Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Physical Activity And Public Health: Training Courses For Researchers And Practitioners, David Brown, Russell Pate, Michale Pratt, Fran Wheeler, David Buchner, Barbara Ainsworth, Caroline Macera

David C. Brown

No abstract provided.

Building Capacity In Physical Activity And Public Health, Russell Pate, Jennifer Gay, David Brown, Michael Pratt

David C. Brown

No abstract provided.

Travel To, And Use Of, Twenty-One Michigan Trails, Anna Greer, Julian Reed, Lisa Grost, Christina Harvey, Karah Mantinan

Anna E. Greer

Objective and methods: This study examined trail use among 857 trail users on 21 trails in Michigan from 2008 to 2011 using a valid and reliable intercept survey. Results: Most of the 857 participants traveled to the trail from their home (92.6%), lived within 15 min of the trails (74.8%), and used active transport to travel to the trails 69.7%. The odds of active transport to the trails were greater among those who had not graduated high school (OR=3.49; 95% CI=1.02, 11.99) and high school graduates (OR=7.432; 95% CI=2.02, 27.30) compared to college graduates. Whites and adults also had greater …

Racism, Place, And Health Of Urban Black Elders Relationship Of Neighborhood Effects And Reaction To Discrimination On Self-Rated Health, Priscilla Ryder

Priscilla T. Ryder

As a population, older African Americans in the United States have more compromised health in terms of numbers and severity of conditions, ages at onset, and levels of physical function than European Americans of similar ages. Some of the inequality may be due to life-long exposure to institutional, interpersonal, and internalized racism. This monograph describes the results of a survey of African Americans ages 60 years and older living in Baltimore, Maryland. The study sets out to explain differences in self-rated health using report of racism, reaction to unfair treatment, and physical and psychosocial characteristics of participants? neighborhoods. Mental health, …

Reasons To Be Hopeful: Streams Of Renewal In Healthcare, Ray Moynihan

Ray Moynihan

Extract: The iconoclastic former BMJ editor Richard Smith has mused that medicine might need to feel utterly defeated for it to undergo much needed radical renewal.1 Whether or not defeat is imminent, a culture shift is being debated,2 and renewal is inevitable. The current medical-industrial paradigm—fragmented, technocratic, mechanistic, inhuman, and imperial—is neither healthy nor sustainable. While there’s much that is hopeful in debates about clinical medicine, public health, and beyond, I’d like to identify 10 streams of change that may ultimately coalesce to form a coherent vision of radical renewal.

Estimating The Effect Of A Community-Based Intervention With Two Communities, Mark Van Der Laan, Maya Petersen, Wenjing Zheng

Wenjing Zheng

Due to the need to evaluate the effectiveness of community-based programs in practice, there is substantial interest in methods to estimate the causal effects of community-level treatments or exposures on individual level outcomes. The challenge one is confronted with is that different communities have different environmental factors affecting the individual outcomes, and all individuals in a community share the same environment and intervention. In practice, data are often available from only a small number of communities, making it difficult if not impossible to adjust for these environmental confounders. In this paper we consider an extreme version of this dilemma, in …

Barriers To Providing School-Based Health Care: International Case Comparisons, Denise Seigart, Elaine Dietsch, Michèle Parent

Denise Seigart

Background: This article reports on an international collaborative study which compared school-based health care in the United States of America, Canada and Australia.

Method: Tri-nation school-based health care was compared and contrasted through the utilisation of a series of interpretive case studies. Grounded theory approaches informed the data analysis and reporting processes.

Findings: Unlike the US, Canadian and Australian school students rarely have access to school-based health care on site. All three nations face structural, cultural and societal barriers, often related to limited resources which limit the effectiveness of school-based health care.

