Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Affordable Care Act And Preventive Care Usage: A Mixed Method Analysis Of Cardiovascular Care, Brit Peek

Theses & Dissertations

It is a commonly held belief that access to health insurance affects the level of utilization of preventive care services, and thus plays a crucial role in the effective management of avoidable chronic illnesses, decreasing levels of premature mortality, and enabling individuals to live wholesome long lives. Based on this belief, among other goals, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was designed to increase access to health insurance and related medical services for the population of the United States. This dissertation attempts to identify whether this belief is valid or not by testing whether the usage of preventive care changed between …

Health Literacy Changes In A Technology-Enhanced Diabetes Prevention Program, Cody Goessl

Theses & Dissertations

Background: In 2001, the Diabetes Prevention Program was published evaluating the efficacy of a pharmaceutical intervention, Metformin, and a behavioral lifestyle intervention (LI) to reduce incidence of Type 2 diabetes mellitus. The LI was observed to reduce the incidence of the disease by 58% relative to 31% in the medication treatment. Amongst technology based LIs, little has been done to address different health literacy populations.

Objectives: This dissertation evaluated how teach-back and teach-to-goal can influence the uptake of information obtained in each health education lesson, behaviors and its influence on engagement and weight loss.

Methods: Four hundred forty-two participants …

Potentially Reduced Exposure Products, Occupational Variations In Smoking, And Hardcore Smokers: Examining Important Elements In The Tobacco Use Spectrum, Raees A. Shaikh

Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to examine three important aspects of the smoking phenomenon that are, and will remain, important for the future of tobacco control research and policy. First and currently one of the most debated and researched topics in the tobacco research field relates to the group of products regarded by some as the potentially reduced exposure products (PREPs). We studied determinants of use of these products. Second aspect was to examine the socioeconomic subgroup of smokers based on their occupations who might potentially benefit from the use of PREPs and the third stage involved studying the …