Jonathan Purtle
Jonathan Purtle
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Associate Professor of Public Health Policy & Management
Director of Policy Research at NYU’s Global Center for Implementation Science
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Professional overview
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Jonathan Purtle is Associate Professor of Public Health Policy & Management at the New York University School of Global Public Health and also Director of Policy Research at NYU’s Global Center for Implementation Science.
Dr. Purtle is a mental health policy researcher and implementation scientist. His work examines questions such as how the implementation of policies “on the books” can be improved in practice, how research evidence can be most effectively communicated to policymakers and is used in policymaking processes, and how social and political contexts affect mental health policymaking and policy implementation. He is also studies population-based approaches to mental health, suicide prevention, and novel financing models for mental health services—such as earmarked taxes and fees.
Dr. Purtle’s work has been consistently funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). He is currently leading a NIMH-funded project focused on financing policies related to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (R01MH131649), a NIDA-funded study (through the CHERISH Center, P30DA040500) that is analyzing social media data to identify audience segments of state legislators who conceptualize substance use issues in different ways and experimentally testing different ways of communicating evidence these legislators, and co-leading a NCI-funded study focused on cancer policy implementation strategies (R21ACA293319). He is also a co-investigator on projects focused on mental health and health care system resilience following disasters is Puerto Rico (R01MD016426) and Hawaiʻi (R61MD019939).
He has published over 170 peer-reviewed journal articles, is an Associate Editor at Implementation Science, Co-Chairs the Policy Advisory Board at Psychiatric Services, is on the Scientific Advisory Committee of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and is Core Faculty of the NIMH-funded Implementation Research Institute.
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Education
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BA, Psychology, Roger Williams UniversityMSc, Sociology, Universiteit van AmsterdamMPH, Drexel UniversityDrPH, Drexel University
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Publications
Publications
Health awareness days : Sufficient evidence to support the craze?
AbstractPurtle, J., & Roman, L. A. (n.d.).Publication year
2015Journal title
American journal of public healthVolume
105Issue
6Page(s)
1061-1065AbstractHealth awareness initiatives are a ubiquitous intervention strategy. Nearly 200 health awareness days, weeks, and months are on the US National Health Observances calendar, and more than 145 awareness day bills have been introduced in Congress since 2005. We contend that health awareness days are not held to appropriate scrutiny given the scale at which they have been embraced and are misaligned with research on the social determinants of health and the tenets of ecological models of health promotion. We examined health awareness days from a critical public health perspective and offer empirically supported recommendations to advance the intervention strategy. If left unchecked, health awareness days may do little more than reinforce ideologies of individual responsibility and the false notion that adverse health outcomes are simply the product of misinformed behaviors.Hospital-based violence prevention : Progress and opportunities
AbstractPurtle, J., Rich, J. A., Fein, J. A., James, T., & Corbin, T. J. (n.d.).Publication year
2015Journal title
Annals of internal medicineVolume
163Issue
9Page(s)
715-717Abstract~Lives matter. Do votes? Invited commentary on "Black lives matter : Differential mortality and the racial composition of the U.S. electorate, 1970-2004"
AbstractPurtle, J. (n.d.).Publication year
2015Journal title
Social Science and MedicineVolume
136-137Page(s)
190-192AbstractRacial health disparities in the United States are produced and perpetuated through public policies that differentially allocate risks and resources for health. Elected officials have the ability modify the structural determinants of racial health disparities through policy decisions and, through voting, the electorate can influence the extent to which these policy decisions promote health equity. In this commentary, I synthesize research on the voting behavior of electorates and policy decisions and present strategies to foster sociopolitical environments that are conducive to the implementation and enforcement of racial health disparity reduction initiatives. There is a need for research that contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the role of voting in health policy making processes and further development of empirically-based policy advocacy strategies.Purtle and Roman respond
AbstractPurtle, J., & Roman, L. A. (n.d.).Publication year
2015Journal title
American journal of public healthVolume
105Issue
9Page(s)
e2-e3Abstract~Purtle and roman respond
AbstractPurtle, J., & Roman, L. A. (n.d.).Publication year
2015Journal title
American journal of public healthVolume
105Issue
10Page(s)
e9-e10Abstract~Scared safe? Abandoning the use of fear in urban violence prevention programmes
