RAND Corporation

Prevalence and correlates of suicidal behavior among adults with chronic health conditions in Malawi

Over 70% of completed suicides occur in low- and middle-income countries. However, limited information is available on suicidal behavior encompassing ideation, plans, and attempts among high-risk populations in these settings. We investigated the prevalence and correlates of suic...

Patient-Reported Changes in Alcohol Use Following Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonist Initiation

This survey study with a nationally representative sample evaluates whether individuals who initiate glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) report reducing alcohol consumption after starting the drug.

Gaps in diabetes care among people living with HIV and hypertension in Botswana: A cross‐sectional analysis of the InterCARE study

Abstract Objectives Data on diabetes screening and monitoring, within HIV care programmes in sub‐Saharan Africa, remain limited. This study describes the quality of diabetes screening and management among people living with HIV with comorbid hypertension receiving care at facilit...

Developmental Trajectories of Alcohol, Mental Health and Physical Health among American Indian and First Nation Adolescents: Understanding the Role of Land-Based Cultural Engagement, Family, and Peers

We applied the Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge (ITEK) framework to understand patterns of wellbeing among American Indian and First Nation (AI/FN) adolescents; risks and protective factors associated with alcohol use, mental health, and physical health that can be tra...

Differential Effects of US State Firearm Policies on Black and Non-Black Firearm Homicide and Suicide, 1981‒2022.

. 2026;116(10):1604-1612. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2026.308523).

Implementation Strategies for Strengthening Community and Stakeholder Engagement in Clinical and Translational Pilot Studies

This article details participatory strategies in modestly funded, short-term studies that shape larger clinical and translational research. Specifically, we document engagement practices and strategies used in small-scale pilot studies for which the funder required applicants hav...

Multilevel factors associated with nonresponse to patient-reported outcome measures in routine radiation oncology care

Nonresponse to routinely collected patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) threatens the representativeness of aggregated data. We characterized patient-, provider-, and clinic-level factors associated with PROMIS Global-10 nonresponse in routine radiation oncology care. In thi...

Perspectives on adverse events reporting in hybrid implementation science (IS) clinical trials of approved medications in Sub-Saharan Africa

Implementation science (IS) hybrid type 2 and 3 clinical trials and pure implementation research of approved medications test strategies to increase uptake of evidence-based interventions (EBIs) with well-established safety profiles. Guidance on adverse event (AE) monitoring and...

Governing The Accelerator: The Case for National Collaboration in AI‐Enabled Materials Discovery

ABSTRACT Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping materials discovery into a more integrated pipeline by combining data generation, surrogate prediction, and, in selected settings, closed‐loop experimentation at an unprecedented rate. However, the institutional mechanisms needed...

Sexual Harassment and Abuse in Young Adulthood and Mental Health Outcomes

This cohort study analyzes mental health trajectories before and after experiences of sexual harassment and abuse among young adults.

Framework for the Opioid Use Disorder Cascade of Care: Adaptation and Application for a Large Municipal Health System

Objectives: Most people with opioid use disorder (OUD) do not receive effective treatments despite their existence. The OUD cascade of care framework can be used to inform quality improvement efforts to address this gap, but data access and linkage requirements may limit its use....

Addiction recovery is more than abstinence—our metrics should be too

Value-based payment is reshaping U.S. healthcare by linking reimbursement to patient outcomes. Approximately 70% of health plans anticipate growth in value-based payment models over the next two years, with nearly 45% of their healthcare payments in 2024 already using value-based...

Feasibility and acceptability of a compassion-focused program to support staff, improve workflows and enhance the clinic environment in South African primary health clinics with low ART retention

South Africa has the largest HIV epidemic globally. Despite improvement, retention on antiretroviral therapy (ART) remains challenging. We used a positive deviance (PD) approach to develop a program called Connect designed to increase retention in HIV care by improving the staff...

Feasibility of Using Clinicians to Code the Actionability of Narrative Comments About Patient Experience for Quality Improvement

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Many healthcare organizations administer Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) surveys and use both quantitative ratings and qualitative narrative comments. While narrative data offer rich insights into patient experience, thei...

Stability and turbulence in illegal drug markets

This article provides a primer on illegal drug markets, with a focus on the structure and nature of these markets and the enterprises involved. The markets for illegal drugs are large, with annual retail expenditures likely exceeding $100 billion in the United States alone. Many...

Illegal firearms markets: Transaction patterns, evolving sources, and importance in criminal misuse

In the United States, the legal status of the 30 to 40 million annual firearms transactions is defined by state and federal regulations. These regulations primarily aim to reduce criminal misuse while preserving access for the large majority of adults who lack a serious criminal...

How illegal wildlife trade adheres to and defies conventional market behavior

Illegal wildlife markets comprise a complex global economy generating criminal profits while harming biodiversity and livelihoods. The negative externalities from biodiversity loss, ecosystem destabilization, and zoonotic disease risk may be orders of magnitude larger than the mu...