Laura Senier Biography

Project Description

This research will pilot methods to assess exposure to green and blue spaces and explore how these recreational amenities are associated with mental health among schoolchildren in several Boston neighborhoods.  The terms green and blue spaces are drawn from the literature on therapeutic landscapes; the former is generally taken to mean parks, playgrounds, and open space, while the latter is taken to mean rivers, streams, and beaches.  There is a large and growing body of literature that suggests that exposure to green space is beneficial for a range of health outcomes, especially mental health; while blue space has not been studied as extensively, it is a logical next frontier in this current of research.

Although these findings about the health effects of green space have sparked excitement among urban planners and public health advocates, however, it is at the same time deeply evident that communities have vastly inequitable access to green and blue spaces.  The environmental justice movement was originally founded to protest the ways poor communities and communities of color are unfairly burdened with polluting industries and toxic hazards, but over the past decade, EJ activists have extended their vision and now argue that their communities are also burdened by a lack of amenities such as parks and open space.  Green space is thus becoming a new area of mobilization for urban EJ communities.

This grant has the following goals:

1. Establish relationships with at least two community-based organizations that serve environmental justice communities in Boston neighborhoods.
2. Pilot a method for collecting and analyzing data with middle-school children to discover how they feel about the recreational spaces that are available to them.
3. Develop a research plan to secure future funding to study these relationships more fully.
4. Prepare the community to explain the findings from this research and participate in discussions about community redevelopment and urban planning.

Publications – Past Three Years

Castango, K., Scyphers, S., Bowden, A., Burns, S., & Senier, L. Shoreline stabilization techniques in Boston Harbor, MA: An assessment of the gree-grey spectrum in Massacusetts, USA. Conservation Science & Practice (under review).

Green, R. F., Kumerow, M. T., Rodriguez, J. L., Addie, S., Beachy, S. H., & Senier, L. (2020). Implementing Cancer Genomics in State Health Agencies: Mapping Activities to an Implementation Science Outcome Framework. Public health genomics, 23(5-6), 218–229. https://doi.org/10.1159/000510336

Tirrell, C.*, Senier, L., Wyile, S., Alder, C.*, Poudrier, G.*, DiValli, J.*, Beck, M., Nost, E., Brackett, R., & Gehrke, G. (2020). Learning in crisis: Teaching students to monitor and address irresponsible knowledge construction by US Federal Agencies under Trump. Engaging Science, Technology, and Society, 6 (2020). https://doi.org/10.17351/ests2020.313

Senier, L., McBride, C. M., Ramsey, A. T., Bonham, V. L., & Chambers, D. A. (2019). Blending Insights from Implementation Science and the Social Sciences to Mitigate Inequities in Screening for Hereditary Cancer Syndromes. International journal of environmental research and public health, 16(20), 3899. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16203899

Ponte, A., Greenberg, S., Greendale, K., & Senier, L. (2019). Moving the needle on action around evidence-based screening for hereditary conditions: Preparing state chronic disease directors to advance precision public health. Public Health Reports. 134 (3), 228-233. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033354919834588

Senier, L., Tan, C., Smollin, L., & Lee, R. (2019). Understanding the potential of state-based public health genomics programs to mitigate disparities in access to clinical genetic services. Genetics in medicine : official journal of the American College of Medical Genetics, 21(2), 373–381. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41436-018-0056-y