AbstractPurtle, J., Jonathan, J. P., Cheney, R., Wiebe, D. J., & Dicker, R. (n.d.).Publication year
2015Journal title
Injury PreventionVolume
21Issue
2Page(s)
140-141Abstract~The youth nonfatal violent injury review panel : An innovative model to inform policy and systems change
AbstractPurtle, J., Rich, L. J., Rich, J. A., Cooper, J., Harris, E. J., & Corbin, T. J. (n.d.).Publication year
2015Journal title
Public Health ReportsVolume
130Issue
6Page(s)
610-615AbstractAmong young people in the United States, nonfatal violent injuries outnumber fatal violent injuries by 171 to 1. The Child Fatality Review Team (CFRT) is a well-established model for informing injury prevention planning. The CFRT’s restricted focus on fatal injuries, however, limits its ability to identify opportunities to prevent violent reinjury and address issues unique to nonfatal violent injuries. We adapted the CFRT model to develop and implement a Youth Nonfatal Violent Injury Review Panel. We convened representatives from 23 agencies (e.g., police, housing, and education) quarterly to share administrative information and confidentially discuss cases of nonfatal violent injury. In this article, we describe the panel model and present preliminary data on participants’ perceptions of the process. Although outcomes research is needed to evaluate its impacts, the Youth Nonfatal Violent Injury Review Panel offers an innovative, promising, and replicable model for interagency collaboration to prevent youth violence and its effects.Gender-specific research on mental illness in the emergency department : Current knowledge and future directions
AbstractRanney, M. L., Locci, N., Adams, E. J., Betz, M., Burmeister, D. B., Corbin, T., Dalawari, P., Jacoby, J. L., Linden, J., Purtle, J., North, C., & Houry, D. E. (n.d.).Publication year
2014Journal title
Academic Emergency MedicineVolume
21Issue
12Page(s)
1395-1402AbstractMental illness is a growing, and largely unaddressed, problem for the population and for emergency department (ED) patients in particular. Extensive literature outlines sex and gender differences in mental illness' epidemiology and risk and protective factors. Few studies, however, examined sex and gender differences in screening, diagnosis, and management of mental illness in the ED setting. Our consensus group used the nominal group technique to outline major gaps in knowledge and research priorities for these areas, including the influence of violence and other risk factors on the course of mental illness for ED patients. Our consensus group urges the pursuit of this research in general and conscious use of a gender lens when conducting, analyzing, and authoring future ED-based investigations of mental illness.The Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion creates incentive for state Medicaid agencies to provide reimbursement for hospital-based violence intervention programmes
AbstractFischer, K., Purtle, J., & Corbin, T. (n.d.).Publication year
2014Journal title
Injury PreventionVolume
20Issue
6Page(s)
427-430Abstract~The Legislative Response to PTSD in the United States (1989-2009) : A Content Analysis
AbstractPurtle, J. (n.d.).Publication year
2014Journal title
Journal of Traumatic StressVolume
27Issue
5Page(s)
501-508AbstractAlthough knowledge about posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has grown over the past 40 years, PTSD policy research is undeveloped. This gap in knowledge warrants attention because policy is among the most powerful tools to prevent and mitigate the effects of PTSD. This study provides a content analysis of all bills introduced in U.S. Congress that explicitly mentioned PTSD. All bills and bill sections mentioning PTSD were coded to create a legislative dataset. Bills that addressed traumatic stress, but did not mention PTSD, were also identified as a comparison group. One hundred sixty-one PTSD explicit bills containing 382 sections of legislative text were identified, as were 43 traumatic stress, non-PTSD bills containing 55 sections (the 2 categories were mutually exclusive). Compared to traumatic stress, non-PTSD sections, PTSD explicit sections were far more likely to target military populations (23.6% vs. 91.4%) and combat exposures (14.5% vs. 91.4%). PTSD, as a discrete diagnostic entity, has been largely defined as a problem unique to combat exposure and military populations in federal legislation. Research is needed to understand knowledge and perceptions of PTSD among policy makers and the public to inform science-based advocacy strategies that translate the full spectrum of PTSD research into policy.The psychological sequelae of violent injury in a pediatric intervention
AbstractPurtle, J., Harris, E., Compton, R., Baccare, R., Morris, A., Dibartolo, D., Campbell, C., Vogel, K., Schwartz, N., & Moront, M. (n.d.).Publication year
2014Journal title
Journal of Pediatric SurgeryVolume
49Issue
11Page(s)
