Mindfulness Resilience-Based Training
Individuals with high-stress jobs can experience burnout and secondary traumatic stress. Stress prevention and self-care can help individuals cope with the demands of their jobs and better help community members.
Mindfulness-Based Resilience Training Program for the Nevada State Police
Researchers: Joel D. Lieberman (Criminal Justice), Nicholas Barr, (Social Work), Steven Pace (Criminal Justice), Milia Heen (Public Policy and Leadership)
This program is designed to improve the operational performance and well-being of Nevada State Police. Exposure to prolonged stress can produce negative effects impacting law enforcement officers' physical, mental, and social health.
Participants learn skills in mindfulness, emotional regulation, attention control, and maintaining effective interpersonal relationships. The goal is to help them improve their health, operational performance, and abilities to manage challenging situations as first responders.
Participants will be able to use the tools they learn to cope with the stressful and emotionally-charged situations they encounter in their jobs. Ultimately, the program is designed to provide 21st century officers with 21st century science-based tools, to manage the challenges they face.
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Opioids in Tourist Destinations
This area includes various projects that examine opioid overdoses in major tourist destinations, including identifying the location of overdoses and the use of Narcan. The research has implications for tourists, hotel properties and employees, and public safety agencies and emergency responders.
Locations of Opioid Overdoses
Researchers: Joshua W. Donnelly (Criminal Justice), Ann-Pyng Sun, (Social Work). In partnership with the 8kbet School of Public Health and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
This project focused on identifying where opioid overdoses are occurring in the tourist corridor. By identifying frequent overdose locations, we can develop targeted partnerships with hotel properties to deliver Narcan training and prevention practices. In addition, researchers identified whether Narcan was used and what the outcome was (i.e., used and effective/ineffective, minimal response, etc.).
Heat-Related Illness
This area involves a variety of projects related to heat-related illness. The research will demonstrate how a major tourist destination, that experiences a high influx of tourists during seasons of extreme heat, understands and addresses safety and health concerns experienced by tourists. This research will also address how extreme heat impacts tourist safety and experiences at major events, including music festivals and concerts.
Heat-Related Illness Locations
The TSI will identify and map the locations of where heat-related events are occurring, including the resort corridor and at outside tourist locations. This will allow researchers to develop targeted partnerships with hotel properties, public safety officials, and health practitioners to address this issue. This research will also provide hotel properties with the locations where resort employees and guests are experiencing heat-related illness, particularly during the summer months.
Southern Nevada Heat Lab
The researcher for the Southern Nevada Heat Lab is Emma Francis Bloomfield (Communication Studies), in partnership with the City of Las Vegas, City of Henderson, Regional Transportation Commission, Make the Road NV, Nevada Environmental Justice Coalition, University of Nevada, Reno, and Desert Research Institute.
Resource Hub
The TSI will develop a resource hub of information and resources regarding heat, as well as monitoring processes for issuing heat warnings to tourists and locals. The TSI aims to enhance the messages about heat in Nevada to create a one-stop shop for all things heat-related.
Cooling Centers
The TSI is launching a pilot study to measure the use of cooling centers when heat events are activated. This is primarily aimed at local residents to get a better sense of what resources are available and what can be improved to offer both tourists and locals assistance during heat waves.
Tourism in Regional Economies
his research explores the relationship between two forms of tourism, entertainment-based tourism and nature-based tourism, and their implications for sustainable destination development.
Relationship Between Entertainment-Based and Nature-Based Tourism
Researcher: Jaewon Lim (Public Policy and Leadership)
The analysis examines key concepts such as the urban-rural tourism nexus, deconcentrated concentration of tourism, casino/gambling tourism, tourism crowding, health tourism, nature/eco-tourism, spatial substitution in tourism, outer-inner city tourism synergy, and intervening opportunities in tourism. By understanding the dynamics within this nexus, stakeholders in the tourism industry can make informed decisions to manage tourist flows and preserve natural resources.