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The purpose of this commentary is to describe combinatory play as a practice for elevating creativity and well-being among public health professionals. Albert Einstein introduced combinatory play in a letter to a colleague, and, in this commentary, we define it as engagement in an intrinsically enjoyable, cognitively stimulating artistic activity that is distinct from one's job tasks and conducive to connecting ideas toward insight and creative problem-solving. Combinatory play aligns with empirical and experiential evidence demonstrating connections between art and science. We present combinatory play in the context of research on creativity and well-being, including the growing issue of work-related stress among public health professionals. To provide an example of combinatory play, we recount how Robert Frost's poem "Mending Wall" inspired email blackout periods and an intervention for health researchers. Finally, we outline concrete strategies for public health professionals to integrate combinatory play into their lives. Overall, combinatory play is a promising practice for catalyzing novel solutions to public health issues while fueling the well-being of public health professionals themselves.

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The purpose of this project was to describe the implementation of a perinatal health fair intended to connect local women to holistic resources. Researchers used participatory strategies to develop the health fair with local women and perinatal educators. Researchers evaluated the health fair using pragmatic measures based on the (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance) framework. Forty-two attendees were reached and 23 educators hosted booths and educational sessions. Feedback indicated strong enthusiasm for future similar events. Nearly three quarters of the time spent implementing the health fair was devoted to building relationships within the community. Overall, this project provides practical and empirical information to inform the planning, implementation, and evaluation of perinatal health fairs that establish meaningful connection between local women, perinatal educators, and health researchers.

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BACKGROUND: There is a need to unpack the empirical, practical, and personal challenges within participatory approaches advocated to optimize implementation. The unpredictable, chaotic nature of participatory approaches complicates application of implementation theories, methods, and strategies which do not address researchers' situatedness within participatory processes. As an implementation scientist, addressing one's own situatedness through critical reflection is important to unearth how conscious and unconscious approaches, including ontological and epistemological underpinnings, influence the participatory context, process, and outcomes. Therefore, the aim of this exploratory work is to investigate the heretofore blind spot toward the lived experience of implementation researchers within the participatory process. METHODS: We developed an integrated research-practice partnership (IRPP) to inform the implementation of a gestational weight gain (GWG) control program. Within this IRPP, one investigator conducted a 12-month autoethnography. Data collection and triangulation included field notes, cultural artifacts, and systematic timeline tracking. Data analysis included ethnographic-theoretical dialogue and restorying to synthesize key events and epiphanies into a narrative. RESULTS: Analysis revealed the unpredicted evolution of the GWG program into a maternal health fair and three themes within the researchers' lived experience: (1) permeable work boundaries, (2) individual and collective blind spots toward the ontological and epistemological underpinnings of implementation paradigms, and (3) maladaptive behaviors seemingly reinforced by the research culture. These themes contributed to the chaos of implementation and to researchers' experience of inadequate recovery from cognitive, emotional, and practical demands. These themes also demonstrated the importance of contextual factors, subjectivity, and value-based judgments within implementation research. CONCLUSION: Building on extant qualitative research guidelines, we suggest that researchers anchor their approach to implementation in reflexivity, intentionally and iteratively reflecting on their own situatedness. Through this autoethnography, we have elucidated several strategies based on critical reflection including examining philosophical underpinnings of research, adopting restorative practices that align with one's values, and embracing personal presence as a foundation of scientific productivity. Within the predominant (post-) positivism paradigms, autoethnography may be criticized as unscientifically subjective or self-indulgent. However, this work demonstrates that autoethnography is a vehicle for third-person observation and first-person critical reflection that is transformative in understanding and optimizing implementation contexts, processes, and outcomes.

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Objectives: To explore community-based yoga studio practitioners' psychosocial variables, behaviors, and studio satisfaction. Methods: Concurrent mixed-methods study consisted of a survey for demographic variables and psychosocial variables of interest (e.g., mindfulness, self-compassion, physical activity participation) and interviews regarding reasons for participating at the yoga studio. Results: Participants (N = 138) were, on average, 35.58 ± 14.09 years old and predominantly female (91.3%), married (40.6%) or single (37%), Caucasian (75%), and college (25.4%) or graduate/medical school (45%) educated, with 54% meeting physical activity recommendations. On a 5-point Likert-type scale, participants reported being moderately cohesive (Msumscore = 3.87 ± 0.62), stressed (Msumscore = 3.2 ± 0.39), mindful (Msumscore = 3.4 ± 0.41), and self-compassionate (Msumscore = 3.26 ± 0.56). A rapid content analysis of interviews (n = 18), indicated that participants primarily practiced at the studio for the sense of community. Conclusions: Yoga practitioners reported positive perceptions and behaviors; however, opportunities remain for interventions to improve mental and physical health among individuals already attending a yoga studio. Through an academic-studio partnership, studio offerings may include low-dose evidence-based interventions to improve access to and uptake of a yoga practice.

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