1668-1672AbstractPurpose Pediatric trauma centers have unique potential to prevent violent injury and its psychological sequelae. Hospital-based violence intervention programs (HVIPs) are proliferating across the U.S., but little is known about the psychological needs of pediatric patients who participate in them. The purpose of this study was to describe the prevalence of symptoms of posttraumatic stress and exposure to community violence among pediatric HVIP participants.Methods We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of psychosocial needs assessment data that were collected for 48 participants. The Child Trauma Screening Questionnaire (CTSQ) and modified Survey of Children's Exposure to Community Violence were used to assess primary outcomes.Results The sample was 62.5% male and had a mean age of 14.5 years. Twenty-three percent reported previously sustaining a violent injury resulting in medical care, and 47.8% had witnessed a shooting. The majority (66.0%) had a CTSQ score at/above the threshold for probable PTSD diagnosis. The mean CTSQ score was 5.9 and hyperarousal (3.3) symptoms were more common than re-experiencing symptoms (2.6).Conclusion Pediatric HVIPs and trauma centers should consider integrating PTSD screening and trauma-focused psychoeducation into the practice and protocols. Future research should evaluate the impacts of these interventions.Felon disenfranchisement in the United States : A health equity perspective
AbstractPurtle, J. (n.d.).Publication year
2013Journal title
American journal of public healthVolume
103Issue
4Page(s)
632-637AbstractApproximately 13% of African American men are disqualified from voting because of a felony conviction. I used ecosocial theory to identify how institutionalized racism helps perpetuate health disparities and to explore pathways through which felon disenfranchisement laws may contribute to racial health disparities in the United States. From a literature review, I identified 2 potential pathways: (1) inability to alter inequitable public policies that differentially allocate resources for health; and (2) inability to reintegrate into society by voting, which contributes to allostatic load.Hospital-based violence intervention programs save lives and money
AbstractPurtle, J., Dicker, R., Cooper, C., Corbin, T., Greene, M. B., Marks, A., Creaser, D., Topp, D., & Moreland, D. (n.d.).Publication year
2013Journal title
Journal of Trauma and Acute Care SurgeryVolume
75Issue
2Page(s)
331-333Abstract~Purtle responds
AbstractPurtle, J. (n.d.).Publication year
2013Journal title
American journal of public healthVolume
103Issue
11Page(s)
e6-e8Abstract~The prevalence of trauma and childhood adversity in an urban, hospital-based violence intervention program
AbstractCorbin, T. J., Purtle, J., Rich, L. J., Rich, J. A., Adams, E. J., Yee, G., & Bloom, S. L. (n.d.).Publication year
2013Journal title
Journal of health care for the poor and underservedVolume
24Issue
3Page(s)
1021-1030AbstractHospitals represent a promising locus for preventing recurrent interpersonal violence and its psychological sequella. We conducted a cross- sectional analysis to assess the prevalence of post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) among victims of interpersonal violence participating in a hospital- based violence intervention program. Participants completed PTSD and ACE screenings four to six weeks aft er violent injury, and data were exported from a case management database for analysis. Of the 35 program participants who completed the ACE and/or PTSD screenings, 75.0% met full diagnostic criteria for PTSD, with a larger proportion meeting diagnostic criteria for symptom- specific clusters. For the ACE screening, 56.3% reported three or more ACEs, 34.5% reported five or more ACEs, and 18.8% reported seven or more ACEs. The median ACE score was 3.5. These findings underscore the importance of trauma- informed approaches to violence prevention in urban hospitals and have implications for emergency medicine research and policy.Integrating Racially and Ethnically Diverse Communities Into Planning for Disasters : The California Experience
AbstractAndrulis, D. P., Siddiqui, N. J., & Purtle, J. (n.d.).Publication year
2011Journal title
Disaster medicine and public health preparednessVolume
5Issue
3Page(s)
227-234AbstractObjectives: Racially/ethnically diverse communities suffer a disproportionate burden of adverse outcomes before, during and after a disaster. Using California as a locus of study, we sought to identify challenges and barriers to meeting the preparedness needs of these communities and highlight promising strategies, gaps in programs, and future priorities. Methods: We conducted a literature review, environmental scan of organizational Web sites providing preparedness materials for diverse communities, and key informant interviews with public health and emergency management professionals. Results: We identified individual-level barriers to preparing diverse communities such as socioeconomic status, trust, culture, and language, as well as institutional-level barriers faced by organizations such as inadequate support for culturally/linguistically appropriate initiatives. Current programs to address these barriers include language assistance services, community engagement strategies, cross-sector collaboration, and community assessments. Enhancing public-private partnerships, increasing flexibility in allocating funds and improving organizational capacity for diversity initiatives were all identified as additional areas of programmatic need. Conclusions: Our study suggests at least four intervention priorities for California and across the United States: engaging diverse communities in all aspects of emergency planning, implementation, and evaluation; mitigating fear and stigma; building organizational cultural competence; and enhancing coordination of information and resources. In addition, this study provides a methodological model for other states seeking to assess their capacity to integrate diverse communities into preparedness planning and response.