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Spatial Epidemiology Of Prediabetes And Diabetes In Florida, Md Marufuzzaman Khan

Doctoral Dissertations

The burden of diabetes and diabetes-related Emergency Department (ED) visits has increased in Florida. However, Diabetes Self-management Education (DSME) Program participation remained considerably low. Little is known about disparities of DSME participation, diabetes complications, and ED use by diabetes patients in Florida and yet this information is important for guiding health programs aimed at reducing diabetes burden. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to investigate: (a) disparities of diabetes prevalence and DSME participation; (b) disparities of diabetes-related ED visit risks; and (c) prevalence and predictors of stroke among persons with prediabetes and diabetes.

Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and …

Forecasting Vibrio Parahaemolyticus In A Changing Climate, Meghan Ann Hartwick

Doctoral Dissertations

The distribution, transmission and adaptation patterns of infectious diseases are changing worldwide. Though there are many potential mechanisms that can transmit infectious agents to new areas, the ability of pathogens to persist in new locations can be largely attributed to changing climate conditions, especially in temperate regions. Vibrio parahaemolyticus, a naturally occurring bacteria in most marine and estuarine systems, provides a model example of these globally observed climate-related changes to disease dynamics that are occurring locally in the Northeast, US. Like many Vibrio species, pathogenicity in human hosts is believed to be limited to a subset of strains, whereas the …

Nipe-Nikupe: A Multi-Level Perspective Of Gender And Hiv Prevention In Heterosexual Marriages In Kenya, Rose Anne N. Njiru

Doctoral Dissertations

Archival abstract submitted

The Information Behavior Of Public Health Educators Working In Appalachia, Karen Jean Mcclanahan

Doctoral Dissertations

Public health educators serve as a vital interface between medical and public health authorities and community members for the dissemination of important information related to disease prevention and health promotion. Public health educators deliver packaged educational programs, develop their own original programs, field impromptu health questions, and conduct community health assessments. This dissertation research employed a survey in January 2011 to illuminate the information-related attitudes and activities of health educators working in public health departments in Appalachia. The research questions explored how these health educators find and use information, how they perceive their information needs and their abilities to find …

Biomonitoring Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers In Lactating Women, Rebecca L. Dunn

Doctoral Dissertations

Breast milk is a valuable biological specimen for biomonitoring lipid-soluble polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). The goal of this project was to determine the levels of PBDEs in breast milk of lactating women from the Seacoast region of New Hampshire and to examine potential relationships between PBDE levels in breast milk and stage of lactation, maternal characteristics, living environment and dietary intake. Forty women, ages 22 to 40, provided up to three breast milk samples at the end of their first, second and third month of breastfeeding for evaluation of day-to-day and month-to-month variation in PBDE levels. Participants were asked to …

The Effect Of Peer And Parental Smoking On Adolescent Smoking Initiation: Exploring Potential Moderators, Jeffrey Allen Eaton

Doctoral Dissertations

The factors that contribute to smoking initiation among adolescents are poorly understood. The current approaches to smoking prevention may have achieved their maximum potential as evidenced by a stalling in the decline in smoking rates. To date, approaches to smoking prevention based on social and individual factors have previously met with limited success. A promising new approach will be to examine the interaction between social and individual factors and the effects of their interaction on smoking initiation. Parental and peer smoking behaviors are well-known risk factors for smoking initiation. Several theoretical models suggest that perceptual or interpretative processes may moderate …

Family Structure, The State Children's Health Insurance Program (Schip) And Child Outcomes, Minghua Li

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three separate but interrelated essays that investigate how family structure and public policy are linked to health and developmental child outcomes. Each essay employs two or three waves of the National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) as the primary data source. The first essay broadly investigates how family structure, including the less typical non-traditional families such as single father and grandparent households, are related to a wide of array of child outcomes with a focus on the interplay of parent-child gender. The results from this study show that children in single father families have better health …

Needling Doubts: A Sociological Examination Of Parental Resistance To Childhood Immunizations, Catherine L. Moran

Doctoral Dissertations

Within recent years, a group of parents who question or oppose vaccination has emerged in the United States. While recently receiving attention within medicine and public health, parental questioning of and resistance to childhood immunization is a trend that has yet to be examined within sociology. This dissertation explores the role of parental characteristics, beliefs, and attitudes on resistance to pediatric immunization.

Thirty-five in-depth interviews with parents who postponed or refused vaccinations for their children were conducted. Qualitative data were used to develop a survey instrument including a series of scales measuring parental beliefs and attitudes about pediatric vaccination. The …

The Effects Of Medicaid And Maternal Depression On Prenatal Care And Infant Health, Lisa C. Defelice

Doctoral Dissertations

While in recent years, the infant health production function literature has expanded to incorporate behavioral inputs into the production of infant health current research fails to incorporate the Medicaid-private insurance choice into the mother's decision making process. This dissertation seeks to address this by treating private insurance and Medicaid as endogenous while considering the effects that the Medicaid eligibility rules have on both kinds of coverage. Medicaid and private insurance are entered directly into the health production function so that quality effects may be captured. In addition, a woman's state of mental health is also incorporated into the health production …