Discussion: The benefits of school-based health care and …

Evaluation Of Student Outcomes In Online Vs. Campus Biostatistics Education In A Graduate School Of Public Health, John Mcgready, Ron Brookmeyer

Ron Brookmeyer

Objective: To compare student outcomes between concurrent online and on-campus sections of an introductory biostatistics course offered at a U.S. school of public health in 2005. Methods: Enrolled students (95 online, 92 on-campus) were invited to participate in a confidential online survey. The course outcomes were compared between the two sections adjusting for differences in student characteristics. Results: Seventy-two online (76%) and 66 (72%) on-campus enrollees participated. Unadjusted final exam scores for the online and on-campus sections were respectively 85.1 and 86.3 (p = 0.50) in term 1, and 87.7 and 86.9 (p=0.58) in term 2. After adjustment for student …

Child Mental Health And Service Needs In Iraq: Beliefs And Attitudes Of Primary School Teachers., A Al-Obaidi, B Nelson, G Albadawi, M Hicks, A Guarino

Madelyn Hsiao-Rei Hicks

No abstract provided.

The Long-Term Effects Of Water Fluoridation On The Human Skeleton, Debbie Chachra, H. Limeback, T. Willett, Marc Grynpas

Debbie Chachra

Municipal water fluoridation has notably reduced the incidence of dental caries and is widely considered a public health success. However, ingested fluoride is sequestered into bone, as well as teeth, and data on the long-term effect of exposure to these very low doses of fluoride remain inconclusive. Epidemiological studies suggest that effects of fluoride on bone are minimal. We hypothesized that the direct measurement of bone tissue from individuals residing in municipalities with and without fluoridated water would reveal a relationship between fluoride content and structural or mechanical properties of bone. However, consonant with the epidemiological data, only a weak …

A Public Health Approach To Understanding And Preventing Violent Radicalisation., K Bhui, M Hicks, M Lashley, E Jones

Madelyn Hsiao-Rei Hicks

No abstract provided.

Suicide Bombing: How To Prevent Death In Civilians? - Authors’ Reply., M Hicks, H Dardagan, P Bagnall, M Spagat, J Sloboda

Madelyn Hsiao-Rei Hicks

No abstract provided.

Casualties In Civilians And Coalition Soldiers From Suicide Bombings In Iraq, 2003—10: A Descriptive Study., M Hicks, H Dardagan, P Bagnall, M Spagat, J Sloboda

Madelyn Hsiao-Rei Hicks

BACKGROUND:

Suicide bombs in Iraq are a major public health problem. We aimed to describe documented casualties from suicide bombs in Iraq during 2003-10 in Iraqi civilians and coalition soldiers.

METHODS:

In this descriptive study, we analysed and compared suicide bomb casualties in Iraq that were documented in two datasets covering March 20, 2003, to Dec 31, 2010--one reporting coalition-soldier deaths from suicide bombs, the other reporting deaths and injuries of Iraqi civilians from armed violence. We analysed deaths and injuries over time, by bomb subtype and victim demographics.

FINDINGS:

In 2003-10, 1003 documented suicide bomb events caused 19% (42,928 …

Violent Deaths Of Iraqi Civilians, 2003-2008: Analysis By Perpetrator, Weapon, Time, And Location., M Hicks, H Dardagan, G Guerrero Serdán, P Bagnall, J Sloboda, M Spagat

Madelyn Hsiao-Rei Hicks

No abstract provided.

Global Comparison Of Warring Groups In 2002-2007: Fatalities From Targeting Civilians Vs. Fighting Battles., M Hicks, U Lee, R Sundberg, M Spagat

Madelyn Hsiao-Rei Hicks

BACKGROUND:

Warring groups that compete to dominate a civilian population confront contending behavioral options: target civilians or battle the enemy. We aimed to describe degrees to which combatant groups concentrated lethal behavior into intentionally targeting civilians as opposed to engaging in battle with opponents in contemporary armed conflict.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:

We identified all 226 formally organized state and non-state groups (i.e. actors) that engaged in lethal armed conflict during 2002-2007: 43 state and 183 non-state. We summed civilians killed by an actor's intentional targeting with civilians and combatants killed in battles in which the actor was involved for total fatalities …

