Brian Mayer and James Shockey were both featured interviews on Arizona Public Media’s “Arizona 360” the Friday, April 16th. Professor Mayer discussed his research on the pandemic and how store clerks have dealt with COVID-19 in the workplace while Professor Shockey discussed the controversy behind wearing a mask during the pandemic.
Internship Coordinator Jessica Dennes started a project called "Spaces to Learn" that has provided free home office items to over 100 children in low-income families who are learning from home.
Over the summer 2020, Professor Brian Mayer was able to develop a working relationship with the United Food and Commercial Workers union Local 99 representing some 24,000 workers in the state of Arizona - most of which are essential frontline employees in grocery stores. Together, they launched the Arizona Frontline Worker Survey which was completed by ~5,000 respondents in July 2020 and again by ~2,000 follow-up respondents in February 2021. Their data reveal disturbing high levels of mental health distress correlating with a lack of sufficient safety training and difficult encounters with customers. The results from the first wave in July have been covered in more than 30 news outlets nationally, including multiple televised interviews on Phoenix and Tucson local news stations. Brian’s research team has two papers under review for two special issues on COVID-19 for Public Health Reports and the International Journal of Worker Health Management. Data from the second wave in February are being finalized and we continue to apply for research grants to support additional data collection.
