes both a fixed component γ0,0 (reported as the fixed intercept(s) in each model) and a component that varies by state (which is constrained to have an overall mean of 0; the variance is reported in the model results) β1 through β4 represent the fixed slopes for the CEPH accreditation, enrollment, COVID-19 rate, and AAUP variables, respectively β5,j represents the slope for the Governor’s Party variable, which includes both a fixed component γ5,j (reported as the fixed slope in each model) and a component that varies by state (which is constrained to have an overall mean of 0; the variance is reported in the model results)
    CEPH
    suggested: (CEPH2CRI, RRID:SCR_009143)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    While this ecological study carries certain limitations and cannot speak to cause and effect relationships, the associations demonstrated in this study suggest that the institutional presence of public health faculty, within CEPH-accredited schools and programs, did influence colleges and universities to select less risky instructional modalities for fall 2020, and toward alternatives that consider both the individual health risks associated with COVID-19 and the consequences associated with shutting down campuses. Institutional presence of public health in higher education is a valuable resource and can be leveraged to guide the institution toward options that honor best public health practices in a manner that allows competing priorities.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No funding statement was detected.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.

    About SciScore

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  3. Version published to 10.1101/2021.06.23.449583v1 on bioRxiv