The Ces-D In Chinese American Women: Construct Validity, Diagnostic Validity For Major Depression, And Cultural Response Bias., Z Li, M Hicks

Madelyn Hsiao-Rei Hicks

Previous studies of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) in Chinese Americans describe internal reliability and factor structure. We report CES-D construct validity and diagnostic validity for major depression in a probability sample of 168 community-dwelling Chinese American women. Internal consistency was satisfactory (Cronbach's alpha=0.86). Good construct validity was indicated by significantly higher mean CES-D scores for respondents who reported lower social support, worse self-perceived general health, or stressful life events, including intimate partner violence. Cultural response bias was found, with positively-stated CES-D items (e.g. "I was happy") producing higher depression scores in immigrants and subjects who preferred …

Prodromal Research: Public Health Initiatives For Prevention Of Schizophrenia, Amresh Srivastava

Amresh Srivastava

No abstract provided.

Social Determinants Of Health And Disease Working Together, Amresh Srivastava

Amresh Srivastava

No abstract provided.

The Irrational Woman: Informed Consent And Abortion Decision-Making, Maya Manian

Maya Manian

In Gonzales v. Carhart, the Supreme Court upheld a federal ban on a type of second-trimester abortion that many physicians believe is safer for their patients. Carhart presented a watershed moment in abortion law, because it marks the Supreme Court’s first use of the anti-abortion movement’s “woman-protective” rationale to uphold a ban on abortion and the first time since Roe v. Wade that the Court denied women a health exception to an abortion restriction. The woman-protective rationale asserts that banning abortion promotes women’s mental health. According to Carhart, the State should make the final decisions about pregnant women’s healthcare, because …

The Dirty War Index: A Public Health And Human Rights Tool For Examining And Monitoring Armed Conflict Outcomes., M Hicks, M Spagat

Madelyn Hsiao-Rei Hicks

War, a major public health problem, is a situation where the interests of public health, human rights, and humanitarian law intersect.

The DWI is a data-driven public health tool that identifies rates of particularly undesirable or prohibited, i.e., “dirty,” outcomes inflicted on populations during war (e.g., civilian death, child injury, or torture).

A DWI is calculated as: (Number of “dirty,” i.e., undesirable or prohibited cases/Total number of cases) × 100.

DWIs are designed for direct, easy translation of war's public health outcomes into the human rights, policy, and interdisciplinary work needed to address war's practice.

DWIs support monitoring, deterrence, and …

Mortality In Iraq., M Hicks

Madelyn Hsiao-Rei Hicks

No abstract provided.

The Prevalence And Characteristics Of Intimate Partner Violence In A Community Study Of Chinese American Women., Madelyn Hicks

Madelyn Hsiao-Rei Hicks

No abstract provided.

Environmental Health In Public Health, R. Konkel, Darryl Barnett, Joe Beck, Worley Johnson

Steve Konkel

A most intriguing question, and one that leads to many debates both inside and outside of the environmental health field, is a definition of environmental health. The answer given is often tempered by one's political slant (i.e., liberal, moderate, or conservative) and by one's professional training (e.g., public health sanitation, chemistry, nursing, ecology, planning, public administration, etc). Although agreement is needed to effectively address the challenges in the field, disagreement often centers on what constitutes environmental health and even on the name or nickname that should be applied to individuals whose primary focus is on one or many aspects of …

Validity Of The Cidi Probe Flow Chart For Depression In Chinese American Women., M Hicks

Madelyn Hsiao-Rei Hicks

This article presents observations on the function and validity of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) 2.1 in a study of major depression in Chinese American women. CIDI symptom items for depression had good apparent validity and acceptability. However, CIDI probe flow chart (PFC) ‘clinical significance’ criteria appeared to underidentify cases of major depression if they occurred in China, or in deprived conditions within the U.S. and other developed countries. Validity of the CIDI PFC was affected by social, political and cultural factors. Patterns of bias are discussed and related to assumptions underlying the PFC regarding resource availability, help-seeking and …